The HMS Daring, Guernsey’s affiliated Royal Navy Warship, is heading towards the final stages of its repairs, refurbishments and upgrades.
According to its new Commander, the vessel shall be sailing through our waters hopefully within the next 12 months.
Commanding Officer of HMS Daring, CDR Graeme Hazelwood, has visited the Bailiwick as part of preparations to bring the upgraded ship to our docks.
“It was lovely flying in yesterday. The weather was not quite as nice, as I’d hoped,” he said when asked his first impressions of the island. “I was hoping for that lovely, lovely sun on the waters around here, but a really kind welcome. People, friendly. A cheery place to be.”
CDR Hazelwood continued: “I had the opportunity to walk around, just to stretch the legs yesterday evening, and how welcoming people are and sort of friendly in the street, so I see it as a really, really warm place.
“In terms of the kindness of the people and, you know, being surrounded by the history and the grandeur and the connection, I sense a real sort of privilege in having this affiliation.”
Commander Hazelwood has only had the helm of HMS Daring since July this year, but he has an extensive naval history and career behind him.
He joined the Navy in 2006, with navigation of a mine hunter and an Arabian Gulf deployment.
He then became a fighter controller aboard HMS Edinburgh (Type 42), overseeing her decommissioning.
Specialising in Air Warfare, Commander Hazelwood served aboard HMS Diamond and HMS Dragon.
He was then selected for command, skippering HMS Grimsby for two years, which included a pandemic-era Arabian Gulf deployment.
His most recent post was at the Operational Advantage Centre for tactical refinement, prior to receiving the command of HMS Daring.
With his vessel nearly ready for a return to the sea, Commander Hazelwood shed some extra light on the works underway: “She’s been in a refit period for a while, and been undergoing a significant upgrade.
“We’ve invested really heavily in the ship, and there’s a huge enterprise effort from our industrial partners, from the wider Navy, and from my ship’s company, to get the ship optimised and ready for fighting.”
Commander Hazelwood added: “We spent a considerable amount of money doing that, and we’re coming towards the back end of that process now, and in getting Daring back towards back towards going to sea.”
HMS Daring was originally launched in 2006, the same year CDR Hazelwood joined the Navy. Daring was laid up in 2017, pending a refit and works to bring her back to the cutting edge.
It’s been over 3,000 days since she last went to sea under her own power. CDR Hazelwood explained why the works take so long.
“These are complex warships, they are extremely capable air defense platforms, but you need to spend a lot of effort to get them out there, and that’s where our focus is being, is that Daring not only gets back to sea, but is back to sea as an operational warship.
“For me, that is the start point, the end point, if there were such a thing, is being tied to our Queen Elizabeth carriers out there, defending her from air attack.”
Although the vital works have been lengthy and extensive, it won’t be long before she’s back on the water, with a timeline expected to be completed next year.
“Daring will be at sea next year. We are firmly focused on achieving that and getting to Guernsey is high on our list of priorities,” CDR Hazelwood said. “The first thing is we need to make sure that we’re safe, and shake down, and then sort of trial some of our engines and systems, so that everything is integrated and working properly.”
He’s confident that the vessel will be traversing our waters soon: “Part of this visit is to try and target a date next year that might work to come. So that’s that sort of work in progress, but it’s really high in my priorities to bring the ship here, and open her up to the people of Guernsey.”
The ship’s crew will have a chance to see the island in greater detail when they arrive as part of Remembrance Sunday commemorations.
“November is a key month for us in the services, as that point of remembrance.” CDR Hazelwood said.
“There is some excitement for sailors to be able to come here, but, but also it’s about reflection, and it’s about remembrance.
“We’re looking at setting up a community event that we can do, maybe over that weekend as well, that we can give something to the island, as well as attending the key sort of ceremonial functions and being able to reflect on those that ultimately made the final sacrifice for our country.”
The last time HMS Daring visited Guernsey was almost a decade ago and it’s reunion locally is something the Commander is looking forward to: “It’s really important you know that we are your navy. There’s a long tradition of affiliations of ships with towns and organisations, or, in this case, an island, and when HMS daring was commissioned, that affiliation was with Guernsey.”
Despite a nine year absence, the connection between the ship and the people of the Bailiwick has been maintained, something that pleases CDR Hazelwood and the people in his charge.
“It’s really, really pleasing for all of us that that affiliation has been maintained throughout the sort of quieter period for Daring, because I think that shows the significance and the importance and the connection that’s been fostered between the people and the ship.
“That’s also why one of my first sort of stops was to come to the island and meet the Lieutenant Governor, meet the Bailiff, and to talk to the media as well, to say, ‘hey, you know, we’ll be back shortly’.
“We appreciate we’ve been away for a while, and we’re absolutely focused.
“I’ve got a fantastic bunch of sailors who love this affiliation, are keen to come here next month for remembrance, and even keener to bring the ship here and show her off to you in the near future.”