The Type 45 carried forward the all-forward armament philosophy used in Type 23 and a layout similar to Horizon, with 48 missile cells. The urgency to produce a destroyer pushed the design ahead while decisions about propulsion and redundancy were still being debated. Electric propulsion offered attractive possibilities, but its chosen arrangement had not yet been proved in this ship. A desire to display British technological capability encouraged the addition of other new systems at the same time. Combining several unproven technologies made their interaction harder to predict, and failures in the navy's largest surface escorts would be especially visible.
Notable Point · 31:19-33:29
A hurried destroyer design combined several unproven systems
Type 45 combined a hurried design schedule with ambitions for new propulsion and other advanced systems, increasing the risk that integration problems would emerge in service.