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SHIPCRAFT 11
British Destroyers A-I and TRIBAL CLASSES Text by Les Brown Plans and colour artwork by George Richardson
CONTENTS Design
Model Products
Modelmakers’ Showcase Schemes
Modifications Plans
Selected References
Copyright © Seaforth Publishing 2009
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First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Seaforth Publishing, an imprint of Pen and Sword Books Ltd, 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. S70 2AS www.pen-and-sword.co.uk And in the United States of America by Classic Warships Publishing, PO Box 57591, Tucson, Arizona 85732 www.classicwarships.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP data record for this title is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-84832-023-9 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without either prior permission in writing from the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying.
Above: The builder’s model of Amazon. Note the 4.7in BL guns in their half-shields, a feature not repeated in the following classes. (National Maritime Museum G07573)
Typeset and designed by Stephen Dent Printed and bound in China through Printworks International Ltd
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A
t the end of World War I the Royal Navy had a large number of relatively modern destroyers which were surplus to requirements. A large number of these, primarily the ‘R’ and ‘M’ classes, were sold for breaking up in the early 1920s. Many of the later ‘S’ class were sold in the 1930s but the majority of the later designs, the ‘V’s and ‘W’s, survived to fight again in World War II. There was therefore no urgent need to build replacement vessels and little inclination to develop destroyer designs. It was not until the early 1920s that new designs were finally entrusted to two private companies, each of which had a fine pedigree in destroyer design. The two companies, Thornycroft and Yarrow, were selected after the Admiralty had requested designs be submitted by five different shipbuilding companies. Their two ships, Amazon and Ambuscade respectively, were both launched within a few days of each other in January 1926 (Amazon’s launching was delayed by a few days after her naming because of bad weather), although Ambuscade had been laid down first, in December 1924, with Amazon following shortly after in January 1925. Amazon was the slightly larger vessel, 1352 tons as against 1173 for Ambuscade, but both shared similar machinery arrangements (twin shafts, Brown-Curtis turbines and
Design Yarrow boilers) and carried the same primary armament of four single 4.7in/45 BL Mk 1 guns and two triple 21in torpedo tubes. The design speed in each case was 37 knots. The Admiralty’s original requirement had been for just 35 knots, but Yarrow offered 37 knots and Thornycroft were forced to match this. On initial trials, Amazon only made 34.5 knots but after modifications she achieved 38.7 knots six months later. Ambuscade exceeded 37.6 knots during her trials and proved more economical than Amazon at speeds in excess of 25 knots. These vessels were fitted with separate Parsons cruising turbines in addition to one high and one low power and an astern turbine per shaft. Their size and armament were similar to the later destroyers of World War I but, with a speed about 3 knots faster, it was felt they offered a significant tactical advantage. Layout was similar to the ‘Modified W’ class destroyers, but with the addition of a sick bay and a surgeon’s cabin. The Transmitting Station was also relocated to the upper deck. Ambuscade was criticised as being too large, the Controller commenting that ‘the bridge appears unnecessarily large, enormous size as big as a light cruiser’s’. The bridge and its layout also received many other criticisms from the COs and other officers. Compared with US destroyers at the end of World War I, the
HMS Amazon on trials. She did not meet her design speed and underwent modifications in late 1927, going to South America for allweather trials the following year. In early 1939 she recommissioned to join HMS Vernon for Torpedo School sea training. During the war she was involved in convoy escort and anti-submarine work in home waters, the Atlantic, Arctic and Mediterranean before being withdrawn from operations in late 1943 because of the state of her hull, becoming an air target ship. Withdrawn from service in late 1944 she was used for structural tests until sold 1948.
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BRITISH DESTROYERS: A-I AND TRIBAL CLASSES
■ TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS Class Name
Leader
Length Beam Overall
Standard Displacement
Full Load Displacement
Shaft Horse Power
Speed
Range
Complement
Amazon
323ft
31ft 6in
1352t
1812t
41,500
37kts
3400nm @ 15kts
Ambuscade
322ft
31ft
1173t
1585t
33,000
37kts
3300nm @ 15kts
138
‘A’ class
323ft
32ft 3in
1337-1360t
1760-1795t
34,000
35.25kts
4800nm @ 15kts
134
Codrington ‘A’ class (Canada) ‘B’ class Keith ‘C’ class Kempenfelt ‘D’ class Duncan ‘E’ class Exmouth
138
343ft
33ft 9in
1540t
2012t
39,000
35kts
5000nm @ 15kts
185
322ft
32ft 6in
1337t
1805t
32,000
35kts
4800nm @ 15kts
138
323ft
32ft 3in
1337-1360t
1770-1819t
34,000
35.25kts
4800nm @ 15kts
138
323ft
32ft 3in
1400t
1821t
34,000
35.25kts
4800nm @ 15kts
157
329ft
33ft
1375-1400t
1865-1942t
36,000
36kts
5500nm @ 15kts
145
329ft
33ft
1390t
1901t
36,000
36kts
5500nm @ 15kts
165
329ft
33ft
1375-1400t
1865-1942t
36,000
36kts
5870nm @ 15kts
145
329ft
33ft
329ft
33ft 3in
1400t
1937t
36,000
36kts
5870nm @ 15kts
165
1350-1405t
1886-1940t
36,000
36kts
6350nm @ 15kts
145
343ft
33ft 9in
1495t
2049t
38,000
36.75kts
6500nm @ 15kts
175
329ft
33ft 3in
1350-1405t
1886-1940t
36,000
36kts
6350nm @ 15kts
145
343ft
33ft 9in
1475t
2009t
38,000
36.75kts
6350nm @ 15kts
175
323ft
33ft
1335-1370t
1854-1890t
36,000
35.5kts
5530nm @ 15kts
145
Grenville
330ft
34ft 6in
1465t
2033t
38,000
36kts
5530nm @ 15kts
178
323ft
33ft
1335-1370t
1854-1890t
34,000
35.5kts
5530nm @ 15kts
145
Hardy
330ft
34ft
1455t
1953t
38,000
36kts
5530nm @ 15kts
178
Ex-Brazilian ‘H’ class
323ft
33ft
1350t
1860t
34,000
35.5kts
5500nm @ 15kts
152
‘I’ class
323ft
33ft
1335-1370t
1854-1890t
34,000
35.5kts
5500nm @ 15kts
145
330ft
34ft
1544t
2081t
38,000
36kts
5500nm @ 15kts
178
Ex-Turkish ‘I’ class
323ft
33ft
1370t
1890t
34,000
35.5kts
5500nm @ 15kts
145
‘Tribal’ class
377ft
36ft 6in
1959t
2519t
44,000
36kts
5700nm @ 15kts
190-220
‘Tribal’ class (Australia)
377ft
36ft 6in
1959t
2519t
44,000
36kts
5700nm @ 15kts
190-220
‘Tribal’ class (Canada)
377ft
37ft 6in
1959t
2745t
44,000
36kts
5700nm @ 15kts
190-220
‘F’ class Faulknor ‘G’ class ‘H’ class
Inglefield
HMS Arrow as built, in the dark grey paintwork of the Home Fleet.
standards of habitability on both vessels still left much to be desired. The use of superheated steam in the propulsion system led to high temperatures in the machinery spaces, resulting in problems, particularly for the crew, when the ships operated in the tropics. These were the last vessels to be fitted
with the 4.7in BL Mk 1 gun on the CP VI mounting, which had a maximum elevation of just 30° and a small spray-shield, rather than the ‘quick firing’ guns fitted to later destroyers. They were also the last destroyers (apart from some of the ‘Hunt’ class escort destroyers) to be fitted with triple, rather than quadruple, torpedo
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Model Products
he scales of 1:1200/1250 have always been popular with ship collectors, particularly wargamers, and a number of complete models, usually painted plain grey with just a few highlights, have been available from many manufacturers at various times in the past. The widest range currently available comes from Neptun and includes ‘I’ (N1168), ‘G’ (N1168A) and ‘H’ (N1168A) class vessels as well as the ‘Tribal’ (N1161A) class. Plastic kits of both the ’H’
AIRFIX
The long established company of Airfix (now under new management) have produced models at both 1:1200 and 1:600 scale. The short-lived and very limited 1:1200 scale ‘Naval History Series’ included a ‘Tribal’ class destroyer. Two models were included in a simple bubble packet on a card back, which showed a typical colour scheme and contained the instructions. This waterline model had just two assembly drawings, a one-piece hull, main deck, three superstructure decks, funnels, masts, boats and armament – just twenty components in all. These models were described as ‘clip together’ but glue certainly helps with the appearance.
MOUNTFORD MINIATURES
The widest range of 1:1200/1250 scale kits currently available come from Mountford Miniatures and comprise two exBrazilian ‘H’ class (MM171 and MM172), two ‘G’ class (MM173 and MM174), three ‘H’ class (MM175, MM176 and MM177), an ‘F’ class (MM178) and a ‘Tribal’ class (MM110) destroyer. The earlier kits from this company (eg the ‘Tribal’ class) were entirely in white metal whilst later ones have resin hulls and white metal details. Each model includes pennant number decals for all vessels of the class. The differences between models of the
and ‘Tribal’ classes were available from the now long extinct Eaglewall. This company started its production in a small street in Dorking in Surrey and the current proprietor of Dorking Models, Anthony Lawrence, kindly supplied the photographs of the boxes for the ‘H’ class, HMS Hardy and HMS Cossack from his large collection. HMS Cossack comes from Series 2 – ‘Capture of the Altmark’ – and the ‘H’ class destroyers from Series 3, ‘Battle of Narvik Fjord’.
The three Eaglewall boxes depicting the ‘H’ class and ‘Tribal’ class vessels. (Photograph courtesy of Anthony Lawrence, Dorking Models)
1:1200 scale The backing card and colour diagram from Airfix’s 1:1200 scale ‘Naval History Series’
1:1200 scale
The three ‘H’ class destroyer hulls from Mountford Miniatures
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same class are in the armament, either torpedo tubes or a 3in AA gun but, in the case of the ‘H’ class, one model also includes the modified bridge. In some models, a hedgehog mortar is supplied as an alternative to the forward gun mounting. The instructions are simple but clear – just
REVELL
A completed model of the Revell 1:720 scale kit
The offering from Revell is of a ‘Tribal’ class destroyer at 1:720 scale and is only available as part of a set with a model of HMS Ark Royal. Assembly of the model,
TAMIYA
The box top artwork and colour diagram from Tamiya’s ‘E’ class Destroyer
This model, by the well known Japanese company, of an ‘E’ class destroyer initially appeared as an ‘add-on’ to Tamiya’s kit of HMS Hood but demand
a single assembly diagram. There are less than twenty details to be added to the hull and their locations are clearly moulded onto the hull. There are no colour details but a colour photograph of some completed models is included to give the modeller a guide.
1:720 scale which can be assembled either as a waterline or full-hull model, begins in diagram 8 of the Instruction Sheet. There are only six assembly diagrams with a typical camouflage paint scheme (profile only) given as diagram 14, other painting details being given in the various construction diagrams. Decals are provided for three vessels – Zulu, Eskimo and Ashanti. Assembly is very similar to that for the Airfix 1:600 scale kit but the Director Control Tower (DCT) on the bridge is more detailed and the aft mast is positioned differently and more correctly. This is a good model, certainly better than the Airfix offering, in, what has now become, a little used scale.
1:700 scale
caused it to be released separately – not surprisingly as this meant destroyer models were available without having to also pay the price for a battlecruiser model. The kit
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DEAN’S MARINE FAULKNOR 1:96 scale
S
teve decided to build this model as his grandfather had served aboard HMS Faulknor as a navigator’s yeoman during the Second World War. After some research, he purchased a profile drawing from the National Maritime Museum (9ft long at 1:48 scale) and a 1:96 scale kit of HMS Daring from Dean’s Marine. The two ships are not identical as Faulknor was a flotilla leader and hence was slightly longer and mounted a fifth 4.7in gun amidships. Steve decided not to modify the grp hull but to re-arrange the upperworks to include the additional gun. As such, this is not a true scale model but it does capture the appearance and character of Faulknor very well. The fifth gun mounting was purchased from Deans Marine. Work started with the hull and installa-
by STEVE CRAVEN-JONES
tion of the propulsion/steering gear, the kit rudder being replaced with a scale item. The deck supports were from balsa wood
and were fitted next, followed by the plasticard deck. The superstructure is also from plasticard but is modified from the instructions given in the kit to accommodate Faulknor’s additional 4.7in gun. As building progressed, more detailed differences were noted, the details appropriate to Faulknor being used. Etched brass railings are supplied in the kit and these were used for part of the model but a number of individual stanchions (200) were used elsewhere with ‘wire’ railings. The main painting was carried out using spray cans of automotive primer. The camouflage pattern was obtained from the internet. The model was weathered with a black wash and some rust to produce the very realistic appearance of a hard working vessel.
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HMS Codrington 1939
HMS Glowworm 1940
HMS Hurricane 1940
HMS Afridi 1940
HMS Diamond 1941
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PLANS 61
HMS Daring – as built
HMS Glowworm – as built
HMS Hardy – as built
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HMS Intrepid – as built
HMS Harvester – as built
HMS Hesperus – 1943