The G-class destroyers were a proposed
class
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Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...
of eight
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s of the
Royal Navy ordered during the
Second World War under the 1944 Programme. Two were ordered (from Yarrow) on 24 July 1944, and six more on 30 August 1944, but all were cancelled on 13 December 1945, after the end of the war.
The class was to be an improvement on the . It has been referred to as the ''Gael'' class or ''Gallant'' class of destroyers.
Design
The G-class destroyers were proposed for the Royal Navy's shipbuilding programme as a follow-on to the
Weapon class. Like the Weapons, the G class were meant as a smaller destroyer, capable of being built in facilities that could not manage the larger or ships. The major change was to replace the Weapons' main gun armament of six 4-inch guns with four
4.5 inch guns in the new Mk. VI twin mountings.
[Lenton 1970, p. 79.][Whitley 2000, p. 142.]
The new class used the same machinery as the Weapon class, arranged in the "unit" system, with two separate boiler rooms and engine rooms, meaning that a single hit was unlikely to cause a total loss of power.
[Whitley 2000, pp. 141–142.] Two
Foster Wheeler
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boilers fed steam at and to a pair of geared
steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s, generating and driving two propeller shafts. This was intended to give a maximum speed of .
[Lenton 1970, p. 81.] While the hull, with a length of
between perpendiculars and
overall, was of similar design to that of the Weapons, the design's
beam
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increased from to to accommodate the greater top-weight of the ships' armament and fire control equipment.
The two dual-purpose (anti-surface and anti-aircraft) 4.5 inch mounts, capable of firing a shell to a range of (with a maximum altitude in anti-aircraft fire of ) at a rate of 12 rounds per barrel per minute,
[Friedman 1997, p. 458.] were mounted one forward and one aft. Close in anti-aircraft armament consisted of six
Bofors 40 mm gun Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors:
*Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s
...
s, with two twin mounts and two single mounts. Ten 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes were fitted, in two quintuple mounts.
Ships
Notes
Notes
References
References
*
*
*
*
*''Warships of World War II'', Pt 2, HT Lenton and JJ Colledge, Ian Allan 1962?
{{DEFAULTSORT:G-class destroyer (1944)
Destroyer classes
Ship classes of the Royal Navy