- Yes
- No
- Yes
- No
Brief Summary:
The Weapon Class Destroyer was a class of destroyer planned and built for the second world war as anti-submarine escorts however like with many other projects such as the Centurion tank came a little late and didn’t see combat. The class was one of the last of Britain’s world war two destroyer classes and only 4 of the original 20 planned ships would be built, HMS Battleaxe being one of them.
History:
Just like previous classes such as the O/P classes the Weapon Class was intended and built as an intermediate sized destroyer built with escorting in mind. The ships had many problems carried on from previous designs in which the Admiralty had used the Weapon Class as a guinea pig design to test what worked and what didn’t which proved to be a fatal flaw in the ships reverse speed, HMS Battleaxe met her fate from the flaw of trying to figure out the best way to use a steam turbine engine, by cutting the steam from the reversing tube which in turn lead to the ships reverse speed being cut in half meaning they became very sluggish. HMS Battleaxe due to this problem would lead to her eventually fate of being rammed by HMS Ursa in the Clyde 1962.
The design of the Weapon Class is a testament to how much you could put onto a smaller hull before it became obsolete and in the case of the Weapon Class it showed that a intermediate sized destroyer would be less possible with all the new required technologies crammed onto the smaller hull of the mid ranged destroyer. of the 20 planned ships only 4 had been built being the HMS Battleaxe (D118), HMS Broadsword (D31), HMS Crossbow (D96) and HMS Scorpion (D64).
All ships of the class would be eventually converted into radar picket ships between 1958-1959 and eventually all ships of the class would be broken up in the late 1960’s early 1970’s except Battleaxe which was broken up earlier due to the ramming incident.
(Bottom HMS Battleaxe after radar picket conversion, Middle is HMS Battleaxe before conversion and the top image is HMS Broadsword (1962).)
Technical Data:
As Built 1945:
Hull:
Max Speed, Knots, KN: 34
Displacement Standard, T: 1965-1980
Displacement Full, T: 2825
Power, HP: 40000
Length, M: 104.1 pp, 111.3 oa
Breadth, M: 11.6
Draught, M: 4.47 deep load
Complement: 255-286
fuel, T: Oil 620
Electronic Equipment: 2x Type 262, Type 275, Type 277, Type 291, Type 293 radars and Type 170, Type 174 Sonars
Armament:
2x2 - 102/45 Mk XIX
2x2 - 40/60 STAAG Mk II
2x1 - 40/60 Mk VII
2x5 - 533mm TT
2x3 - 305 Squid Mk IV ASWRL
Specifications from conversion to a radar picket 1958:
Hull:
Max Speed, Knots, KN: 34
Displacement Standard, T: 2280
Displacement Full, T: 2935
Power, HP: 40000
Length, M: 104.1 pp, 111.2 oa
Breadth, M: 11.6
Draught, M: 4.50 deep load
Complement: 234
fuel, T: Oil 620
Electronic Equipment: Type 965 (AKE-1), 2x Type 262, Type 293, Type 974 radars and Type 170, Type 174 sonars, UA-3 ECM Suite
Armament:
2x2 - 102/45 Mk XIX
2x2 - 40/60 STAAG Mk II
2x1 - 40/60 Mk VII
2x3 - 305 Squid Mk IV ASWRL
(HMS Scorpion changed out the Squid Mk IV for a 1x3 305 Limbo Mk 10 ASWRL)
Shipbuckets attempt at HMS Crossbow (1948)
Navypedia HMS Crossbow 1963 (after the 1958 picket conversion):
Brief Summary:
The Weapon Class Destroyer was a class of destroyer planned and built for the second world war as anti-submarine escorts however like with many other projects such as the Centurion tank came a little late and didn’t see combat. The class was one of the last of Britain’s world war two destroyer classes and only 4 of the original 20 planned ships would be built, HMS Battleaxe being one of them.
History:
Hide contents
Just like previous classes such as the O/P classes the Weapon Class was intended and built as an intermediate sized destroyer built with escorting in mind. The ships had many problems carried on from previous designs in which the Admiralty had used the Weapon Class as a guinea pig design to test what worked and what didn’t which proved to be a fatal flaw in the ships reverse speed, HMS Battleaxe met her fate from the flaw of trying to figure out the best way to use a steam turbine engine, by cutting the steam from the reversing tube which in turn lead to the ships reverse speed being cut in half meaning they became very sluggish. HMS Battleaxe due to this problem would lead to her eventually fate of being rammed by HMS Ursa in the Clyde 1962.
The design of the Weapon Class is a testament to how much you could put onto a smaller hull before it became obsolete and in the case of the Weapon Class it showed that a intermediate sized destroyer would be less possible with all the new required technologies crammed onto the smaller hull of the mid ranged destroyer. of the 20 planned ships only 4 had been built being the HMS Battleaxe (D118), HMS Broadsword (D31), HMS Crossbow (D96) and HMS Scorpion (D64).
All ships of the class would be eventually converted into radar picket ships between 1958-1959 and eventually all ships of the class would be broken up in the late 1960’s early 1970’s except Battleaxe which was broken up earlier due to the ramming incident.
(Top HMS Battleaxe after radar picket conversion, Middle is HMS Battleaxe before conversion and the Bottom image is HMS Broadsword (1962).)
Technical Data:
Hide contents
As Built 1945:
Hull:
Max Speed, Knots, KN: 34
Displacement Standard, T: 1965-1980
Displacement Full, T: 2825
Power, HP: 40000
Length, M: 104.1 pp, 111.3 oa
Breadth, M: 11.6
Draught, M: 4.47 deep load
Complement: 255-286
fuel, T: Oil 620
Electronic Equipment: 2x Type 262, Type 275, Type 277, Type 291, Type 293 radars and Type 170, Type 174 Sonars
Armament:
2x2 - 102/45 Mk XIX
2x2 - 40/60 STAAG Mk II
2x1 - 40/60 Mk VII
2x5 - 533mm TT
2x3 - 305 Squid Mk IV ASWRL
Specifications from conversion to a radar picket 1958:
Hull:
Max Speed, Knots, KN: 34
Displacement Standard, T: 2280
Displacement Full, T: 2935
Power, HP: 40000
Length, M: 104.1 pp, 111.2 oa
Breadth, M: 11.6
Draught, M: 4.50 deep load
Complement: 234
fuel, T: Oil 620
Electronic Equipment: Type 965 (AKE-1), 2x Type 262, Type 293, Type 974 radars and Type 170, Type 174 sonars, UA-3 ECM Suite
Armament:
2x2 - 102/45 Mk XIX
2x2 - 40/60 STAAG Mk II
2x1 - 40/60 Mk VII
2x3 - 305 Squid Mk IV ASWRL
(HMS Scorpion changed out the Squid Mk IV for a 1x3 305 Limbo Mk 10 ASWRL)
Shipbuckets attempt at HMS Crossbow (1948)
Navypedia HMS Battleaxe 1952:
Navypedia HMS Crossbow 1963 (after the 1958 picket conversion):
Sources:
Weapon type destroyers (BATTLEAXE) (4(15), 1947 - 1948) (navypedia.org)
Weapon-class destroyer - Wikipedia
Shipbucket
