Royal Navy in hot water as engines of Britain’s flagship £1bn destroyers break down in middle of sea

The Royal Navy’s fleet of Type 45 destroyers are breaking down because their engines cannot cope with the Persian Gulf’s warm waters.

Rolls-Royce are blaming extremes of temperature in the Middle East for the repeated power outages that have left Britain’s best fighting ships without propulsion or weapons systems.

Six Clyde-built Type 45 destroyers need work expected to cost tens of millions of pounds after a string of power failures.

If it is not done, the vessels could be left as sitting ducks in battle if the UK is in a major conflict at sea again.

A Whitehall source said: “We can’t have warships that cannot operate if the water is warmer than it is in Portsmouth harbour.

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