P class sloop

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P-class The White Ensign of the Royal Navy.
General characteristics
Displacement: 613 tons normal
Length: 230 ft (p.p.), 244 ft 6 in (o.a.)
Beam: 23 ft 9 in
Draught: 8 ft (mean)
Propulsion: Machinery: 2 sets steam turbine. Boilers: 2 cylindrical. 2 screws.
Range: Oil fuel:
Speed: I.H.P. 3,500 = 20 kts.
Complement: 50 - 54 men
Armament: Designed to mount 1 x 4 in(102mm), 1 x QF 2-pounder (40mm) A/A and 2 x 14-in torpedo tubes.

The P class, nominally described as "patrol boats", was in effect a class of coastal sloops. Twenty-four ships to this design were ordered in May 1915 (numbered P.11 to P.34) and another thirty between February and June 1916 (numbered P.35 to P.64) under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I, although ten of the latter group were in December 1916 altered on the stocks before launch for use as decoy Q-ships and were renumbered as PC class sloops. None were named, although in 1925 the P.38 was given the name Spey.

These vessels were designed to replace destroyers in coastal operations, but had twin screws, a very low freeboard, ram bows of hardened steel, a sharply cutaway funnel and a small turning circle. Clearly seen as the linear descendants of the late 19th century steam torpedo boats and coastal destroyers, many were actally fitted with the 14 in torpedo tubes removed from old torpedo boats.

[edit] Ships

1915 batch:

1916 batch:

[edit] References

  • British and Empire Warships of the Second World War, H T Lenton, 1998, Greenhill Books, ISBN 978-1-85367-277-4
  • Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I, Janes Publishing, 1919
  • The Grand Fleet, Warship Design and Development 1906-1922, D. K. Brown, Chatham Publishing, 1999, ISBN 978-1-86176-099-9

Template:P class sloop