United Kingdom (1943-44) 78 US LL DDE The Captain class were 78 US-built destroyer escorts, transferred to the Royal Navy in World War II under Lend-Lease. They were identical to the first GMT or Evarts class “short-hull” destroyer escorts for 32 leased, then 46 of the Buckley class (TE type) “long-hull”. Officially classified as frigates … Read more
UK Royal Navy: 23 (86 total) ships. The Hunt class were escort destroyer of the Royal Navy, with first vessels ordered early in 1939 specifically to taking on escort roles and free resgular destroyer for fleet work. The very first serie, seen here, was a famous design disaster in which stablilitary calculations proved totally wrong. … Read more
United Kingdom/Canada – (1940-45): 44 ships, 95 planned, 51 cancelled. We saw the Flower class corvettes in detail back in September 2022, and they were a very important part of the Battle of the Atlantic, freeing military yards for more important repairs and constructions while still being well adapted to their rough north Atlantic escort … Read more
Royal Navy (1928-31) A class: HMS Acasta, Achates, Active, Antelope, Anthony, Ardent, Arrow, Acheron Canadian A class: HMCS Saguenay, Skeena A class Leader: HMS Codrington B-class: HMS Basilisk, Beagle, Blanche, Boadicea, Boreas, Brazen, Brilliant, Bulldog B-class leader: HMS Keith The first interwar British Royal Navy destroyers were the A and B classes, identical and built … Read more
Minelayer cruisers – HMS Abdiel, Latona, Manxman, Welshman, Ariadne, Apollo The Abdiel class were six fast minelayers (cruisers) commissioned during the Second World War, built in two groups, one ordered in 1938, the second in wartime and commissioned in 1943. They were known as the Manxman class of just the “mine-laying cruisers”, armed only with … Read more
UK Royal Navy (1916-1945) 1916 program: HMS Shakespeare, Spenser, Wallace, Keppel, Rooke, Saunders*, Stragge* (Built 1916-1920). The Shakespeare or “Thornycroft Type” were Flotilla leaders which type was developed already in 1913, after acknowledging the failure of HMS Swift as an in-between cruisers and destroyers. Thus by October 1913 the admiralty worked on a new design, … Read more
United Kingdom, Nuclear Powered Attack Submarine (1963-1980). For the seventh use of the world’s famous name “dreadnought” UK saw its most fitting application could only be its first nuclear-powered submarine. The fruit of long R&D started in Britain postwar, HMS Dreadnought (S101) was a design worked on from 1954 -with opposition from Hyman Rickover at … Read more
Royal Navy – Escort Aircraft Carriers (1942-44)HMS Slinger, Atheling, Emperor, Ameer, Begum, Trumpeter, Empress, Khedive, Speaker, Nabob, Premier, Shah, Patroller, Rajah, Ranee, Trouncer, Thane, Queen, Ruler, Arbiter, Smiter, Puncher, Reaper The 23 Ameer (Ruler) class CVE (escort carriers), alongside with the 11 Attacker and 3 Avengers, made the largest bulk of escorts carriers in the … Read more
United Kingdom (1945) – HMS Blake, Tiger, Lion 1959-78. The Tiger class were three and last light conventional cruisers built for the Royal Navy. They were initially known as the Minotaur-class cruisers (Blake, Defence and Bellerophon) and started in late WW2 but shelved due to post-war austerity. Amidst changing priorities and still under financial limits, … Read more
Oceanic Submersibles 1945-1974: 46 ordered Programme 1943, 16 completed: Amphion, Astute, Auriga, Aurochs, Alcide, Alderney, Alliance, Ambus, Anchorite, Andrew, Affray, Aeneas, Alaric, Artemis, Artful, Acheron. Cancelled under completion: Ace, Achates The “A class” or Amphion, were the last submersibles planned by the British admiralty in WW2, designed for Operations in the Pacific. Indeed after Pearl … Read more
