C class destroyer (1943)
Cavalier, flying paying off pennant, June 1946 |
Class overview |
Operators: |
Royal Navy
Royal Norwegian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
Pakistan Navy |
Preceded by: |
W and Z class |
Succeeded by: |
Weapon class |
Subclasses: |
Ca-, Ch-, Co-, Cr- |
In commission: |
1944 - 1972 |
Planned: |
8 |
Completed: |
32 |
Lost: |
1 |
Retired: |
30 |
Preserved: |
1 |
General characteristics Ca class |
Displacement: |
1,710 tons (1,730 tonnes)
2,530 tons full (2,570 tonnes) |
Length: |
362.75 ft (110.57 m) o/a |
Beam: |
35.75 ft (10.90 m) |
Draught: |
10 ft (3.0 m) |
Propulsion: |
2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers,
Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines,
40,000 shp (29.8 MW), 2 shafts |
Speed: |
36 kt / 32 kt full |
Range: |
4,675 nmi at 20 kt
1,400 nmi at 32 kt |
Complement: |
186 (222 as leader |
Sensors and
processing systems: |
- Radar Type 276 target indication
- Radar Type 291 air warning
- Radar Type 285 fire control on director Type K
- Radar Type 282 fire control on 40 mm mount Mk.IV
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Armament: |
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General characteristics (Ch-, Co- & Cr- class) |
Displacement: |
1,885 tons (1,915 tonnes)
2,545 tons full (2,585 tonnes) |
Draught: |
11.75 ft (3.58 m) |
Sensors and
processing systems: |
Radar Type 275 fire control on director Mk.VI |
Armament: |
- 8 (2x4) tubes for 21 inch torpedoes Mk.IX
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Notes: |
Other characteristics as per Ca- class |
The C class was a class of 32 destroyers of the Royal Navy that were launched from 1943 to 1945. The class was built in four flotillas of 8 vessels, the Ca, Ch, Co and Cr classes, ordered as the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Emergency Flotillas respectively. The class names are derived from the initial 2 letters of the member ships' names, although the Ca class were originally ordered with a heterogeneous mix of traditional destroyer names. A fifth flotilla, the Ce class, was planned but were cancelled in favour of the Weapon class destroyers.
Design
They were built as part of the War Emergency Programme, based on the hull and machinery of the pre-war J class, incorporating whatever advances in armament and naval radar were available at the time. Some of the class were completed in time for wartime service. All ships used the Fuze Keeping Clock High Angle Fire Control Computer.[1]
The Ca flotilla were generally repeats of the preceding W and Z class, while the Ch, Co and Cr flotillas had quadruple instead of pentuple torpedo tubes to compensate for the added weight of remote power control (RPC) gunlaying equipment. They also introduced the all-welded hull into Royal Navy destroyer construction, beginning in Contest.
Caprice was the last destroyer built for the Royal Navy to be fitted with the ubiquitous quadruple QF 2 pounder "pom-pom" mounting Mark VII. Comet and Contest were fitted as minelayers, and lacked 'Y' 4.5 inch gun.
The Ca flotilla were reconstructed in the 1960s to serve as fast fleet escorts.
Ships
* = flotilla leaders
- Ca flotilla
- Caesar* (ex-Ranger), built by John Brown & Company, Clydebank, launched 14 February 1944, sold for scrapping 1966
- Cambrian (ex-Spitfire), built by Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Greenock, launched 10 December 1943, sold for scrapping 1971
- Caprice (ex-Swallow), built by Yarrow & Company, Scotstoun, launched 16 September 1943, sold for scrapping 1979
- Carron (ex-Strenuous), built by Scotts, launched 28 March 1944, sold for scrapping 1967
- Carysfort (ex-Pique), built by J. Samuel White, Cowes, launched 25 July 1944, sold for scrapping 1970
- Cassandra (ex-Tourmaline), built by Yarrow, launched 29 November 1943, sold for scrapping 1967
- Cavalier (ex-Pellew), built by White, launched 7 April 1944, sold into preservation 1977, currently preserved at Chatham Historic Dockyard, Kent
- Cavendish* (ex-Sibyl), built by John Brown, launched 12 April 1944, sold for scrapping 1967
- Ch flotilla
- Chaplet, built by John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston, launched 18 July 1944, sold for scrapping 1965
- Charity, built by Thornycroft, launched 30 November 1944, to Pakistan Navy as Shah Jehan 1959,was scrapped in end 70's early 80's, I have been aboard PNS SHAHJAHAN( EX HMS CHARITY)in 1978.PNS Khaibar, Battle Claas destroyer was sunk by Indian Navy warships off Karachi 1971-12-04, but SHAHJAHAN was hit by missiles from the OSA class missile boats and luckily survived.
- Chequers* , built by Scotts, launched 30 October 1944, sold for scrapping 1966
- Cheviot, built by Alexander Stephen & Sons, Linthouse, launched 2 May 1944, sold for scrapping 1966
- Chevron, built by Stephen, launched 23 February 1944, sold for scrapping 1969
- Chieftain, built by Scotts, launched 26 February 1945, sold for scrapping 1961
- Childers* , built by William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton, launched 27 February 1945. sold for scrapping 1963
- Chivalrous, built by Denny, launched 22 June 1945 to Pakistan 1954 as Taimur, sold out of service
- CO flotilla
- Cockade, built by Yarrow, launched 7 March 1944, sold for scrapping 1964
- Comet, built by Yarrow, launched 22 June 1944, sold for scrapping 1962
- Comus, built by Thornycroft, launched 14 March 1945, sold for scrapping 1958
- Concord (ex-Corso), built by Thornycroft, launched 14 May 1945, sold for scrapping 1962
- Consort, built by Stephen, launched 19 October 1944, sold for scrapping 1961
- Constance* , built by Vickers Armstrongs, Walker, launched 22 August 1944, sold for scrapping 1956
- Contest, built by White, launched 16 December 1944, sold for scrapping 1960
- Cossack* , built by Vickers Armstrongs, launched 10 May 1944, sold for scrapping 1961
- CR flotilla
- Creole, built by White, launched 22 November 1945, to Pakistan as Alamgir 1958, sold out of service
- Crescent, built by John Brown, launched 20 July 1944, to Royal Canadian Navy 1945, sold for scrapping 1971
- Crispin (ex-Craccher), built by White, launched 23 June 1945, to Pakistan as Jahangir 1958, sold out of service
- Cromwell (ex-Cretan), built by Scotts, launched 6 August 1945, to Royal Norwegian Navy as Bergen 1946, sold out of service
- Crown, built by Scotts, launched 19 December 1945 to Norway as Oslo 1946, sold out of service
- Croziers, built by Yarrow, launched 19 September 1944 to Norway as Trondheim 1946, sold for scrapping 1961
- Crusader, built by John Brown, launched 5 October 1944, to Canada 1946, sold for scrapping 1964
- Crystal, built by Yarrow, launched 12 February 1945, to Norway as Stavanger 1946, sold out of service
Image gallery
See also
References
- ^ Destroyer Weapons of WW2, Hodges/Friedman, ISBN 0851771378
- Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981, Maurice Cocker, Ian Allan, ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
- British and Empire Warships of the Second World War, H. T. Lenton, Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-277-7
External links
C-class destroyer (1943)
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Royal Navy |
Ca- class
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Ch- class
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Chaplet · Charity · Chequers · Cheviot · Chevron · Chieftain · Childers · Chivalrous
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Co- class
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Cr- class
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Creole · Crescent · Crispin · Cromwell · Crown · Croziers · Crusader · Crystal
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