V and W Class Destroyer - Thornycroft Modified W Class

Thornycroft Modified W Class

General characteristics (Thornycroft modified W class)
Displacement: 1,140 tons standard, 1,550 tons full
Beam: 30 ft
Draught: 10 ft 11 in
Propulsion: 3 Thornycroft type Water-tube boilers, Brown-Curtis steam turbines, 2 shafts, 30,000 shp
Range: 320-370 tons oil, 3,500 nmi at 15 kt, 900 nmi at 32 kt
Complement: 134
Armament:
  • 4 x BL 4.7 in (120mm) Mk.I L/45 guns, mount P Mk.I
  • 2 x QF 2 pdr Mk.II "pom-pom" (40 mm L/39) anti-aircraft guns
  • 6 (2x3) tubes for 21-inch (530 mm) torpedoes
Notes: Other characteristics as per Admiralty V leader

The Thornycroft Modified W class were a private design by Thornycroft based on the Thornycroft V and W class to Admiralty specifications. The two ships were ordered in January 1918, at the same time as the first batch (of fourteen vessels ordered, of which only seven completed) of the Admiralty Modified W class. In these two ships, the position of the boiler rooms was reversed, with the two-boiler room forward and the single unit aft. As a result, the funnel arrangements were transposed, with the thick funnel forwards and the narrow funnel aft. In common with other Thornycroft designs, they had characteristic broad, flat-sided funnels. Like the Admiralty modified ships, the Thornycrofts were up-gunned with the BL 4.7 inch Mark I weapon, and they received triple banks of torpedo tubes from the outset. Another feature of recognition was that the QF 2 pdr guns were mounted en echelon amidships, between the funnels.

The completion of Witch was delayed by the end of the war, and she was eventually towed to Devonport and completed there at HM Dockyard. Both were converted to the Short Range Escort type during World War II.

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