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Type 42, also known as the Sheffield class, was a class of destroyers of the Royal Navy. The class was designed in the late 1960s to provide area air defence. In total fourteen vessels were constructed, eleven of which remain in service with the Royal Navy. Sheffield and Coventry were lost in the Falklands War due to enemy action.
The Type 42 Destroyer was built to fill in the gap left by the cancellation of the Type 82 Destroyer, it was however, designed to be smaller and more cost effective. The primary weapon is the Sea Dart surface-to-air missile. Although claimed to be obsolete, it is still effective against most modern missile threats, as proven by the 1991 Gulf War.
The Type 42 is also equipped with a 4.5 inch (114mm) main gun, six torpedo launchers, and two Vulcan Phalanx Mk.15 Close-In Weapons Systems (CIWS) were fitted after the loss of the Sheffield to an Exocet missile. There have been three batches of ships, and as per the norm, Batch 3 ships were heavily upgraded. Although the Batch 3 ships were lengthened, the planned Sea Wolf missile systems were never fitted.
The ships are all scheduled to be out of service by 2014. Initially, the UK sought to procure replacements first in collaboration with seven other NATO nations under the NFR-90 project and then with France and Italy through the Horizon CNGF programme. However, both these collaborative ventures failed and the UK decided to go it alone with a national project.
The Type 42s are now to be replaced by eight Type 45s. The first six Type 45s (Daring, Dauntless, Defender, Dragon, Duncan and Diamond) have been ordered, with a further two due to be ordered later in the decade.
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