A-class (1930)
 The Active ,
the first ship of the class in service with the Royal Navy |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
The A-Class was a class of eight destroyers built for the British Royal Navy as part of the 1927 naval program. A ninth ship, the Codrington , had a slightly modified design to serve as a flotilla commander . Two destroyers very similar to the A-class ships, Saguenay and Skeena , went to the Royal Canadian Navy . The A-class destroyers came to various combat missions in World War II ; seven of the eleven ships were lost during the war.
draft
The design for the A-Class was essentially based on the two destroyers Amazon and Ambuscade from 1926. Changes included the equipment with rapid-fire guns , quadruple torpedo tubes , mine clearance equipment and generators . Part of the equipment as Asdic and throwing devices for water bombs fell victim to savings. Overall, the result was seen as rather disappointing, especially since the ships only reached a top speed of 35 knots .
The Acheron deviated from the design because it was experimentally equipped with high-pressure and high-temperature boilers, while the Codrington was longer than the other ships (105 m instead of 98 m) to accommodate the flotilla commander , his staff and other crew members. It also had a fifth 4.7-inch gun between the funnels and a higher maximum speed of 37.7 knots. However, the Codrington had a much larger turning circle, which could cause considerable difficulties when maneuvering the flotilla.
The two Canadian ships Saguenay and Skeena had slight modifications compared to the British ships. They received a reinforced bow for use in areas with ice drifts, were about a meter shorter and accordingly had a slightly smaller displacement. Another difference was different, wider chimneys.
As long as they were not lost prematurely, the equipment and armament of the destroyers were modified considerably during the course of the Second World War. This includes, for example, the equipment with radar and the radio direction finding system Huff-Duff , with additional or modified guns, v. a. Anti-aircraft guns and automatic weapons, as well as new depth charges.
The A-class was the basic design of the British fleet destroyer until 1937, of which eight further classes, each with a flotilla leader and the B- , C-, D- , E-, F- , G- , H- and I-class usually eight destroyers emerged. Only one flotilla leader and four destroyers were built of the C-Class, which was completed in 1932. With the two prototypes, 70 destroyers and nine flotilla leaders were created for the Royal Navy and two destroyers for the Royal Canadian Navy .
Similar or similar ships were mostly built at British shipyards for the navies of other countries with the eight ships of the Admiral class built in the Netherlands , the six destroyers of the Serrano class for Chile , the seven destroyers of the Vouga class for Portugal and Colombia ( five completed under license in Lisbon), the seven ships of the Boenos Aires class for Argentina , two ships for Greece and the four destroyers of the Demirhisar class for Turkey , two of which, however, were delivered to the Royal Navy because of the outbreak of World War II . Six ships ordered by Brazil were also purchased as Havant -class by the Royal Navy in 1939 shortly before their completion.
War effort
During the Second World War, the A-class ships were mainly used as escorts for convoys and warships and when hunting submarines . Seven of the eleven ships were lost in these operations, five in combat operations or mines and two in accidents. In return, the A-class destroyers sank one French, two Italian and six German submarines and damaged a battleship.
The surviving ships were decommissioned and scrapped shortly after the end of the war, as they were technically obsolete and had been used up by years of military service and were no longer usable.
A class ships
- Acasta , built by John Brown in Clydebank , completed on February 11, 1930.Sunkon June 8, 1940 west of Narvik as escort of the aircraft carrier Glorious by the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau , only one survivor. Damaged the Scharnhorst by torpedo hits.
- Achates , also built by John Brown, in service on March 27, 1930 Sankthe French submarine Argonaute near Oran in 1942, wassunkby the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper on December 31, 1942 in the Battle of the Barents Sea .
- Active , built at Hawthorn Leslie in Hebburn , completed on February 9, 1930. Sank the French submarine Monge in 1942 near Madagascarand U 179 off South Africa, in 1943 near the Azores the Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci and was at the sinking of U 340 involved near Tangier . Sold for scrapping in 1947.
- Antelope , also built at Hawthorn Leslie, in service on March 20, 1930 Sunk U 41 and U 31 near Ireland in 1940, the French submarine Monge near Madagascar in 1942and U 179 in front of South Africa and in 1943 the sinking of the Italian submarine Tritone involved in front of Bougie ( Algeria ). Sold for scrapping in 1946.
- Anthony , built at Scotts in Greenock , in service on February 14, 1930 Took part in the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in 1940. Involvedin the sinking of U 761 near Gibraltar in1944. Scrapped in 1948.
- Ardent , also built by Scotts, completed on April 14, 1930.Sunkon June 8, 1940 west of Narvik as escort of the aircraft carrier Glorious through Scharnhorst and Gneisenau , only one survivor.
- Arrow , built by Vickers-Armstrong in Barrow , in service on April 14, 1930.Irreparably damaged and decommissioned inthe explosion of the ammunition transporter Fort la Monte on August 4, 1944 in the port of Algiers .
- Acheron , built by John I. Thornycroft in Woolston , completed on October 12, 1931 with test boilers. Damaged by bombs on August 24, 1940, sunk on December 17, 1940 after being hit by mines near the Isle of Wight .
Flotilla Leader:
- Codrington , built by Swan Hunter in Wallsend , completed on June 4, 1930. Sunk on July 27, 1940 during a German air raid on Dover , Kiel broken.
- Saguenay , built by John I. Thornycroft in Woolston, completed on May 22, 1931.Damagedby collision with the merchant ship Azara on November 15, 1942, then only used as a stationary unit for training purposes. Decommissioned in 1945.
- Skeena , also built by John I. Thornycroft, completed on June 10, 1931 1942, involved in the sinking of U 588 , total loss on October 25, 1944 due to stranding near Reykjavík ( Iceland ).
literature
- Maurice Cocker, Ian Allan: Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981. ISBN 0-7110-1075-7 .
- Leo Marriott, Ian Allan: Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945. ISBN 0-7110-1817-0 .
- HT Lenton: British and Empire Warships of the Second World War. Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-277-7 .
- Robert Gardiner (Ed.): Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946. Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-913-8 .
- MJ Whitley: Destroyers of World War II, An International Encyclopedia. Arms and Armor Press, 1988, ISBN 1-85409-521-8 .
