Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War

Royal Navy — Destroyer class

Tribal-class destroyer (1936)

The class in numbers

  • 32 Planned
  • 27 Completed
  • 5 Cancelled
  • 13 Lost
  • 13 Scrapped
  • 1 Preserved

Design and service

Type
Destroyer
Navies
Royal Navy 16
Royal Canadian Navy 5
Royal Australian Navy 3
In commission
1938–1963
Preceded by
I-class destroyer
Succeeded by
J class
Operators
Canada
Builders
  • Vickers Armstrongs
  • William Denny & Brothers
  • Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company
  • Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Company
  • John I. Thornycroft & Company
  • Alexander Stephen & Sons
  • Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson
  • Halifax Shipyards
  • Cockatoo Dockyard

Class specifications

Figures for the class as designed. Individual vessels varied, sometimes considerably — each vessel page carries its own configurations.

As built
Displacement, standard
1,854 long tons (1,884 t)
Displacement, full load
2,520 long tons (2,560 t)
Length
114.91 m (377 ft) OA
Speed
36 knots (66.7 km/h, 41.4 mph)
Complement
190
Main gun
120 mm (4.7 in)
Armament
  • 4 × twin 4.7 in (120 mm) guns
  • 1 × quadruple 2-pdr (40 mm) AA guns
  • 2 × quadruple 0.5 in (12.7 mm) AA machineguns
  • 1 × quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
  • 1 × Depth charge rack, 2 × throwers, 20 depth charges
  • War modifications:
  • 3 × twin 4.7 in (120 mm) guns
  • 1 × twin 4 in DP guns
  • up to 4 × single and twin 20 mm AA guns
  • Cayuga, Athabaskan as built:
  • 4 × twin 4 in DP guns
  • 1 × twin, 4 × single 40 mm AA guns
  • 1 × quadruple 21 in torpedo tubes
  • 1 × rack, 2 × throwers for DCs
  • Canadian DDE modernisation:
  • 2 × twin 4 in DP guns
  • 1 × twin 3 in guns
  • 4 × single 40mm/56 Bofors guns
  • 1 × quadruple 21 in torpedo tubes
  • 2 × Squid anti-submarine mortars

Roster

Holding 24 of the 27 hulls recorded for this class. Vessels transferred to another navy are catalogued under the navy that sailed them and appear there instead.

Vessel Pennant Commissioned Fate
HMAS Arunta (I30) I30 1942 Scrapped 1968
HMAS Bataan 1945 Scrapped 1958
HMAS Warramunga (I44) I44 1942 Scrapped 1963
HMCS Athabaskan (G07) G07 1943 Sunk 1944
HMCS Haida G63 1943 Preserved
HMCS Huron (G24) G24 1943 Scrapped 1965
HMCS Iroquois (G89) G89 1942 Scrapped 1966
HMCS Nootka (R96) R96 1946 Scrapped 1965
HMS Afridi (F07) F07 1938 Sunk 1940
HMS Ashanti (F51) F51 1938 Scrapped 1949
HMS Bedouin L67 1937 Sunk 1942
HMS Cossack (F03) F03 1938 Sunk 1941
HMS Eskimo (F75) F75 1937 Scrapped 1949
HMS Gurkha (F20) F20 1937 Sunk 1940
HMS Maori (F24) F24 1938 Sunk 1942
HMS Mashona L59 1937 Sunk 1941
HMS Matabele L26 1937 Sunk 1942
HMS Mohawk (F31) F31 1938 Sunk 1941
HMS Nubian (F36) F36 1938 Scrapped 1949
HMS Punjabi L21 1939 Sunk 1942
HMS Sikh (F82) F82 1938 Sunk 1942
HMS Somali L33 1938 Sunk 1942
HMS Tartar (F43) F43 1939 Scrapped 1948
HMS Zulu (F18) F18 1937 Sunk 1942

Sources