A STATE-OF-THE-ART warship which docked in Liverpool last month has come under fire in a damning report by Commons watchdogs.
A public accounts committee (PAC) inquiry found HMS Daring was more than two years late in delivery, went £1.5bn over-budget, and will not become fully operational until the end of 2011.
The Type-45 destroyer will also enter limited service later this year without having once test-fired its main anti-air missiles.
PAC chairman Edward Leigh labelled that a "disgrace", following a saga of delays, technical difficulties and botched costings which have already seen the Type 45 programme – designed to protect British fleets from airborne attack – reduced from 12 ships to six.
In May, the 5,800-tonne HMS Daring, named by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s most advanced warship, proved a hit during her four-day anchorage at Liverpool cruise liner terminal, its first public port of call before Royal Navy commissioning. The PAC, which includes Southport MP John Pugh, accepted it was "an impressive and sophisticated piece of air defence naval weaponry, based largely on new technology".
During their own tour of the vessel, the MPs saw for themselves "just how advanced the ship is in terms of manoeuvrability and speed".
But they reported: "Persistent over- optimism and under-estimation of the technical challenge, combined with inappropriate commercial arrangements, led to burgeoning costs and serious delays."
