Ceres Class (Light Cruiser) Disp.: 4290 (S) Length: 137 Speed: 29 Armament: 5 x 6” 2 x 3” 2 x 3.7cm 8 x Torpedo The Ceres class were ordered in March and April 1916 and commissioned in 1917 and 1918. These ships were very "wet" for'rard, which was remedied in the subsequent Carlisle sub-class with the addition of a "trawler bow". Their main armament consisted of five 6-inch (152 mm) guns, while their secondary armament consisted of two 3-inch (76 mm) weapons, of which a further one was later added to Ceres herself. Four 3 pounders were also fitted. Three ships underwent extensive rebuilds during the 1930s, becoming AA cruisers, resulting in all previous armament being removed. The ships were Coventry, Curacoa and Curlew, with Curacoa being the last of the three to be rebuilt in 1939; the other two ships having been converted in 1935. Coventry and Curlew were given ten 4-inch (102 mm) guns (two later being removed from Coventry) and sixteen 3 inchers for their AA role. Curacoa had a slightly different armament, being equipped with eight 4 inchers and four 3-inch (76 mm) guns, and later-on in WWII, four 20 mm Oerlikons. Cardiff and Ceres were to have undergone the same conversion, but this was prevented by the outbreak of war. Grille (Fleet Tender) – One Available Disp.: 2600 (S) Length: 135 Speed: 26 Armament: 3 x 4” 4 x 3.7cm 4 x 2cm This ship was build in the mid 1930s and was used as a government yacht before the war. When not needed in this role, its main duty was a fleet tender for the fleet stuff, a navigational training ship and its use as a target ship. In this last role, the ship served was used for the development of aerial torpedoes. After the outbreak of the war, the Grille was first used as a auxiliary mine layer due to the lack of real mine layers in the Kriegsmarine. After the Invasion of Norway it was sent there and used as a floating staff headquarters for the U-Boat commander in Norway (FdU-Nord) based in Narvik. Wilhelm Bauer (U-Boat Tender) – One Available Disp.: 5600 Length: 133 Speed: 20.5 Armament: 4 x 4” 1 x 4cm 2 x 3.7cm 4 x 2cm With their size of over 5000 ts, the three fleet tenders of the Wilhelm Bauer class were the largest ships of their kind in the German Kriegsmarine. In 1936 a class of eight new large escorts ships was planned to support the growing U-Boat fleet. Four of those ships were started to build at the Kriegsmarine Shipyard in Kiel, but only three of them were completed. Class 1936 (Destroyer) – One Available + One A Possibly Disp.: 2762 (S) Length: 123 Speed: 40.5 Armament: 5 x 5” 4 x 3.7cm 4 x 2cm 8 x Torpedo The Zerstörer 1936 class were slightly bigger and improved to their predecessors, the Zerstörer 1934 and Zerstörer 1934A. While these ships were under construction, none of the earlier ships was commissioned and therefore none of their design flaws got obvious. It's interesting that most of the problems - especially those of the engines - were solved in this class of ships. The engines were much more reliable, the structural integrity was improved and they were much better seagoing ships. This was caused by the reduction of the top weight, the funnels were shortened and the height of the superstructure was reduced and the improved bow shape of the three last build ships. Although 26 of this ships were ordered, only 6 were completed, while the other orders were modified to other designs. All but one ships were sunk at Narvik and formed the destroyer graveyard in the Norwegian fjord. Class 1934 (Destroyer) – Nine Available inc. eight A’s Disp.: 2260 (S) Length: 119 Speed: 36 Armament: 5 x 5” 4 x 3.7cm 4 x 2cm 8 x Torpedo The destroyers of the "Zerstörer 1934" class were the first four destroyers build in Germany after World War I. Based on the same design principals as the torpedo boats, those ships showed some serious problems after completion, which was partly caused by the fast naval construction programs after 1933. They were very bad seagoing ships, like most other German vessels they took over a high amount of water during heavy seas, making their forward artillery unusable. Further they showed a structural weakness since the hull started to bend in heavy seas and were burdened with heavy vibrations produced by the engines. Their high pressure turbine engines caused many problems during operations, which were limited by the short range of those ships. The idea was to equip the ships with the newly designed high pressure turbines because this system seemed to have several advantages about normal turbine systems - at least on the paper. Test installations on land were very promising, but when installed on board on the destroyers, the engines rooms got very crowded making maintenance very difficult. Like all other German destroyers, they were all equipped for mine laying which was intensively used during the first months of the war. Most ships of this class did not survive the second year of the war, two of them were even sunk by own bombers, but in their few operational months, they did some successful mining operations near the British coast. Carl Peters (S-Boat Tender) – One Available Disp.: 3600 Length: 114 Speed: 23 Armament: 4 x 4” 2 x 8.8cm 1 x 4cm 6 x 3.7cm In 1936 and 1938, a total of 4 new fleet tenders for the fast attack boat flotillas were ordered by the Kriegsmarine. Only the first 8 x 2cm two were laid down and completed, the other two orders were cancelled with the outbreak of World War II. The Carl Peters class was built to support and equip the fast attack boats with torpedoes, depth charges, ammunition, fuel and fresh water, in addition they were used as floating barracks and hospitals for the small S-boats. Tribal Class (Destroyer) Disp.: 1883 (S) Length: 114 Speed: 36 Armament: 8 x 4.7” 4 x 3.7cm 8 x MG 4 x Torpedo The Tribal class destroyers trace their roots to 1934 when the British Admiralty evaluated the threat posed by much larger destroyers being built in Japan, Italy and even Germany than the Royal Navy had. These ships were all around 2000 tons while the British destroyers were closer to 1300 tons. Estimated cost per ship was 340,000 pounds excluding Admiralty supplied armaments putting the average cost around 520,000. The Tribal was finally accepted after no less than 8 design proposals. The design chosen was a powerful yet beautiful looking ship. The first 7 Tribals were ordered on 10 March, 1936 with the latter group of 9 Tribals being ordered on 9 June. The ships were formed into the 1st and 2nd Tribal destroyer flotillas. By 1939 the Royal Navy had learned that while the Tribals were larger they were just normal destroyers. Thus the flotillas were renamed 4th and 6th destroyer flotillas. 8 ships were built for the Canadian Navy and the first of those came into service in 1943. (4 more Tribals were being built for the RCN but they would not see service until after the war). Australia built 3 Tribal class destroyers, which were commissioned into the RAN. The Tribals were not really U-boat hunters but rather fleet destroyers. During the second half of 1940 the Royal Navy ships (except the war losses HMS Gurkha and HMS Afridi) had one twin 4.7" gun turret replaced by a twin 4" AA gun turret. The Canadian and Australian ships carried this arrangement upon completion. Ashanti (F 51) – Rosyth, Bedouin (F 67) – Rosyth, Cossack (F 03) – Rosyth, Eskimo (F 75) – Rosyth, Maori (F 24) – Rosyth, Mashona (F 59) – Under repair at Liverpool, Matabele (F 26) – Rosyth, Punjabi (F 21) – Under repair at Scapa, Sikh (F 82) – Rosyth, Somali (F 33) – Rosyth, Tartar (F 43) – Rosyth, Zulu (F 18) - Rosyth Grom Class/Wicher Class (Polish Destroyers) Grom Class Disp.: 2010 Length: 114 Speed: 39 Armament 7 x 5” 4 x 4cm 6 x Torpedo 1 Grom Class: Burza (H 73) – Plymouth (Operation GL, Brittany Coast) Wicher Class 1 Wicher Class: Blyskawica (H 34) – Plymouth (Operation GL, Brittany Coast) Disp.: 1545 Length: 107 Speed: 33 Armament 4 x 5” 2 x 4cm 6 x Torpedo Sperrbrecher (Mine Clearance): Example Only Disp.: 7500 Length: 114 Speed: 14 Armament: 2 x 4” 2 x 3.7cm 15 x 2cm While the primary objective of Minesweepers was to detect Mines and disable them, there was another concept of protecting ships against mines: To create a safe passage through a minefield by using a special ship that sails in front and detonates the mines before they can harm a much more valuable ship. The ships used for this task - the Pathmakers (or German: Sperrbrecher) had to be very robust to withstand mine explosions. By 1940 the magnetic mines were the biggest threat for ships entering or leaving their bases; laid by aircraft during the night they could cause severe damage when staying undetected. Therefore the Pathfinders were equipped with a VES-System, basically a huge magnetic field generator that could explode magnetic mines in a save distance. From this time, Pathmakers were used to escort surface ships and Uboats from and to their bases to remove mines and - with their quite heavy AA armamment - give some additional protection against air attacks.