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At the same time, roughly, that the Farragut class was designed, requirements for a destroyer leader were circulated among the Bureaus. The main problem which these ships were to deal with was the lack of available light cruisers to aid the other destroyers in their torpedo attacks; the main mission of the new leaders would be to use their gun armament to break through the enemy screen and allow the following destroyers to do likewise. In May 1928, an initial design was proposed, which developed through the following years and culminated in an August 1930 request by the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet, for development of such a leader. By late 1930, the unanimous opinion of the fleet was that a large destroyer was needed to take over some of the duties of the preferable, but hard-to-get, light cruisers. The European war soon indicated that heavier anti-air weaponry was needed by destroyers, but all plans for modifying the Porters to hold dual-purpose mounts turned out initially useless for a lack of such mounts. In 1941, the heavy after superstructure and main mast were removed, seriously altering the appearance of these ships. The removal of the heavy fire-control equipment allowed for the installation of two 20mm and another 28mm mount, and the addition of a Mk3 (FC) fire-control radar. Also removed were the containers for reserve torpedoes.
Displacement: 2840 tons
Dimensions: 114.33 x 11.1 x 4.17 (lenght x beam xdraft) mt
Propulsion: 4x boilers, 2 turbines, 50000 shp
Speed: 36.4 knots
Main Armament: 5x 136mm cannon
Secondary Armament: 2x 533mm quadruple torpedo tubes
AA: 2x 40mm twin guns, 1x 40 mm quadruple aa mounts
Crew: 294
British J Class
In common with the United States Navy, the Royal Navy had come out of World War One with a large number of new destroyers. Because of the large quantity of the V & W ships, there was no need for new construction for most of the 1920s. One experimental prototype was laid down in 1924 Amazon and 1925 Ambuscade, just to test technical and construction advances. It was finally decided to start a new construction program to replace obsolescent ships from World War One. The next class of destroyers was a more positive step forward. By introducing a new stronger form of longitudinal construction the Admiralty was able to reduce the size, increase torpedo armament to ten tubes, and sacrifice only one twin gun-mounting. This more balanced design was known as the 'J' or Javelin Class, and a further innovation made them the first single funnelled destroyers, as two improved boilers gave the same power as three of the old type in the 'Tribals'. Both these classes rectified a serious omission in previous destroyers by having a four-barrelled two pounder (40 mm) pom-pom for close range aircraft defense. At last small ships had some defense against dive bombers, and the weapon remained standard throughout World War II. A disadvantage of these new destroyers was the Admiralty's failure to produce a workable high-angle gun-mounting for the main armament. The new expensive and weighty twin 4.7 inch mount in the 'Tribals' and Javelins could elevate only to forty degrees, which allowed it to fire only at distant aircraft formations. The reason was partly financial, in that the Naval Estimates did not allocate enough money to Research and Development on small ship fire-control and AA gun design, and partly due to discouraging experience with the high-angle eight inch gun of the 1920s.
Displacement (Max): 2550 tons
Dimensions: 97.8 x 10.5 x 2.7 (lenght x beam x draft) mt
Propulsion: 2x boilers, 40000 shp
Speed (Max): 36 knots
Main Armament: 6x 120mm QF MKX11 guns in pairs
Secondary Armament: 2x 533mm torpedo tubes,
AA: 2x quad 2-pounder pompom
Crew: 218
Russian class Leningrad
These destroyers (Leningrad, Moskva and Kharkov) were designated as 'Leaders'. Three ships were built (1 operated in the Baltic and 2 in the Black Sea). Three more ships of the succeeding Minsk class were nearly identical. Small improvements over the Leningrad class set these ships in their own class.
The Minsk was originally designed as a Project #1 Leningrad class ship but this was changed during construction.
Displacement (Max): 2597 tons
Dimensions: 127.5 x 11.7 x 4.14 (lenght x beam x draft) mt
Propulsion: 3x boilers, 3x SR steam turbines, 3x shafts 66900 shp
Speed (Max): 40.5 knots
Main Armament: 5 x 130mm cannons
Secondary Armament: 3x 76.2mm cannons, 2x 4 533mm torpedo tubes, 68 mines
AA: 2x 46mm cannons 3x 37mm cannons, 6x 7.62mm MG
Crew: 344
German class Z.36 (Zerstörers) 1936B Program
http://www.warships1...36b_Z43_prt.jpg
With the design of Z1936 B class (Z 35, Z 36, Z 43, Z 44, Z 45, built at Deschimag, Bremen), the German navy returned to the proved main armament with 127mm guns. The weight of the turrets, due to the 127mm guns, less than the earlier Z1936 A class, improved the seagoing capablity of these ships. The first ships (Z 35 and Z 36) were laid down as Z1936 A class construction, but completed at Z1936 B design. The ships carried a stronger AA-armament - up to twenty 37mm and 20mm caliber. Z 44 and Z 45 were not commissioned. The reduced weight allowed greater freedom of design. Opportunity was taken to strengthen the hull, increase the weight of the machinery and to provide more fuel capacity. There was less hull loading allowing more anti-aircraft guns to be added with no risks to the ship's safety. Up to three quad 20 Vierling mounts and two twin 37 mounts were carried. In terms of potential performance these were perhaps the best German destroyer designs. Unfortunately for the Kriegsmarine they were too few and too late
Displacement (Max): 3542 tons
Dimensions: 127 x 12 x 4.5 (lenght x beam x draft) mt
Propulsion: 6x Wagner boilers, 2x Wagner geared turbines, 2x shafts, 70000 shp
Speed (Max): 37 knots
Main Armament: 5 x 127mm/45 cal SK C/34 in 5 single mounts
Secondary Armament: 8x 533mm torpedo tubes in 2 quad launchers, 4x depth charges
AA: 4x 37mm/69 cal Mark 42, 15x 20mm/65 cal MG C/30
Crew: 331
Italian class Navigatori
Between 1925 and 1945, the Regia Marina built only one kind of explorer, the "Navigatori" class. In 1926 the Italian Navy decided to built a new series of destroyers to encounter the French Jaguar and Guépard classes - an enlarged Exploratori-type. With smaller dimensions like the previous Sella class the displacement grow about 200 ts. The general silhouette, armament, and the location of the smokestacks did not vary much between older and newer models. All the italian destroyers, from the "Sauro" class onwards, had a main armament of two twin 120 mm. guns, one on the forecastle and one at the stern (often on a bandstand), the "Navigatori" class (armed with six 120mm. guns in three twin turrets, the third being between the torpedo tubes, amidships), this was the faster destroyer class of the conflict.
Displacement (Max): 2657 tons
Dimensions: 107.7 x 10.2 x 4.2 (lenght x beam x draft) mt
Propulsion: 4 Yarrow Boilers, 2 turbines, 50000 shp
Speed (Max): 41.3 knots
Main Armament: 6x 120/50mm
Secondary Armament: 6x 534mm torpedo tubes, depth charges
AA: 2x 40/39 mm cannons 4x 13,2 MG
Crew: 279
Japanese class Matsu
The Matsu Class, approved in the 1942 Supplementary Programme was laid down 1943-1944 and completed between April 1944 and January 1945. Designed for simplicity and rapid construction, they were analogous to the American destroyer escorts, but much more heavily armed. The 6-21inchTT in a sextuple mounting originally proposed were dropped, and a quadruple 24-inch mounting installed. The light AA armament was increased to 28 or 29 x 25 mm by 1945. The two sets of machinery were arranged in separate units to prevent a single hit immobilizing the ship.
Displacement (Max): 1506 tons
Dimensions: 92.15 x 9.35 x 3.3 (lenght x beam x draft) mt
Propulsion: 2x shaft geared Kanpon turbines, 2x boilers, 19000shp shp
Speed (Max): 27.75 knots
Main Armament: 3 x 127/50mm cal (Model 1914) (1x2, 1x1)
Secondary Armament: 4x 610mm torpedo tubes 4x depth charge throwers
AA: 24 x 25mm/60 cal cannons
Crew: 150
Edited by Rygar, 08 April 2005 - 03:07 PM.
