The programme drew on Fairfield, Cammell Laird, Swan Hunter, J. Samuel White, Vickers, John Brown, Hawthorn Leslie, Yarrow, Alexander Stephen and Sons, and Thornycroft, with the Australian ships built at Cockatoo Island and Williamstown. The choice of contractors matters because many of these yards normally handled cruisers or capital ships, while firms such as J. Samuel White brought deep destroyer and sloop expertise. The spread shows the industrial depth available to the postwar Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy. It also explains why the Darings could be treated as large, sophisticated combatants rather than ordinary mass-produced destroyers.
Notable Point · 30:58-32:08
The shipyard depth behind the Daring program
The Daring program drew on a broad network of British and Australian yards whose experience extended from destroyers and sloops to cruisers and capital ships.