The Captain class was a designation given to 78

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...

s of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

, constructed in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, launched in 1942–1943 and delivered to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

under the provisions of the

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

agreement (the program under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom and other

Allied nations The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Ita ...

with materiel between 1941 and 1945), they were drawn from two subclasses of the American

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

(originally ''British destroyer escort'') classification; 32 from the GMT type ''Evarts'' subclass and 46 from the TE type ''Buckley'' subclass.

Naming

It was the intention of the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

that these ships were to be named after captains that served with Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1 ...

but as building continued, it became necessary to delve back further into history for names of admirals and captains of reputation. Sixty-six of the 78 frigates bear names that had not previously been allocated earlier Royal Navy ships. ''Lawford'', ''Louis'', ''Manners'', ''Moorsom'', ''Mounsey'', ''Narborough'', ''Pasley'' and ''Seymour'' had been previously used for destroyers during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. was the fifth of that name since 1666. ''Torrington'' was the fourth of that name since 1654. ''Holmes'' had been used once before in 1671 and ''Fitzroy'', after

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...

, the pioneering meteorologist, had previously been used for a survey vessel in 1919.

Ships

''Evarts'' group (diesel-electric machinery)

The ''Evarts'' subclass had diesel-electric machinery, based on an arrangement used for submarines. There were two

shafts ''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection, ...

. Four Winton 278A 16-cylinder engines, with a combined rating of , driving

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

(GE) generators (4,800 kW) supplied power to two GE electric motors, with an output of , for . For this reason they were referred to as the GMT (General Motors Tandem) type. It had been intended to provide a further set of this machinery, for an output of to make the design speed of , but hull production greatly outstripped that of the machinery, therefore only one set of machinery was used per ship. All the DE Captains were built by Boston Navy Yard. Except who appears to be the odd one out.

''Buckley'' group (turbo-electric machinery)

The ''Buckley'' subclass had turbo-electric machinery. Because of this they were referred to as the TE type. Two

Foster Wheeler Foster Wheeler AG (formerly Foster Wheeler Inc.) was a Swiss global engineering conglomerate with its principal executive offices in Reading, UK and its registered office in Baar, Canton of Zug, Switzerland. Foster Wheeler was added to the NAS ...

Express "D"-type

water-tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gen ...

s supplied steam to GE steam turbines and generators (9,200 kW). Electric motors for drove the two shafts each fitted with a three-bladed propeller of solid manganese-bronze that was in diameter. This all electric drive-train was considered particularly innovative at the time (although the Catherine-class minesweepers had a similar arrangement). All the electric drive Captains were built by

Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when the Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works. In 1917 it was incorporated as Bethlehem Shipbuilding C ...

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

*. *. *Elliott, Peter "The Lend-Lease Captains". ''Warship International'' No.3 1972: N3/72:255. §N1/73:5. *. *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Captain class frigate List of