C and D-class destroyer
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | C and D |
Operators | |
Preceded by | A- and B class |
Succeeded by | E and F class |
Subclasses | C, D |
Built | 1930–1933 |
In commission | 1932–1945 |
Planned | 14 |
Completed | 14 |
Lost | 10 |
General characteristics (HMS Dainty as built) | |
Type | Destroyer |
Displacement | |
Length | 329 ft (100.3 m) (o/a) |
Beam | 33 ft (10.1 m) |
Draught | 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | 2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines |
Speed | 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) |
Range | 5,870 nmi (10,870 km; 6,760 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Complement | 145 |
Sensors and processing systems | ASDIC |
Armament |
|
The C and D class was a group of 14 destroyers built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. As in previous years, it was originally intended to order a complete flotilla comprising eight destroyers—plus a flotilla leader as the ninth unit—in each year. However, only four ships—plus a leader—were ordered under the 1929–1930 Programme as the C class. The other four ships planned for the C class were never ordered as an economy measure and disarmament gesture by the Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald. A complete flotilla—the 'D' class—was ordered under the 1930–1931 Programme.
The five ships of the C class were assigned to
The D-class destroyers were initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet upon
The four ships that remained with the Mediterranean Fleet sank three Italian submarines in 1940 while escorting
Design and description
These ships were based on the preceding
The C- and D-class destroyers displaced 1,375 long tons (1,397 t) at
Kempenfelt, leader of the C class, displaced 15 long tons (15 t) more than her destroyers and carried an extra 30 personnel who formed the staff of the Captain (D), commanding officer of the flotilla.[4] Unique among the C and D-class ships, she had three Yarrow water-tube boilers that operated at a pressure of 310 psi (2,137 kPa; 22 kgf/cm2).[1] Duncan, leader of the 'D' class, displaced 25 long tons (25 t) more than her destroyers and also carried an extra 30 personnel.[5]
All of the ships of the class mounted four 45-
The main guns were controlled by an
When purchased by Canada in 1937–38, the four C-class destroyers were refitted to meet Canadian specifications,
Wartime modifications
Beginning in May 1940, the after bank of torpedo tubes was removed and replaced with a
Most ships had their
Ships
Name | Builder[13] | Laid down[13]
|
Launched[13] | Completed[13] | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kempenfelt | J. Samuel White, Cowes | 18 October 1930 | 29 October 1931 | 30 May 1932 | To Canada as HMCS Assiniboine 1939, wrecked on Prince Edward Island, 10 November 1945; scrapped 1952[4] |
Comet | HM Dockyard, Portsmouth | 12 September 1930 | 30 September 1931 | 2 June 1932 | To Canada as HMCS Restigouche 1938, scrapped 1946[14] |
Crusader | 2 May 1932 | To Canada as HMCS Ottawa 1938, torpedoed by the German submarine U-91, 13 September 1942[15] | |||
Cygnet | Vickers Armstrongs, Barrow
|
1 December 1930 | 29 September 1931 | 15 April 1932 | To Canada as HMCS St. Laurent 1937; scrapped 1947[16] |
Crescent | 1 April 1934[13] | To Canada as HMCS Fraser 1937, sunk in collision with HMS Calcutta, 25 June 1940[17] |
Name | Builder[18] | Laid down[18] | Launched[18] | Completed[18] | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Duncan | HM Dockyard, Portsmouth | 25 September 1931 | 7 July 1932 | 31 March 1933 | Scrapped, 1945[19] |
Dainty | Fairfield, Govan
|
20 April 1931 | 3 May 1932 | 22 December 1932 | Bombed and sunk, 24 February 1941[20] |
Daring | Woolston
|
18 June 1931 | 7 April 1932 | 25 November 1932 | Sunk by the German submarine U-23, 18 February 1940[20] |
Decoy | 25 June 1931 | 7 June 1932 | 17 January 1933 | To Canada as HMCS Kootenay 1943; sold for scrap, 1946[21] | |
Defender | Vickers Armstrongs, Barrow | 22 June 1931 | 7 April 1932 | 31 October 1932 | Bombed and sunk, 11 July 1941[22] |
Delight | Fairfield, Govan | 22 April 1931 | 2 June 1932 | 31 January 1933 | Bombed and sunk, 29 July 1940[23] |
Diamond | Vickers Armstrongs, Barrow | 29 September 1931 | 8 April 1932 | 3 November 1932 | Bombed and sunk, 27 April 1941[24] |
Diana | Palmers, Jarrow | 12 June 1931 | 16 June 1932 | 21 December 1932 | To Canada as HMCS Margaree 1940, sunk in collision with MV Port Fairy, 22 October 1940[25] |
Duchess | 19 July 1932 | 27 January 1933 | Sunk in collision with HMS Barham, 12 December 1939 |
Service
All five of the C class were assigned to the
The remaining ships spent most of the rest of the war escorting convoys in the North Atlantic, based in either Canada or the UK. Ottawa assisted the British destroyer
Upon commissioning in 1932–33, the D class formed the 1st Destroyer Flotilla assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. The flotilla toured the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea in September–November 1933. After refitting in the UK during 1934, the flotilla was transferred to the China Station, arriving at Hong Kong in January 1935 and renumbered as the 8th Destroyer Flotilla. Most of the flotilla was sent to the Red Sea during the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935–36. They returned to the Hong Kong in mid-1936 and remained there until World War II began. Diamond was in the midst of a refit that lasted until November, but the rest of the flotilla was immediately transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet. Daring was kept in the Red Sea for escort duties until November, but the rest of the flotilla was used on contraband patrol duties upon arrival. They all needed repairs which were made before the end of the year.[28]
Duncan, Diana, Duchess, Delight and Daring were transferred to the Home Fleet in December 1939, although Duchess was rammed and sunk on 10 December by the
The remaining four ships of the flotilla were briefly assigned to
While patrolling the North African coast on 24 February with the destroyer
Decoy was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in March and was escorting Force B when the
Decoy was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy on 1 March 1943 during her conversion and was recommissioned on 12 April with the new name of HMCS Kootenay (the ship was gifted to the Canadians on 15 June). After working up, she was assigned to
After a lengthy refit in Canada from October 1944 to February 1945, Kootenay returned to the UK and was assigned to the Western Approaches Command until the end of the war. She then transported returning troops in Canada until paid off in October. She was sold for scrap in 1946. Duncan was paid off in May and sold in July although she was not completely broken up until 1949.[29]
See also
Notes
- ^ "cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 30 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Lenton, p. 154
- ^ Friedman, pp. 205–215, 298–299
- ^ Whitley, pp. 26, 102
- ^ a b Whitley, p. 27
- ^ Whitley, p. 101
- ^ Lenton, pp. 154–55
- ^ Hodges and Friedman, pp. 12, 17
- ^ Douglas, p. 52
- ^ Brown, p. 164
- ^ Douglas, p. 65
- ^ a b c Lenton, pp. 154–56
- ^ Friedman, pp. 236–37
- ^ a b c d e English, p. 45
- ^ English, p. 47
- ^ English, p. 49
- ^ English, p. 50
- ^ English, p. 48
- ^ a b c d English, p. 51
- ^ English, p. 53
- ^ a b English, p. 54
- ^ English, p. 56
- ^ English, p. 57
- ^ English, p. 58
- ^ English, p. 59
- ^ English, p. 60
- ^ a b English, pp. 45–50
- ^ Douglas, pp. 568–70
- ^ a b c d e f English, pp. 51–60
- ^ a b c English, pp. 53, 56
- ^ Rohwer, p. 283
References
- ISBN 978-1-59114-012-2.
- Douglas, W. A. B.; Sarty, Roger; Michael Whitby; Robert H. Caldwell; William Johnston & William G. P. Rawling (2002). No Higher Purpose. The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1939–1943. Vol. 2, pt. 1. St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell. ISBN 1-55125-061-6.
- English, John (1993). Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. Kendal, England: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-64-9.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-081-8.
- Hodges, Peter & Friedman, Norman (1979). Destroyer Weapons of World War 2. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-87021-929-4.
- ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
External links
- Media related to C and D class destroyers (1932) at Wikimedia Commons