Grimsby class sloop

HMAS Swan in 1945 HMAS Swan in 1945
Class overview
Operators:	Royal Navy (8) Royal Australian Navy (4) Royal Indian Navy (1)
Cost:	£220,000 for Australian ships
Built:	1933–1940
In commission:	1934–1966
Completed:	13
Lost:	4
General characteristics
Displacement:	RN ships : 990 long tons (1,006 t) standard 1,300 long tons (1,321 t) full Swan, Yarra : 1,060 long tons (1,077 t) standard 1,370 long tons (1,392 t) full Parramatta, Warrego : 1,070 long tons (1,087 t) standard 1,385 long tons (1,407 t) full Indus: 1,190 long tons (1,209 t) standard 1,520 long tons (1,544 t) full
Length:	250 ft (76.2 m) p/p 266 ft (81.1 m) o/a Indus : 280 ft (85.3 m) p/p 296.5 ft (90.4 m) o/a
Beam:	RN ships : 36 ft (11.0 m) RAN ships : 34 ft (10.4 m) Indus : 35 ft 6 in (10.8 m)
Draught:	RN ships : 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) RAN ships : 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) Indus : 8 ft 9 in (2.67 m)
Propulsion:	Parsons geared steam turbines 2 Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers 2 shafts 2,000 shp (1,500 kW)
Speed:	16.5 knots (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h)
Range:	5,700 nmi (10,600 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement:	100 (Indus : 119 / wartime: 135)
Armament:	RAN : • 3 × 4-inch (102 mm) AA • 4 × 3-pdr (not fitted to some) • 1 × machine gun • 2 × depth charge throwers • 2 × twin tubes for 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes

With the realisation that war was approaching, 13 Grimsby class sloops were laid down in the mid to late 1930s. Of these eight were built in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy, four in Australia for the Royal Australian Navy and one for India. Armament varied considerably between ships with the four Australian ships being similar to HMS Deptford but armed with an additional 4-inch (100 mm) gun.

Losses during World War II were HMS Grimsby, HMAS Yarra and HMAS Parramatta.

Some survivors of this class served into the 1960s.

Ships

Royal Navy

First group

• Grimsby — built by Devonport Royal Dockyard, laid down 23 January 1933, launched 19 July 1933, completed 17 May 1934, bombed by Italian aircraft off Tobruk 25 May 1941
• Leith — built by Devonport, laid down 6 February 1933, launched 9 August 1933, completed 12 July 1934, sold into mercantile service 1946, to Royal Danish Navy as Galathea 1949
• Lowestoft — built by Devonport, laid down 21 August 1933, launched 11 April 1934, completed 22 November 1934, sold into mercantile service 1946
• Wellington — built by Devonport, laid down 25 September 1933, launched 29 May 1934, completed 24 January 1935, hulked as mercantile headquarters ship 1947. This ship is still in existence and is permanently moored on the Thames Embankment in London.
• Londonderry — built by Devonport, laid down 11 June 1934, launched 16 January 1935, completed 20 September 1935, sold for scrapping 1948
• Deptford — built by Chatham Royal Dockyard, laid down 30 April 1934, launched 5 February 1935, completed 20 August 1935, sold for scrapping 1948

Second group

• Aberdeen — built by Devonport Royal Dockyard, laid down 12 June 1935, launched 22 January 1936, completed 17 September 1936, sold for scrapping 1949
• Fleetwood — built by Devonport Royal Dockyard, laid down 14 August 1935, launched 24 March 1936, completed 19 November 1936, sold for scrapping 1959

Royal Australian Navy

• Yarra — built by Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, laid down 24 May 1934, launched 28 March 1935, completed 19 December 1935, sunk by Japanese cruisers Atago and Takao off Java 4 March 1942
• Swan — built by Cockatoo, laid down 1 May 1935, launched 28 March 1936, completed 10 December 1936, sold for scrapping 1965
• Parramatta — built by Cockatoo, laid down 9 November 1938, launched 18 June 1939, completed 8 April 1940, torpedoed by German U-boat U559 off Tobruk 27 November 1941
• Warrego — built by Cockatoo, laid down 10 May 1939, launched 10 February 1940, completed 21 August 1940, sold for scrapping 1966

Royal Indian Navy

• Indus — built by R. & W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn, laid down 8 December 1933, launched 24 August 1934, completed 15 March 1935, bombed by Japanese aircraft off Akyab 6 April 1942

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[[Commons: Category:Grimsby class sloop

| Grimsby class sloop

]]

• List of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy
• List of Royal Australian Navy ships
• HQS Wellington, home of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners

Bibliography

• Warships of Australia, Ross Gillett (illustrated by Colin Graham), Rigby Limited, 1977, ISBN 0-7270-0472-7
• British and Empire Warships of the Second World War, H T Lenton, Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-277-7
• Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946, Ed. Robert Gardiner, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-913-8