Haida-class destroyer

The Haida-class destroyer is the Royal Navy of Albion version of the Type 45 destroyer also in service with the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The class is primarily designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare and constructed around the Sea Viper air defence system and SAMPSON AESA and S1850M long-range radars. Three ships of the class were assembled for Albion by Seaspan Marine in partnership with BAE Systems Maritime - Naval Ships, with modifications specific to Albion's operating environment. The first ship of the class, HMRAS Haida, entered service in 2010, two years following the class's introduction in the United Kingdom.

The Type 45 destroyers were co-developed with the United Kingdom to replace both the Alban Athabascan-class and British Type 42 destroyers in service.

Procurement
Beginning in 1985, Albion joined six other NATO countries in the NFR-90 program, collaborating with the UK, the United States, France, the Netherlands, Italy and West Germany in the development of a joint air-defence guided missile destroyer. The project collapsed due to varying requirements for the different countries involved. Albion elected to cover off this capability by undertaking to refit the existing fleet of Athabascan-class destroyers under the Tribal Refit and Update Modernisation Program (TRUMP), shifting their mission from purely ASW to anti-air. However, these total reconstructions still left Albion with old ships, and a replacement would eventually be needed.

In 2000, the Liberal government of the day signed a joint agreement with the United Kingdom, which had recently pulled out of the Horizon-class frigate programme with France and the UK due to workshare requirements. The UK had undertaken the Type 45 procurement independently, but Albion's entry was in some ways viewed as a political move intended to overcome escalating costs and mounting delays on the British side. The entry of the powerhouse Alban shipbuilding sector into the procurement created efficiencies and allowed for parts to be manufactured more quickly, managing to curtail some of the cost escalation. Seaspan Marine was chosen as the prime contractor for the Alban side of the project.

All three Alban ships of the class were constructed at Seaspan Marine's Granville Shipyard at Burrard Inlet. The Alban Type 45s were designed with slight modifications in comparison to their British counterparts. Most notably, the ships were designed to utilize General Electric LM2500 gas turbines rather than the Rolls-Royce WR21 turbines utilized by the British version, a concession to the domestic ship parts manufacturing sector. The three ships were constructed with greater degrees of ice strengthening and capacity to utilize fuels better suited for Arctic and northern waters, enhancing their ability to operate in waters off Yukon or in the Northwest Passage if necessary. Additional modifications were made to ensure the ships could embark the AH-148 Petrel and AH-149 Cormorant.

A notable feature of the class's design is its gender-neutral living spaces and gender-flexible and livable accommodations: The type is the first to be purpose-built for the modern Alban gender-equal military. Accommodations are designed to allow male, female, trans, non-binary and two-spirit crew to live and fight side by side.

In recognition of Albion's naval history, the class holotype was christened HMRAS Haida in honour of the Second World War destroyer of the same name, known as "the destroyer with the heart of a battleship" for her heroic actions at the Battle of the Manning Strait.

Service
Haida was the first ship of the class to see military action, joining the coalition fleet in the Bight of Benin in 2012 in support of Operation Persistent Vision. The ship saw no actual combat but provided escort for HMRAS Illahee, HMRAS Kaigani and other Alban ships in support of the coalition forces over Mali and Azawad.