The A- and B-class destroyers were a group of 18 destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the late 1920s, with two additional ships built for the Royal Canadian Navy. The British ships were divided into two flotillas of eight destroyers, each with a flotilla leader.
Design and description
The A-class design was derived from the 1926 prototypesAmazon and Ambuscade for the 1927–28 Naval Construction Programme. The initial staff requirements were unrealistic and would have resulted in a much larger, unaffordable ship; they were scaled back, both to reduce the size of the ship and to save money. Nonetheless, the design had an improved gun armament, heavier torpedo armament, and greater range, at the cost of 2 knots (3.7km/h; 2.3mph) of speed, in comparison with the prototypes. The As were fitted with the Two-Speed Destroyer Sweep (TSDS) minesweeping gear and only had a residual anti-submarine ability while the Bs were equipped with Type 119 Asdic (sonar) and had a full complement of depth charges, but could not use the TSDS. This was the beginning of the Admiralty's policy of alternating TSDS and anti-submarine capabilities between destroyer flotillas. The ships displaced 1,350–1,360 long tons (1,370–1,380t) at standard load and 1,778–1,790 long tons (1,807–1,819t) at deep load. They had an overall length of 323 feet (98.5m), a beam of 32feet 3inches (9.8m) and a draught of 12feet 3inches (3.7m). The A class had a metacentric height of 1.76 feet (0.54m) at deep load. The ships' complement was 138 officers and ratings as built, but increased in size up to 162 during the war.
The B class as designated in 1913 was a heterogeneous group of torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) built for the Royal Navy in the late 1890s. They were constructed to the individual designs of their builders to meet Admiralty specifications, the uniting feature being a specified top speed of 30 knots (56km/h) and 4 funnels, although the funnel spacings differed between ships. All "30 knotter" vessels with 4 funnels were classified by the Admiralty as the B class in 1913 to provide some system to the naming of HM destroyers.
Fourteen vessels were built by Laird Brothers at Birkenhead (in 1903 to become part of Cammell Laird, Birkenhead), seven by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Hebburn-on-Tyne, and one each by Armstrong Whitworth at Walker-on-Tyne, William Doxford and Sons at Sunderland, and J & G Thomson (later to become John Brown and Company) at Clydebank. All vessels had a distinctive "turtleback" forecastle that was intended to clear water from the bow, but actually tended to dig the bow into anything of a sea, resulting in a very wet conning position.
The B 97 class was a class of eight destroyers built for and operated by the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) during the First World War. They served throughout the war, with one being lost in 1915, five being scuttled at Scapa Flow in 1919 and one being transferred to Italy, where it remained in use until 1939.
Design
As part of its 1912 construction programme, the Imperial Russian Navy placed orders for 22 large modern destroyers (the Orfey-class destroyer) for its Baltic Fleet. In order to speed delivery of these ships, orders for the ship's machinery were placed overseas, including in Germany. The outbreak of the First World War, with Germany declaring war on Russia on 1 August, led to delivery of these machinery sets to be stopped. The AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, (now Szczecin in Poland) proposed to use this machinery to power a class of large destroyers for the Imperial German Navy, which could be built within six months. The German navy was at first unenthusiastic about Vulcan's proposal, as its torpedo flotillas consisted of smaller torpedo boats, but Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz overcame these objections, and orders for four ships were placed with Vulcan and Blohm & Voss. Two more ships were ordered from Blohm & Voss in October that year, with a final two ships being ordered in January 1915.
The B class of 1899 was a class of steam locomotives that operated on New Zealand's national rail network. An earlier B class of Double Fairlies had entered service in 1874, but as they had departed from the ownership of the New Zealand Railways (NZR) by the end of 1896, the B classification was free to be re-used. Despite early difficulties they were amongst NZRs' most influential designs.
Construction
The B class was designed as a larger, more powerful locomotive to handle mainline freight trains that were becoming too heavy for locomotives of the O, P, and T classes. The first was built in NZR's own Addington Workshops in Christchurch and entered service on 4 May 1899, and an order was placed with Sharp, Stewart and Company of Glasgow, Scotland to supply four more. The first engine from Scotland entered service on 20 December 1899, followed by the other three within the next month.
Over the course of 1901–1903, five more Bs were built in Addington Workshops, with the last entering service in May 1903. The locomotives were advanced for their time, featuring a new piston valve design and a modified form of Walschaerts valve gear, and they were designed to haul 600-long-ton (610t; 670-short-ton) freight trains on flat lines and 220 long tons (224t; 246 short tons) on the hilly section of the Main South Line between Oamaru and Dunedin. For the time, these were quite significant figures. The Addington engines were unusual in the fact that they employed a screw reverse configuration, instead of the standard reversing lever. They also had fold down seats for both driver and fireman.
The first member of the B class, nicknamed Snake, was introduced in September 1874 and it worked in Auckland; it was followed by its partner Lady Mordaunt on 5 April 1875, which was based in Otago. This lcomotive had been ordered by the Otago Provincial Coouncil to work the lightly laid Awamoko branch, but advice received by the council before it an arrived was that it was too heavy. It was sent to work elsewhere and two more locomotives were ordered instead.
(ISI), marking the start of the next major phase on the River-class destroyer programme ...sign contract for next phase of Canada's River-class destroyer programme.
The 190-strong crew of Royal Navy destroyer HMS Exmouth were on escort duty in January 1940 when their vessel was hit by a torpedo and sank within two minutes ... The lost crew of Royal Navy destroyer HMS Exmouth ... Stoker 1st ClassFrank E ASHMAN.
The ministry yesterday released footage of Taiwanese naval vessels monitoring the Chinese military ships operating around Taiwan, including a Keelung-class destroyer (formerly a Kidd-class destroyer) watching China’sType 052D destroyer the Guilin... .
According to the Pentagon, the USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer that was most recently deployed to the Middle East, departed Virginia on Saturday for its new mission of operating in US and international waters.
“The joint participation of the aircraft carriers Vikrant and Charles de Gaulle, alongside their fighter aircraft, destroyers, frigates, and an Indian Scorpene-class submarine, highlights the ...
“The joint participation of the aircraft carriers Vikrant and Charles de Gaulle, alongside their fighter aircraft, destroyers, frigates, and an Indian Scorpene-class (Kalvari) submarine, highlights ...
Hellyer points out that Australia’s three Hobart class destroyers have only 48 vertical launch systems (VLS) cells, dwarfed by the 96 aboard the US Arleigh Burke destroyer and the 112 on China’sType 055 cruiser.
Failure to bring it down trashed the contract between government and citizen, destroyed public faith in the political class and may end up putting the Tories on an electoral par with the Monster Raving Loony Party.
Castro said part of her reasoning for drafting the bill was because many of her constituents, including many teachers, have complained that cellphones are disrupting their classes ...Tornado destroys ...
Vance, who was a biotech executive early in his career, spoke of attending a Silcon Valley dinner and telling the CEO of a multi-billion company about losing middle class jobs.
The USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, is being deployed to guard the southern border ... The Arleigh Burke-class warship's presence would help "restore territorial integrity at the US southern border," officials said in a statement.
According to Roldan Esdicul, provincial disaster risk reduction and management officer, in-person classes were suspended to ensure the safety of students.
The Essex Reporter
18 Mar 2025
The Essex Reporter
18 Mar 2025