- Q and R class destroyer
:"For the R class of destroyers built between 1916 and 1917, see
R class destroyer (1916) "The Q and R class was a class of sixteen War Emergency Programmedestroyer s ordered for the BritishRoyal Navy in 1940 as the 3rd and 4th Emergency Flotilla. They served asconvoy escorts duringWorld War II . Three Q class ships were transferred to theRoyal Australian Navy upon completion, with two further ships being handed over in 1945. "Roebuck" had the dubious honour of being launched prematurely by an air raid at Scotts shipyard inGreenock , her partially complete hulk lying submerged in the dockyard for 9 months before it was salved and completed.Design
The Q and R class were repeats of the preceding O and P class, but reverted to the larger J, K and N class hull to allow for the inevitable growth in topweight. As they had fewer main guns than the J, K and Ns, some magazine space was replaced by fuel bunkers, allowing for some convert|4675|nmi|km to be made at convert|20|kn|km/h, over the convert|3700|nmi|km|abbr=on of the their ancestors. Like the O and Ps, they were armed with what weapons were available; 4.7 inch (119 mm) guns on single mountings that allowed for only 40° elevation - therefore do not compare favourably on paper with many contemporaries.
In the Q class, Y gun could be removed, allowing for the carriage of additional depth charges and projectors, or the carriage of minesweeps.
The R class were repeats of the Qs, except that the officers' accommodation was moved from its traditional location right aft to the more accessible location amidships. This facilitated the change in watchkeepers in inclement weather; the main deck of a destroyer would often be entirely awash in heavy seas, and catwalks were not fitted to connect fore and aft until the V class ordered in 1941.
In surviving ships, the single 20 mm Oerlikon guns in the bridge wings were later replaced by hydraulically-operated Mark V twin mountings. "Rotherham", "Raider" and "Rocket" later had the Oerlikons and searchlight amidships replaced by four single QF 40 mm Bofors. The searchlight was later reinstated at the cost of depth charge stowage. "Raider" only had an additional pair of twin Mark V Oerlikon mounts added on the after shelter deck. Radar Type 290 was replaced by Type 291, and later by Type 293 in some ships. The centimetric wavelength Type 272 set was added on a platform between the torpedo tubes in "Rotherham", "Racehorse", "Rapid", "Raider" and "Roebuck", or at the foremast truck in other ships. "Racehorse", "Raider", "Rapid", "Redoubt" and "Relentless" had
Huff-Duff (High-frequency Direction-finder) added on a lattice mainmast.hips
Q class
* "Queenborough", built by
Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson ,Wallsend , toRoyal Australian Navy as HMAS "Queenborough" 1945, later converted toType 15 frigate , sold for scrapping 1975
* "Quadrant", built byHawthorn Leslie & Company ,Hebburn , to Australia as HMAS "Quadrant" 1945, later converted to Type 15 frigate, sold for scrapping 1962
* "Quail", built by Hawthorn Leslie, mined offBari 1943-11-15 , foundered under tow en route forTaranto 1944-06-18
* "Quality", built by Swan Hunter, to Australia as HMAS "Quality" 1942, sold for scrapping 1958
* "Quentin", built byJ. Samuel White ,Cowes , torpedoed and sunk by Italian aircraft offGalita Island 1942-12-02
* "Quiberon", built by White, to Australia as HMAS "Quiberon" 1942, later converted to Type 15 frigate, sold for scrapping 1972
* "Quickmatch", built by White, to Australia as HMAS "Quickmatch" 1942, later converted to Type 15 frigate, sold for scrapping 1972
* "Quilliam" *, built by Swan Hunter, toRoyal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS "Banckert" 1945, sold for scrapping 1957* =flotilla leader R class
* "Rotherham" *, built by
John Brown & Company ,Clydebank , toIndian Navy as "Rajput" 1949
* "Racehorse" , built by John Brown, sold for scrapping 1949
* "Raider", built byCammell Laird & Company ,Birkenhead , to India as "Rana" 1949
* "Rapid", built by Cammell Laird, converted to Type 15 frigate 1953, expended as target1981-09-03
* "Redoubt", built by John Brown, to India as "Ranjit" 1949
* "Relentless", built by John Brown, converted to Type 15 frigate 1951, sold for scrapping 1971
* "Rocket", built byScotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Company ,Greenock , converted to Type 15 frigate 1951, sold for scrapping 1967
* "Roebuck", built by Scotts, converted to Type 15 frigate 1953, sold for scrapping 1968* = flotilla leaderReferences
* "Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981", Maurice Cocker, Ian Allan, ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
* "Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945", Leo Marriot, Ian Allan, ISBN 0-7110-1817-0
* "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946", Ed. Robert Gardiner, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-913-8
* "Destroyers of World War Two : An International Encyclopedia", M J Whitley, Arms and Armour Press, 1999, ISBN 1-85409-521-8.
* "Warships of Australia", Ross Gillett, Illustrations Colin Graham, Rigby Limited, 1977, ISBN 0-7270-0472-7ee also
*
Type 15 frigate - most surviving Q and R class ships were given this conversion post-war.
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