HMS Dauntless is the second ship of the Type 45 or Daring-class air-defence destroyers built for the British Royal Navy. She is currently under the command of Commander Ben Dorrington. She was launched at Govan in January 2007, was handed over to the Royal Navy on 3 December 2009 and was formally commissioned on 3 June 2010.

Dauntless's construction began at the BAE Systems Naval Ships yard at Govan in August 2004 on the River Clyde. She was launched on 23 January 2007 at 3.25 pm by Lady Burnell-Nugent, wife of Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent, the then-Commander-in-Chief Fleet. Dauntless is the adopted warship of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Because her modules were put together outside at BAE Govan, it was possible to complete more of her structure than her sister ship, Daring, which was launched from the covered facility at Scotstoun the previous year.

Upon completing her fitting out stage, HMS Dauntless sailed from the Clyde for the first time on 14 November 2008 to conduct sea trials, testing power and propulsion, weapons and communications systems. Although not yet transferred to the Royal Navy, some of her future crew sailed with her. Dauntless arrived at HMNB Portsmouth for the first time on 2 December 2009, and was formally handed over to the Ministry of Defence by her builders on 3 December 2009. During her sea trials Dauntless made her inaugural visit to her affiliated city of Newcastle upon Tyne in May 2010.

Dauntless was commissioned on 3 June 2010 in the presence of her sponsor. The MoD confirmed on 1 October 2010 that she had completed the first Sea Viper firing on a Hebridean firing range earlier in the week, and the ship was accepted into service on 16 November the same year.

In May 2011, Dauntless took part in Exercise Saxon Warrior in the Western Approaches, culminating in a so-called 'Thursday War'.

In June 2011, Dauntless sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Norfolk, Virginia, to take part in the FRUKUS war game exercises between Russia, France, the United States and the United Kingdom. En route in the Atlantic she rendezvoused and conducted manoeuvres with the Russian destroyer Admiral Chabanenko, which was also heading for the FRUKUS exercises, conducting cross helicopter exercises which saw Dauntless' two Lynx helicopters land on the Admiral Chabanenko. The deployment was the first time that two Lynxs had been deployed aboard a Type 45 destroyer.

In September 2011, Dauntless was the first of the Type 45 destroyers to visit London and berthed opposite London City Airport for the Defence and Security Equipment International event. On 25 November 2011, HMS Dauntless hosted Abdullah Gül, President of the Republic of Turkey.

In January 2012, it was announced that Dauntless would deploy to the South Atlantic to replace HMS Montrose which was stationed around the Falkland Islands. The deployment was condemned by the government of Argentina, which claimed that the deployment represented a "militarization of the South Atlantic", despite the replacement representing only a modest increase in fighting capacity.