It has been the officially affiliated warship of Guernsey since 2008, but has been undergoing refit since 2017.
Its last visit to Guernsey was in 2016.
In written parliamentary questions enquiring how many days the ship had been out of service, UK defence minister Luke Pollard confirmed that the Type 45 Destroyer would return to the active fleet later this year.
‘HMS Daring entered “extended readiness” in October 2017, and will return to the fleet later this year following completion of material upgrades, including the power improvement project,’ he said.
‘The Ministry of Defence provides Royal Navy Surface Fleet readiness data to the House of Commons Defence Committee on a six-monthly basis broken down by ship class rather than platform to maintain the operational security of the fleet.’
The 151m 8,000-tonne ship carries the latest air warfare technology.
‘This is the phoenix ship, this is the ship that was dormant for too long that is now getting back to sea, is now a home for sailors, and is now going to go on operations,’ said First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins.
Representatives of the crew still visit Guernsey several times throughout the year including Liberation Day and Remembrance Day. Since their last visit on 9 May, Commander Graeme Hazelwood has handed over to Commander Andrew Platt as commanding officer.
HMS Daring’s refit was held up during the Covid pandemic and other delays, before she was taken to the Cammell Laird shipyard in Merseyside for upgrades and modernisation work, which were completed in late 2022. She returned to Portsmouth in early 2023, and remains in the final phase of trials and ongoing regeneration work.
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