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Kingfisher-class sloop

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shearwater
Class overview
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byGrimsby class
Succeeded byBittern class
Built1934–1939
In commission1935–1950
Completed9
Lost1
General characteristics
TypeSloop-of-war
Displacement
  • Kingfisher group;
  • 510 long tons (518 t) (standard)
  • Kittiwake group;
  • 530 long tons (539 t) (standard)
  • Shearwater group;
  • 580 long tons (589 t) (standard)
Length243 ft 3 in (74.1 m) o/a
Beam26 ft 6 in (8.1 m)
Draught
  • Kingfisher group; 6 ft (1.8 m)
  • Kittiwake group; 6 ft 3 in (1.9 m)
  • Shearwater group; 6 ft 6 in (2.0 m)
Propulsion
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement60
Armament

The Kingfisher class was a class of nine patrol sloops of the British Royal Navy built in three groups of three each during the 1930s, that saw service during World War II, mainly on East Coast convoys in the North Sea.

Design

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The Kingfisher class was an attempt to build a patrol vessel under 600 tons, due to the lack of clauses on vessels this size in the London Naval Treaty of 1930. It was intended it would escort coastal shipping in wartime. Its small size and short range that this entailed (it was based on a scaled-down destroyer) rendered it unsuitable for open ocean work. The design had a number of shortcomings, it was designed to too high a standard; constructed to full naval warship specifications and powered by geared steam turbine engines, it was not suitable for mass production and it was armed with only one 4-inch gun forward and depth charges aft, which severely limited their ability to defend themselves, let alone their charges.

Modifications

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The woeful lack of defensive armament was addressed early in the war by adding a multiple Vickers machine gun on the quarterdeck in the Kingfisher and Kittiwake groups, as per the Shearwaters. As they became available, two 20 mm Oerlikon guns were added, on pedestal mounts on the deckhouse aft, with the useless machine gun being replaced later with a further pair of such weapons. Centimetric Radar Type 271 was added on the roof of the bridge as it became available, this was a target indication set capable of picking up the conning tower or even the periscope or snorkel of a submarine. Radar Type 286 air warning was added at the masthead. The ships that had the Mark V gun on the open mounting HA Mark III had a shield added to give the gun crews a measure of protection on the exposed fo'c'sle.

Ships

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Kingfisher group

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Kittiwake group

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Shearwater group

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In fiction

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Nicholas Monsarrat, the author of The Cruel Sea, served in two Kingfisher-class sloops: HMS Guillemot in 1942 as First Lieutenant, and HMS Shearwater in 1943 as Captain, after they had been reclassified as corvettes. HMS Dipper and HMS Winger were the fictional names he gave to these Kingfisher class corvettes in his stories East Coast Corvette (1943) and Corvette Command (1944), written during the war when security included ship's names.

Bibliography

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  • Campbell, N. J. M. (1980). "Great Britain (including Empire Forces)". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 2–85. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
  • Friedman, Norman (2008). British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-015-4.
  • Hague, Arnold (1993). Sloops: A History of the 71 Sloops Built in Britain and Australia for the British, Australian and Indian Navies 1926–1946. Kendal, England: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-67-3.
  • Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7.