Weapon class destroyer
The Weapon class was a class of four destroyers built for the Royal Navy immediately after World War II. They were a rather changeable bunch and in appearance are a mixture between the Battle class and the Daring class. They had the combination of straight vertical funnel without cap but with whip ariels each side just aft of amidships and forward funnel hidden in the lattice mainmast structure that is characteristic of the Darings. During the late 1950s they were converted to radar picket duties and acquired a prominent lattice mast almost exactly amidships carrying the large radar antenna that is such an obvious feature of most Royal Navy ships built between the early 1960s and the end of the century. Most photographs of the ships before the conversion show main gun mounts fore and aft, but after conversion both mounts were forward. One gets the impression they were test beds rather than serious warships. All ships had a mount in 'A' position.
No ship had a mount in 'Y' position.
After conversion to radar picket all ships had a mount in 'B' position. All were scrapped in late 1960s.
SpecificationsDisplacement : 2,840 tonsLength : 365 feetBeam : 38 feetDraught :Main armament: 4 x 4 inch in twin mountings as used in the Loch class frigates. See comments above about the position of the mounts.Secondary armament: 6 x 40 mm Bofors, 2 twin mounts at the leading end of the rear superstructure and a single mount each side of the bridge structure; Limbo mortar anti-submarine mortar. Complement : 256 Machinery : Geared turbines, 2 shafts Speed : 34 knots
Ships Battleaxe (D18/G18) Broadsword (D31/G31) Crossbow (D96/G96) Scorpion (D64/G64), originally named Tomahawk (A scorpion was a kind of ballista.)
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