29 AUGUST 2016 • 12:01AM
Britain is sending a £1billion Royal Navy destroyer to the Persian Gulf to support the military campaign against Isil.
Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, will this week send HMS Daring to protect US carriers being used to mount bombing campaigns in Syria and Iraq.
It comes after a US destroyer last week fired warning shots after an Iranian fast-attack patrol ship sailed too close.
The Type 45 destroyer, which has a crew of 190, will be patrolling some of the world's busiest shipping lanes as part of the deployment.
As well as providing defensive cover to the carrier taskforce, the vessel will provide information to the headquarters controlling air operations against Isil.
The £1 billion destroyers have suffered problems in the Persian Gulf because they were not designed for temperatures in the region.
Innovative gas turbine engines driving the six Type 45s "degraded catastrophically" in very warm seas, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones told the House of Commons Defence Committee in July.
Despite a multi-million pound refit, he said the Royal Navy had accepted it would not be able to operate the ships "all the time in every place on every day of the year".
Mr Fallon said: "All three armed services are making a vital contribution to defeating Daesh.
"RAF aircraft are hitting the terrorists daily on the ground; the Army is providing counter-explosives training to Iraq troops; the Royal Navy helps protect coalition carriers in the Gulf as they launch strikes.
"With the biggest defence budget in Europe and the second biggest in Nato, our Armed Forces are making a real difference around the world."
HMS Daring will be performing a similar role to that carried out by HMS Defender earlier in the year.
The destroyer needed emergency repairs in Bahrain in 2012 while deployed to the Gulf. Reports said the ship encountered propulsion problems while on patrol off the coast of Kuwait.
In 2009, HMS Daring also lost power in the Atlantic after a visit to New York and had to go to Halifax shipyard in Canada to be fixed.
Last week four Iranian small boats "harassed" the US Nitze in the Persian Gulf and other two other US warships.
Original post: telegraph
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