Durhamjen Your post about the Type 45 destroyers got me digging. The diesels and gas turbines on these ships are built by Rolls Royce and Wartsila, in the UK and Germany.
However, the power conversion equipment and the motors that drive the ship are from GE in the USA. These are the bits that are constantly failing apparently. Of course, we used to make these key components in the UK, at Alstom in Staffordshire - and which are used in a number of electrically powered ships around the world.
Like you, I find this a worrying trend - when we originally bought Trident from the USA, we wanted the D5 version, but were sold the older D4 (Classically shown on TV doing a sort of Catherine wheel loop before plunging back into the sea on a test firing).
More worryingly still perhaps is the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), or as it is otherwise known the Lockheed Martin F35 - this too has been grounded numerous times for electrical failures. And, we have to put catapults and steam arrester cables on the new carriers, because the JSF carrier version cannot land on the deck without them - unlike our own Harrier and Sea Harrier designs. But not to worry Lockheed Martin is developing an STOL version for us.
If it was a kettle you'd take it back to the shop and get a refund!
