In some ways, the Royal Navy has become a shadow of itself. At the Battle of Jutland, the Royal Navy sent 151 combat ships into the fray. Today, the Royal Navy has a total of 77 commissioned warships. But while the numbers are small, the Royal Navy’s ships are powerful.
For instance, even with a lack of aircraft carriers, the Royal Navy can still credibly defend the Falkland Islands, a territory that remains a sovereignty dispute between the United Kingdom and Argentina. The U.K. holds the islands with six Type 45 destroyers that are on active service. These vessels replaced the 12 surviving Type 42 class destroyers (two, HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry, were sunk during the 1982 Falklands War, during which the Royal Navy steamed thousands of miles to re-take the islands from Argentina).
According to the Royal Navy’s web page, the Type 45 destroyer, also known as the Daring-class destroyer, is equipped with very modern air-defense systems. The centerpiece of the ship’s armament is the Sea Viper missile system. This comes in two varieties, the Aster 15, with a range of 20 miles, and the Aster 30, with a range of 70 miles. These missiles are launched from a vertical launch system with six eight-cell Sylver A50 vertical launchers, according to navyrecognition.com.
The Type 45 also has two Mk 15 Phalanx close-in weapon systems, a Mk 8 114mm gun, and can also carry eight Harpoon anti-ship missiles. One of these destroyers, if based near the Falkland Islands, would provide a substantial boost in the event Argentina tried to re-take those islands. The ships displace about 8,000 metric tonnes, have a top speed of over 30 nautical miles per hour, and can go about 7,000 miles before having to refuel.
Argentina had been rumored to be trying to buy the amphibious vessel USS Ponce (AFSB(I) 15, ex-LPD 15), but that deal has apparently fallen through, according to a US Navy release from earlier this month, which indicates that Ponce will instead be scrapped.