Alex Clarke recalls a friend involved in researching names for later Type 45 destroyers. Diana and Decoy are among the names he understood to be under consideration for units seven to nine, although he is uncertain about the third. Diana is a traditional Royal Navy name referring to the goddess, rather than a proposed commemoration of Princess Diana. The political interpretation is that cancelling the ships before announcing their names avoided a more difficult public argument. These are recollections about possible names and an explanation of timing, rather than a confirmed naming list.
Notable Point · 13:02-14:27
Proposed Type 45 names and the timing of cancellation
A recollection about Diana and Decoy raises the question of whether announcing ship names would have made later Type 45 cancellations politically harder.