Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War
Royal Navy — Destroyer R73

HMS Cavalier

C-class destroyer (1943) destroyer

HMS Cavalier
WestRail642fan — Own work — CC0 — Wikimedia Commons Plate — R73 HMS Cavalier - September 2024

Service

  1. Royal Navy as HMS Cavalier22 November 1944 — 1972284 days of the war
C-class destroyer (1943) destroyer Particulars
Name
HMS Cavalier
Pennant / hull number
R73
Builder
J. Samuel White and Company, Cowes, Isle of Wight
Laid down
28 March 1943
Launched
7 April 1944
Commissioned
22 November 1944
Decommissioned
1972
Fate
Sold 21 October 1977. (1977)
Status
Unknown

Specifications

Displacement, standard
1,710 long tons (1,737 t)
Length
110.64 m (363 ft) OA
Beam
10.9 m (35.8 ft)
Draught
3.05 m (10 ft)
Speed
37 knots (68.5 km/h, 42.6 mph)
Range
1,400 nmi (2,593 km)
Complement
186
Main gun
113 mm (4.4 in)

HMS Cavalier was a C-class destroyer (1943) destroyer in service with the Royal Navy. She carried the pennant number R73. J. Samuel White and Company, Cowes, Isle of Wight laid her keel on 28 March 1943. She entered service on 22 November 1944, having been launched on 7 April 1944.

She was one of 40 ships of her class. The class followed the W and Z-class destroyer and was succeeded by the Weapon-class destroyer.

Displacement was 1,710 long tons. She measured 110.6 m (363 ft) long with a beam of 10.9 m (36 ft). Her designed speed was 37 knots, and she carried a complement of 186. Her main battery was of 113 mm (4.4 in) calibre.

She was in commission for 284 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned in 1972.

Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.

Armament and machinery

Armament and machinery
Propulsion
  • 2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers
  • Parsons geared steam turbines
  • 40000 shp, 2 shafts
Armament
  • 3 × QF 4.5-inch (113 mm) L/45 guns Mark IV on mounts CP Mk.V
  • 2 × Bofors 40 mm L/60 guns on twin mount "Hazemeyer" Mk.IV
  • 4 × anti-aircraft mountings
  • Bofors 40 mm, single mount Mk.III
  • QF 2-pdr Mk VIII, single mount Mk.XVI
  • Oerlikon 20 mm, single mount P Mk.III
  • Oerlikon 20 mm, twin mount Mk.V
  • 2 × quintuple tubes for 21 inch (533 mm) torpedoes Mk.IX (at launch, after tubes replaced by Squid mortars, forward tubes replaced later).
  • 4 throwers and 2 racks for 96 depth charges
  • 1 × quadruple GWS20 Seacat SAM launcher (from September 1964)
  • 2 × triple Squid anti-submarine mortar (from 1957)

Sister ships

15 more in the class

Sources

  • Facts harvested from HMS Cavalier on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Photograph: WestRail642fan — Own work — CC0 — Wikimedia Commons