HMS Terpsichore in 1945
Class overview
Name	S and T class
Builders	Hawthorn Leslie and Company John Brown & Company Cammell Laird William Denny and Brothers Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company J. Samuel White Swan Hunter
Operators	Royal Navy  Royal Netherlands Navy  Royal Norwegian Navy
Preceded by	Q and R class
Succeeded by	U and V class
Subclasses	S, T
Completed	16
Lost	2
Retired	14
General characteristics
Type	Destroyer
Displacement	1,710 long tons (1,737 t) - 1,730 long tons (1,758 t) (standard nominal) 1,780 long tons (1,809 t) - 1,810 long tons (1,839 t) (actual) 2,505 long tons (2,545 t) - 2,545 long tons (2,586 t) (deep load)
Length	339 ft 6 in (103.48 m) pp 362 ft 9 in (110.57 m) oa
Beam	35 ft 8 in (10.87 m)
Draught	14 ft 2 in (4.32 m)
Propulsion	2 shaft Parsons geared turbines 2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Speed	36.75 knots (42.29 mph; 68.06 km/h)
Complement	180-225
Armament	4 × 4.7-inch (120-mm) QF Mk IX guns (4×1) 2 × 40mm Bofors (1x2) 8 × QF 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns 8 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2×4)

The S and T class was a class of sixteen destroyers of the Royal Navy launched in 1942–1943. They were built as two flotillas, known as the 5th and 6th Emergency Flotilla, and they served as fleet and convoy escorts in World War II.

Design features

The S class introduced the CP (central pivot) Mark XXII mounting for the QF Mark IX 4.7 in guns. This new mounting had a shield with a sharply raked front, to allow increased elevation (to 55 degrees), contrasting noticeably with the vertical front of the previous CP Mark XVIII, and easily differentiated the S class onwards from their immediate predecessors. Savage was the exception in this respect, being fitted with four 4.5 in guns; a twin mounting forward and two singles aft. These ships used the Fuze Keeping Clock HA Fire Control Computer.^[1]

The quadruple mounting Mark VII for the QF 2-pounder pom-poms was replaced by the twin mounting Mark IV for the 40 mm Bofors gun. Known as the "Hazemeyer" (or "Haslemere"), this advanced mounting was tri-axially stabilised in order that a target could be kept in the sights on the pitching deck of a destroyer and was fitted with an analog fire control computer and Radar Type 282, a metric range-finding set. The Hazemeyer design had been brought to Britain by the Dutch minelayer Willem van der Zaan that had escaped from the German occupation in May 1940.

The T class also was the first class to replace pole or tripod foremasts with lattice masts, which continued in subsequent War Emergency Flotillas.

Ships in class

See also

• Type 15 frigate: postwar full conversion of Wartime Emergency Programme destroyers into first-rate fast anti-submarine frigates
• Type 16 frigate: postwar partial conversion of Wartime Emergency Programme destroyers into second-rate fast anti-submarine frigates

References

Publications

• Cocker, Maurice (1981). Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981. Littlehampton Book Services. ISBN 0-7110-1075-7.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Robert Gardiner, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-913-8.
• Marriott, Leo (1994). Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945. Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1817-0.
• Raven, Alan; Roberts, John (1978). War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes. London: Bivouac Books. ISBN 0-85680-010-4.
• Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.

External links

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