Town-class destroyer

Not to be confused with Town-class cruiser.

HMS Leamington
Class overview
NameTown class
BuildersVarious
Operators
Built1917–20
In commission1940–47 (RN)
Completed50
Lost10
Retired40 scrapped
Preserved0
General characteristics
TypeDestroyer: USN Caldwell, Wickes and Clemson classes
Displacement1,020 to 1,190 tons[1]
Length314 ft 4.5 in (95.8 m)
Beam30 ft 11.25 in (9.4 m)
Draught9 ft 0 in (2.7 m)
Propulsion
  • 4 × 300 psi (2,100 kPa) unsuperheated Boilers[2]
  • 2 geared turbines[2]
Speed30–35 knots (56–65 km/h; 35–40 mph)[2]
Complement146
Armament

The Town-class destroyers were a group of 50 destroyers of the Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy that were in service during the Second World War. They were transferred from the United States Navy in exchange for military bases in the British West Indies and Newfoundland, as outlined in the Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the United Kingdom and United States, signed on 2 September 1940. They were known as "four-pipers" or "four-stackers" because they had four smokestacks (funnels). Later classes of destroyers typically had one or two.

Some went to the Royal Canadian Navy at the outset. Others went on to the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Royal Netherlands Navy, and the Soviet Navy after serving with the Royal Navy. Although given a set of names by the Commonwealth navies that suggested they were one class they actually came from three classes of destroyer: Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson. "Town class" refers to the Admiralty's practice of renaming these ships after towns common to the United States and the British Commonwealth.[3] Ships initially commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy, however, followed the Canadian practice of giving destroyers the names of Canadian rivers. The rivers selected for the Town class were on the border between Canada and the United States, with the exception of Annapolis — the name of both a river in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, and the location of the United States Naval Academy.[4]

One of the Town-class ships achieved lasting fame: HMS Campbeltown (ex-USS Buchanan). In the Commando raid Operation Chariot, Campbeltown, fitted with a large demolition charge, rammed the gates of the Normandie dock at Saint-Nazaire, France. The charge detonated on 29 March 1942, breaching the drydock and destroying Campbeltown, thus destroying the only drydock on the Atlantic coast capable of accepting the Tirpitz. This exploit was depicted in the 1950 Trevor Howard film The Gift Horse, which starred HMS Leamington (ex-USS Twiggs) after her return from service in the Soviet Union.

  1. ^ Lenton&Colledge 1968 pp.88–92
  2. ^ a b c d Thomas, Donald I., CAPT USN "Recommissioning Destroyers, 1939 Style" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1979 p.71
  3. ^ a b c Lenton&Colledge 1968 p.80
  4. ^ Milner 1985 p.23