Firstly, the fleet destroyers' power plants were designed for the higher speeds required of the naval fleet: they were inefficient when used for convoy speeds. This was unsatisfactory for several reasons. Later in the war, the Battle-class destroyer was developed, with a greatly enhanced anti-aircraft capability.īritish practice had been to produce fleet destroyers and to relegate older vessels to escort duties. It was deemed to be a successful design, but was discontinued in favour of the a simpler War Emergency Programme design. In 1937, there was a radical change in destroyer design with the production of the more complex J, K and N classes and the modified Ls and Ms. The Royal Navy then needed new ships quickly to increase numbers, replace losses and exploit experience and so design became simplified and cheaper to produce, with greater anti-aircraft and anti-submarine power ( War Emergency Programme).īritish destroyer design had developed with incremental changes in the inter-war years, apart from the larger Tribal-class destroyer which was not repeated. As a broad summary, British destroyers developed from the successful V and W-class destroyers of World War I, increasing in complexity until World War II.
British-built and -designed vessels were also supplied to and built by allied navies, primarily the Australian and Canadian navies.Įvolution HMCS Haida, a Canadian Tribal-class destroyerīritish destroyer flotillas were formed from single classes, with a slightly adapted flotilla leader the aim had been to produce a flotilla each year.
Some of these were legacies of World War I, some were designed during the inter-war years and the rest were the result of wartime experience and conditions. At the start of World War II, the Royal Navy operated a range of destroyer classes.
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