I like the Welsh dragon on that Type 45! Very cool!
By the way, Blackadder, a gun of any calibre on a modern warship is practically ceremonial, these days and they are only useful for firing shots over the bows of dhows and scaring the fuzzy-wuzzies. The dragon might do more.
They're very powerful things are the Daring-class Type 45 destroyers. They're the most powerful air-defence destroyers on Earth. So whilst the Royal Navy may not have quite the number of destroyers it had in 1982 during the Falklands War, its destroyer firepower is still far greater than it was in that war, with several Type 45s being as powerful as an old Type 42, which was used during the conflict. And whilst they pack a mighty punch, it's almost impossible for an enemy to hit them.
The Type 45 destroyers were built to replace the Type 42 destroyers that had served during the Falklands War, with the last Type 42 being decommissioned in 2013. The National Audit Office reported that, during an "intensive attack", a single Type 45 could simultaneously track, engage and destroy more targets than five Type 42 destroyers operating together. After the launch of
Daring on 1 February 2006 Admiral Sir Alan West, a former First Sea Lord, stated that it would be the Royal Navy's most capable destroyer ever, as well as the world's best air-defence ship.
Crowds cheer as Daring-class Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless leaves Portmouth for the Falklands
The US Naval War College has suggested that the SAMPSON radar of the Type 45 is capable of tracking 1,000 objects the size of a
cricket ball travelling at three times the speed of sound (Mach 3), emphasising the system's capabilities against high performance stealth targets.
In March 2013 the
United States Naval Institute reported that the Royal Navy along with the
United States Missile Defense Agency will explore the potential of the
Daring class providing ballistic missile defence in
Europe along with
United States Navy Aegis equipped
destroyers.
[43] In May 2014, it was reported by
Jane's Information Group that the United Kingdom is committing more funds to explore the capabilities of the SAMPSON multi-function radar and the Type 45 destroyer in a ballistic missile defence role. This followed a successful live firing event hundreds of miles north of
Kwajalein Atoll in the Western
Pacific Ocean, where
Daring demonstrated the ability to "detect at the earliest opportunity" and track "through to intercept" two
medium-range ballistic missiles. BAE systems reportedly told Jane's that the SAMPSON multi-function radar "exceeded expectations in all respects". An "Experiment Concurrency and Cueing (TECC)" event for the Type 45 is planned for late 2015.
[44]
Because of the marked increase in capabilities delivered by the Type 45 destroyers in relation to their predecessors, the exceptionally high price per ship, and the large amount of public attention they have attracted, defence analysts and correspondents commonly refer to the
Daring class as being the "most advanced" or "most powerful" air-defence destroyers in the world.
[45][46] Likewise, the ships' builders
BAE Systems claim; "Able to detect and track hundreds of targets simultaneously, the Type 45 Destroyer is recognised as the most advanced anti-air warfare vessel in the world."
[47] Nick Brown the editor-in-chief of
Jane’s International Defence Review was quoted by
The Huffington Post (a US online
news aggregator and blog) saying, "It’s [Type 45 destroyer] certainly one of the most advanced air defence ships in the world... The US
Aegis system is similar, but
Sea Viper (used on the Type 45) is more advanced."
I think it's safe to safe that in a Falklands War II, just the Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers alone would probably destroy most of the decrepit Argentine Navy in a matter of days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_45_destroyer#Advanced_air-defence