Royal Navy's destroyers breaking down in the Gulf '“ because the sea is too hot

THE navy's £1bn-a-piece Type 45 destroyers are breaking down in warm water, defence chiefs admitted yesterday.

The complicated Rolls-Royce gas turbine engines which power the air defence ships, works in the cold water around Britain.

But the warships – which are all based in Portsmouth – have struggled with the warm waters of the Gulf, on several occasions being left adrift.

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Former First Sea Lord, Lord Alan West blasted the failures and told MPs: ‘I think it’s a terrible error that our nation is making in allowing this to happen.’

The engine woes first became apparent when HMS Daring lost all power in the mid-Atlantic in 2010 and had to repaired in Canada.

The vessel needed fixing again in Bahrain in 2012 after another failure.

Rolls-Royce told the Commons Defence Committee the engines installed in the destroyers had been built as specified – but that the conditions in the Middle East were not ‘in line with these specs’.

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Committee member Doug Chapman said: ‘I am stunned. A £1bn asset in a warzone and we don’t know if people will come out alive because of a power system fault.’

The MoD revealed this year it would be running a staggered refit of the six destroyers from 2019.

The MoD added the ships remained one of the most capable warships on the planet.