B-Class (1930)
 The Blanche , the first ship of the class in service with the Royal Navy
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
The B-Class was a class of eight destroyers built for the British Royal Navy as part of the 1928 naval program. A ninth ship, HMS Keith , had a slightly modified design to serve as a flotilla commander . The destroyers of the B-class came to various combat missions in World War II ; five of the nine ships were lost during the war.
The Boreas was made available to the Greek Navy in 1944 , which returned the ship to the Royal Navy in 1951. It was then scrapped as the last ship in the class. The three other surviving ships in the class had already been scrapped between 1946 and 1948.
draft
The design for the B-class was based on the design for the previous A-class , the ships of which were only launched after most of the B-class ships were keeled. Changes concerned a. the equipment with depth charges and the installation of a sonar device. The strengthening of anti-submarine capabilities led to the abandonment of the equipment for clearing mines that had to be installed in the A-Class . The B-Class destroyers had a standard displacement of 1,360 ts and 1,780 ts when fully equipped. Like the A-class destroyers, they were 323 ft long overall , 32.25 ft wide and 12.25 ft deep. They were propelled by two shafts from usually Parsons geared turbines , which had a maximum output of Reached 35,500 hp and gave the destroyer a top speed of 35.25 knots (kn). Only the two destroyers Basilisk and Beagle to be manufactured in Clydebank at John Brown & Co. received Brown Curtis geared turbines from their shipyard. The steam for the turbines was generated on all ships in three Admirality 3-drum boilers . Proposals to install two high-pressure and high-temperature boilers instead of the previous three low-pressure boilers were rejected by the Admiralty . The Acheron remained the only British destroyer with such a boiler. The bunker stock of up to 390 tn.l. Heating oil gave the destroyers a range of up to 4,800 nautical miles at 15 knots.
The destroyers were armed with four individual 120 mm L / 45 Mk.IX guns . To defend themselves against aircraft, two 40 mm “pompom” guns were installed on a platform between the funnels. For this purpose, she had two four-fold sets of 21-inch torpedo tubes on deck and carried 20 depth charges to combat submarines , which were deployed with two depth charge launchers and a drop rail.
The flotilla leader Keith built for the class was largely identical and, compared to the other ships, only had additional rooms to accommodate the flotilla commander and his staff. This resulted in a displacement of 1,400 ts standard and a maximum of 1,821 ts. However, it did not offer space for all additional members of the flotilla staff, who had to be distributed to other destroyers.
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 . The five B-class destroyers still in existence in the second half of 1940 gave up their 120-mm rear gun and the rear torpedo set. In their place were two additional Wabo launchers at the stern as well as a water bomb supply increased to 70 water bombs and a 1 76 mm L / 40 (12 pdr) flak in front of the rear deckhouse . There were also gradually equipping with radar and Funkpeilungssystem Huff-Duff , with additional 20-mm Oerlikon - machine guns , which eventually replaced as the twin guns 40 mm pompoms and other gains of the depth charge supply of ships up to 125 pieces. At least the Beagle and Bulldog received another weapon against submarines with the volley launcher Hedgehog , but had to surrender another 120 mm gun and the 76 mm anti-aircraft gun. The Bulldog was in 1944 still ahead at the bow a 40mm Pompom hunting gun to better fight speedboats.
Use of the class
After their commissioning between February and June 1931, the eight destroyers of the class with their flotilla leader Keith formed the equipment of the 4th British destroyer flotilla in the Mediterranean fleet . They replaced the Shakespeare class Broke and eight V and W class destroyers in the flotilla . The demands on the flotilla increased from 1935 onwards due to the British-Italian conflict caused by the Abyssinia crisis with a considerable increase in the British military presence in and around the Mediterranean, the Spanish Civil War that began in 1936 and the participation of Great Britain in the so-called neutrality patrols, the arms deliveries to the warring parties should prevent. The destroyers of the B-class carried out their routine shipyard lay days in the British naval bases on the Mediterranean. In 1936, the ships were due for extensive overhauls that were to be carried out at home. Relocated to reinforcement from the Home Fleet in the Mediterranean because of the Abyssinia crisis , “2. British Destroyer Flotilla ”with its mixed equipment of destroyers of the C-Class and V-Class should therefore replace the“ 4th Destroyer Flotilla ”in the Mediterranean at the end of 1936 and at the same time be converted to the new H-Class destroyers currently in service with the Royal Navy came. As early as August 1936 on the march for the major overhaul in the English Channel , shortly before his destination, the B flotilla leader Keith collided with a Greek steamer, which sank. The badly damaged Keith was then taken out of service for repairs and was assigned to the reserve as one of the first newbuildings. The C-Flotilla Leader Kempenfelt took over her duties with the “4th Destroyer Flotilla” . In fact, quite a number of B-Class destroyers remained in service off Spain. So the destroyer rescued Boreas , Brilliant and Blanche with the Kempenfelt on 6 March 1938 the shipwrecked in the Battle of Cape Palos sunken heavy cruiser Baleares the Nationalists . The “4th Destroyer Flotilla” was probably not used in the Home Fleet when closed. In April 1939, the “1st Tribal Flotilla” of the “Mediterranean Fleet” took over the flotilla number and the B-class ships were transferred to the reserve. However, some still did special tasks. All ships of the class were manned again for the inspection of the reserve fleet at the beginning of August 1939 and were ready for action at the start of the war.
War missions
Seven B-class destroyers formed the new "19th Destroyer Flottilla" in Dover on September 1, 1939, with the A-class Codrington as the flotilla leader. As the eighth destroyer, Keith joined the flotilla in mid-September , which had previously been assigned as the flotilla leader of the 17th Destroyer Flottilla in Plymouth . The Bulldog of the 19th Flotilla was the only ship of the class that was not available to the 19th Flotilla, but was with the aircraft carrier Glorious in Alexandria as a backup destroyer and only returned to Great Britain after the German attack on Norway (Weser Exercise Company).
On November 13, 1939, the Blanche was the Royal Navy's first destroyer to be lost to enemy action in World War II when it sank after a mine hit in the Thames estuary. In the spring of 1940 three ships of the class were then used in the Home Fleet off Norway. On June 1, 1940, the flotilla leader Keith and the Basilisk were sunk off Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo by the German Air Force . In July, the Brazen in the canal was also lost by the Air Force, while the destroyers Brilliant and Boreas were brought in a few days later after air raids despite severe damage and were operational again after a few months of repairs. The Boadicea was also down for several months in June 1940 after a heavy air raid in the canal.
The ships of the class were primarily used as escorts for convoys and warships and in hunting submarines during World War II . They were mainly used in the Atlantic and in northern sea convoys , but also in the Mediterranean. Five of the nine ships were lost in these missions. The last war loss after the aforementioned losses was the Boadicea in June 1944 , which was sunk by German torpedo bombers while securing a supply escort for the invasion forces in the canal. In return, the B-class destroyers sank three German submarines and a French mine sweeper from the Vichy armed forces .
The ships that had not been destroyed 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 could no longer be used. Only Boreas , loaned to Greece in 1944, remained in service under the new name Salamis until 1951. The destroyer then returned to the Royal Navy was scrapped in 1952 as the last existing ship of the class.
The ships of the B class
- Blanche , built by Hawthorn Leslie , entered service in February 1931. -Sankon November 13, 1939 after being hit by aminein the Thames estuary.
- Flotilla Leader Keith , built by Vickers at Barrow , commissioned in June 1931. - Sunk by German bombers on June 1, 1940 off Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo
- Basilisk , built by John Brown , put into service in March 1931. - Sunk by German bombers on June 1, 1940 off Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo.
- Brazen , built by Palmers , put into service in April 1931. -Involvedin the sinking of U 49 at the Norway company; Sunkby German dive bombers on July 21, 1940 off Dover .
- Boadicea , built by Hawthorn Leslie, entered service in April 1931. -Damaged by French destroyers during Operation Torch off Oran in 1942; sunk by air torpedoafter landing in Normandy ( Operation Neptune ) on June 13, 1944 off Portland .
- Beagle , built by John Brown, entered service in April 1931. - Took part in the battle for the North Sea Convoy QP 11 in May 1942 in the North Sea , scrapped in 1946.
- Bulldog , built by Swan Hunter , entered service in April 1931. - Sunk in May 1941 U 110 , with large amounts of encryption material and an Enigma machine being captured, and in June 1944 U 719 ; also took part in battles for the convoys QP 11 and JW 51B in the North Sea; Wrecked in 1946.
- Brilliant , built by Swan Hunter, entered service in February 1931. - Was involved in the sinking of the German supply ships Esso Hamburg and Egerland at the beginning of June 1941; sank French sloop La Surprise during Operation Torch; Wrecked in 1947.
- Boreas , built by Palmers, entered service in February 1931. - Awarded to Greece in April 1944 and renamed Salamis ; Returned in 1951 and sold for scrap.
Individual evidence
- ^ Whitley, p. 99.
Remarks
- ↑ Before the B-Class units, the 4th Destroyer Flotilla had Vampire , Verity , Venomous , Volunteer , Whitshed , Wolsey , Woolston and Wren and, since October 1930, the prototype of the new destroyer Amazon , which until the end of 1932 alongside the incoming B destroyers was used.
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 .
Web links
HMS Keith (Flotilla Leader) †
HMS Basilisk † |
Beagle |
Blanche † |
Boadicea † |
Boreas / Salamis 
|
Brazen † |
Brilliant |
Bulldog