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HMS Daring To Help In Fight Against Islamic State

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has announced that HMS Daring will soon be supporting the military campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

HMS Daring, which has a crew of 190, will sail from Portsmouth to the Gulf on Friday.

The warship will help protect US aircraft carriers engaged in bombing raids against IS targets and provide information to the headquarters controlling air operations.

As part of the deployment, the Type 45 destroyer will be patrolling some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Mr Fallon said: "All three armed services are making a vital contribution to defeating Daesh.

"RAF aircraft are hitting the terrorists daily on the ground; the Army is providing counter-explosives training to Iraq troops; the Royal Navy helps protect coalition carriers in the Gulf as they launch strikes.

"With the biggest defence budget in Europe and the second biggest in Nato, our Armed Forces are making a real difference around the world."

HMS Daring will be performing a similar role to that carried out by HMS Defender earlier in the year.

Her deployment follows a series of engine problems which have hit the Type 45 fleet.

The £1bn destroyers have suffered problems in the Persian Gulf because they were not designed for temperatures in the region.

Gas turbine engines driving the six Type 45s "degraded catastrophically" in very warm seas, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones told the Commons' Defence Committee in July.

Despite a multimillion pound refit, he said the Royal Navy had accepted it would not be able to operate the ships "all the time in every place on every day of the year".