Design
The Kingfisher class was an attempt to build a small patrol vessel under 600 tons, such vessels being outwith the clauses of the London Naval Treaty of 1930. It was intended that it would escort coastal shipping in wartime.
The design had a number of shortcomings, however. Firstly, it was simply designed to too high a standard; constructed to full naval warship specifications and powered by geared steam turbine engines, it was not suitable for mass production. Secondly, it was simply too small, short on range, and the hull-form, based on a scaled-down destroyer, was not suitable for open ocean work, where escorts were found to be dearly lacking in numbers during wartime. Thirdly, armed originally with only a single 4-inch gun forwards and depth charges aft, they were limited in their ability to defend themselves, never mind their charges.
Read more about this topic: Kingfisher Class Sloop
Famous quotes containing the word design:
“Joe ... you remember I said you wouldn’t be cheated?... Nobody is really. Eventually all things work out. There’s a design in everything.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)
“I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.”
—John Adams (1735–1826)
“Delay always breeds danger; and to protract a great design is often to ruin it.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)