Admiralty type destroyer leader

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HMAS Stuart (D-00/100)
HMAS Stuart
Class overview
Operators: Naval flag of Australia Royal Australian Navy
Naval flag of United Kingdom Royal Navy
Preceded by: Admiralty V class leader
Succeeded by: Thornycroft type leader
Planned: 10
Completed: 8
Cancelled: 2
Lost: 1
General characteristics
Type: Flotilla leader
Displacement: 1,580 tons
Tons burthen: 2,053 tons
Length: 322 ft 6 in (98.3 m) o/a
Beam: 31 ft 9 in (9.7 m)
Draught: 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Propulsion: 4 Yarrow-type boilers, Parsons single reduction turbines, 2 shafts, 40,000 shp
Speed: 36.5 knots
Range: 5,000 nmi (9,260 km) at 15 knots
Complement: 164
Armament: 5 × 4.7 in BL Mark I
1 × 12 pdr (3 in) HA Mark VIII
2 × triple tubes for 21 in torpedoes

The Admiralty type leader, sometimes known as the Scott class, were a class of eight destroyer leaders designed and built for the Royal Navy towards the end of World War I. They were named after Scottish historical leaders. The function of a leader was to carry the flag staff of a destroyer flotilla, therefore they were enlarged to carry additional crew, offices and signalling equipment, allowing a fifth gun to be carried. These ships were very similar to the Thornycroft type leader, but the latter had broad, slab-sided funnels characteristic of Thornycroft designs, the Admiralty type having two narrow funnels of equal height.

All except Mackay and Malcolm were completed in time for wartime service, Scott being a war loss. The two final orders - Barrington and Hughes - were cancelled with the end of the War; these two had originally been ordered to the Thornycroft leader design. Stuart was transferred to Australia in 1933. All the remaining ships except Bruce (expended as a target ship in 1939) survived service in World War II, being converted to escort ships. Montrose and Stuart had Brown-Curtis steam turbines, giving 43,000 shp for an extra ½ knot.

Contents

[edit] Ships

The prototype was ordered in April 1916 under the War Emergency Programme:

Two more were ordered in December 1916:

Five more were ordered in April 1917. The second vessel was originally named Claverhouse, but was renamed Mackay 31 December 1918:

Finally, two more were ordered in April 1918, but were cancelled with the end of the War:

  • Barrington, ordered from Cammell Laird, cancelled December 1918.
  • Hughes, ordered from Cammell Laird, cancelled December 1918.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

  • Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981, Maurice Cocker, 1983, Ian Allan ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
  • Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946, Ed. Robert Gardiner, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-913-8
  • Destroyers of World War Two : An International Encyclopedia, M J Whitley, Arms and Armour Press, 1999, ISBN 1-85409-521-8.

[edit] See also