Hunt-class minesweeper (1916)

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HMS Belvoir circa 1917–1918
Class overview
Operators	Royal Navy  Royal Australian Navy  Royal Thai Navy  Spanish Republican Navy  Spanish Navy  Kriegsmarine
Built	1916–1919
In commission	1917–1952
Completed	88
Lost	4
General characteristics (1939)
Type	Minesweeper
Displacement	710 long tons (721 t)
Length	231 ft (70.4 m)
Beam	28 ft (8.5 m) (Belvoir group) 28 ft 6 in (8.7 m) (Aberdare group)
Draught	8 ft (2.4 m)
Installed power	1,800 ihp (1,340 kW) (Belvoir group) or 2,200 ihp (1,640 kW) (Aberdare group)
Propulsion	2 shafts 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines 2 Yarrow water-tube boilers
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Range	1,500 nmi (2,780 km; 1,730 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	74
Armament	1 × QF 4 in (102 mm) gun forward 1 × QF 12 pounder aft 2 × .303 inch machine guns

The Hunt-class minesweeper was a class of minesweeping sloop built between 1916 and 1919 for the Royal Navy. They were built in two discrete groups, the earlier Belvoir group designed by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company and the subsequent (and slightly larger) Aberdare group designed by the Admiralty. They were classed as Fleet Minesweeping Sloops, that is ships intended to clear open water. The Belvoir group were named after British fox hunts. Those of the Aberdare group were originally named after coastal towns, watering places and fishing ports, some of which happened to be hunts by coincidence. However, all were soon renamed after inland locations to prevent confusion caused by the misunderstanding of signals and orders.