Today the Royal Navy launches its fifth Type 45 destroyer on the River Clyde.

The latest ship, HMS Defender, joins the other four Type 45 destroyers in the Royal Navy's fleet - HMS Daring, HMS Dauntless, HMS Diamond and HMS Dragon.

Like its predecessors, HMS Defender will be launched from BVT's shipyard at Govan in Glasgow.

The Type 45 destroyers have been commissioned to replace the current Type 42 destroyers, which will be gradually phased out. Each ship costs in the region of £605m and weighs over 7000 tons.

A sixth Type 45 will be launched later this year and the new vessels are due to come into service by 2010.