What is the combat experience of the British combat class destroyer?

Britain is the hometown of destroyers. As early as the end of 1970s in 19, due to the rapid development of torpedo boats, and the British Royal Navy was at a disadvantage in this respect, the British Navy decided to develop a larger and faster ship than torpedo boats to hunt down and destroy torpedo boats, so a new type of ship called "torpedo boat capture ship" was born. Practice has proved that this is a failed attempt, but "torpedo boat capture ship" has become the predecessor of modern destroyers.

After redesign, the British Navy built the world's first destroyer "Hawok" in June, 5438 +0893+10, then called "Torpedo Destroyer" and later renamed it "Destroyer". As for why Chinese is called destroyer, there is no textual research, and it is likely to come from Japan. As can be seen from its name, the task of early destroyers was to defend the enemy's torpedo boats for the naval fleet.

At the beginning of the 20th century, airplanes appeared, but for a long time, airplanes did not pose a threat to ships. However, submarines are underwater troubles for surface ships. Thus, in the First World War, destroyers continued to undertake the task of defending torpedo boats, and their main task has turned to anti-submarine warfare. Since 1930s, destroyers have been equipped with anti-aircraft guns, and their tasks have expanded from defending torpedo boats and anti-submarine to serving as air defense missions.

On the eve of World War II, Nazi Germany's dive bombers rose rapidly and set a record that impressed the world at the beginning of World War II. It is against this background that the Royal Navy beat us to it and began to develop air defense destroyers. From this development to the second world war, the main task of destroyers has also become fleet air defense.

Starting from 1933, the German Air Force began to bid for the development of dive bombers, and Junker Company won the bid in one fell swoop. The following year, the prototype of type 3 was produced, 1937, and the production machine was gradually delivered to the German Air Force. This is the JU87 Stuka bomber that ran rampant during World War II.

"Stuka" is equipped with two MG 17 7.92mm machine guns and 1 MG 15 7.92mm machine guns. 1 500 kg bullet can be hung under the belly of the aircraft, and110 kg bullet can be hung under the wings. The plane can dive rapidly at an angle of 80 degrees, and the bombing accuracy is within 25 meters.

After the outbreak of World War II, the German "Stuka" raided Poland one after another, bombed the Dutch barracks, destroyed the Belgian fortress, smashed the counterattack of the French tank forces, and strafed the British expeditionary force waiting to retreat on the beach in Dunkirk. As a German blitzkrieg, deep-water bombs showed great power.

/kloc-in the summer of 0/940, Stuka, as one of the main forces, went on an expedition to Britain. Although Stuka lost its prestige due to the lack of long-range fighter escort in the air battle in Great Britain, its power still made the British shudder.

At that time, the Royal Navy had a huge fleet, but basically did not have air defense capabilities. In addition, "Stuka" is definitely a fatal threat to the slow target of surface ships. As long as a blockbuster is enough, a large and medium-sized ship is scrapped. Therefore, the British government held an emergency meeting in 194 1 to discuss countermeasures. As part of the plan of "Emergency Destroyer in Wartime", Prime Minister Churchill proposed to develop air defense destroyers to undertake the air defense operations of the fleet.

1942, the proposal was finalized. This new type of warship is called "combat" class air defense destroyer, and it is decided to order the first batch of 17 ships, and the second batch of 2 1 ships will be purchased at 1943. In the same year, the first ships were started in several shipyards at the same time, and the first ship "Baffler" was built in 6543.

Controversial design

The "Battle" class destroyer was the largest and best-performing destroyer built by the British Navy during World War II. Its huge hull and luxurious equipment undoubtedly left other "wartime emergency destroyers" in World War II behind.

The designed standard displacement of this class ship is 2,325 tons, the full-load displacement is 2,800 tons, the length is115.52m, the waterline is108m, the width is10.2m, the horizontal height from keel to deck is 5.59m, and the maximum draft is 3.86m (later reduced to 3.45). Crew establishment is usually.

The power system adopts "Parson" single-stage reduction gear transmission turbine with a power of 50,000 shaft horsepower and a maximum speed of 30.5 knots. The ship carries 766 tons of oil and has a cruising capacity of 4400 nautical miles at a speed of 20 knots.

Since it is an air defense ship, of course, its weapons and equipment design is mainly anti-aircraft guns, mainly including: four MK ⅲ 1 14 mm rapid-fire guns, installed on MK ⅴ double turrets, with an elevation of 80 degrees and 300 rounds for standby; A door MK ⅹⅹⅹⅶⅶⅶⅶⅶⅶⅶⅶ𔺢ⅶⅶⅶⅶⅶⅶⅶ𔺢𔺢𔺢𔺢𔺢ⅶ𔺢𔺢8566 Six 20 mm guns with two holes, including two MK2 double guns and two MKⅶ A single-barrel guns, with 2440 rounds of ammunition; A vickers 303 gun, 5000 bullets.

The shipborne sea warning radar is SW.272, which is installed on the front mast, AW.29 1 is installed on the rear mast, and the MK ⅴ turret is equipped with AR.275 gun aiming radar. In addition to artillery, the "combat" class is also equipped with two sets of four sets of manual torpedo tubes, which can launch eight MK VII torpedoes; 4 depth charge throwers and 2 slide rails, carrying 60 depth charges.

1952, the British navy modified the weapons and equipment of the "combat" class destroyer, removing the 100 mm gun and the dual Bofors 40mm gun, and replacing them with five Bofors MK7 and MK2 single-tube STAAG guns. Deep-water bomb throwers and slide rails have also been replaced with 1 single-tube anti-submarine mortars. This modification may be caused by the weakening of air defense combat tasks after the war.

The design of the "combat" class destroyer has been controversial from the beginning. The first is the weapons and equipment on board. Initially, it was planned to equip119mm naval gun and a small number of mine-sweeping devices, but when drafting the final plan, the Admiralty decided that all ships should be equipped with114mm naval gun and equipped with enough mine-sweeping devices.

1 14 mm artillery is installed on a closed turret, which may be the mainstream today, but during World War II, the sight-seeing equipment at that time was not advanced, which made the gunner "blind". Critics believe that the 80-degree elevation angle of the main gun makes the exposed turret machinery vulnerable to seawater erosion when the ship is in bad sea conditions.

1942, an experimental turret was installed on the "Fierce" for testing, and the results proved satisfactory, but some shortcomings were also exposed, among which oil leakage and other problems were not really solved until these ships were retired. Whether to equip the ship with torpedo tubes has also caused great controversy. The vice minister of naval construction thinks that a turret is enough and it is not worth equipped with torpedo tubes.

His view was not adopted, but he finally decided to equip two sets of quadruple torpedo tubes. Vice Minister strongly opposes that it is too wasteful to conduct anti-submarine warfare in narrow waters, but it is too low to conduct anti-ship operations. Although the ship is equipped with all kinds of artillery, the generals of the Royal Navy still think that the artillery firepower is not enough.

Secondly, the living conditions on the ship are extremely bad. The standard of living of the crew was originally planned according to the bed of 2 1 inch and the seating space of 24 inches per person, which was based on the establishment of 240 to 288 people in peacetime and 338 people in wartime. However, after the service of the ship, the usual establishment is between 280 and 290 people, especially after the addition of new equipment, the living area has become overcrowded, which is aggravated by various pipes, pumps and other machinery.

There is no laundry room and dry cleaning equipment on board, and the bathroom equipment is extremely simple. From 10 to 12 people * * use washbasins, and 60 people * * * use nozzles. These problems have never been alleviated. In particular, a fatal mistake was made in the design of the living quarters, which was too close to the torpedo tube.

In addition, the ship lacked enough weather control water cooling equipment, and some improvements were made later, but it still made the crew feel particularly uncomfortable in hot weather.

Despite this, the "combat" class destroyer is elegant and beautiful in appearance. It is the first batch of ships equipped with stabilizing fins in the Royal Navy. Sailing is very smooth, almost no vibration, good maneuverability, and can withstand sea storms. It is considered to be the last ship of the Royal Navy with the characteristics of a classic battleship.

The "Battle" class destroyer experienced the ups and downs of national defense expenditure and the changes of national defense policy, and became the core of the destroyer force of the Royal Navy from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. For most people, they are really "beautiful combat levels."

A brief combat experience

The "combat" class air defense destroyer was a product of the war, but it basically failed to accept the baptism of World War II because of its late arrival. It was originally designed to deal with the bombers of Nazi Germany, but when these ships gradually entered active service after 1944, the allied forces had entered the stage of counterattack in Europe, and the "combat" level was useless.

Therefore, the Royal Navy decided to transfer them to the Pacific Ocean to fight against Japanese fascism. However, only the "Pavler" arrived in the Pacific Ocean before the "War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression Victory Day", joined the 57th Special Task Force of the Royal Navy Pacific Fleet, and participated in the decisive battle and surrender ceremony against Japan.

On the day of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression Victory Day, the fleet, Trafalgar and Campodang, which had already gone to the Mediterranean, continued to head for the Pacific Ocean and joined the Pacific Fleet 19 destroyer detachment. Later, Hogg and Lagos joined the ranks.

At the same time, "Sollbe" and "Finisterre" returned to Britain and joined the British fleet. Not only did it not contribute much to the anti-fascist war, but four ships, Fleet, Pavler, Gravlin and Saint Kitts, participated in the Suez landing during the Second Middle East War in 1955 and became Israel's accomplices.

The British navy ordered 38 "combat" class destroyers in two batches, but only 24 were completed and put into service. Due to the end of World War II, seven ships under construction, such as Mons, Omdurman, Summer, Hepan, Saint Lucia, Sandomingo and Waterloo, were dismantled before launching, including the Beautiful Island, navarino, Polk Tiltz and Taraway. Until/kloc-0 was demolished at the end of 957, Albuil and namur stayed in the shipyard until they were abandoned in the early 1950s.

Among the 24 ships that have been completed, the Gravlin entered the reserve immediately after completion, and the Matapan entered the reserve before 1947 completed the sea trial and entered the active service.

During the period of 1959, the British navy converted four ships, Koruna, Ginkul, Einar and Barosa, into radar warning ships. The main modification projects include the installation of large-scale dot matrix radar devices, the transformation of the stern superstructure, the cancellation of auxiliary guns, and the installation of ship-to-air missile launch systems. These four ships still maintained their combat capability in the late 1960s.

Although there is no actual combat experience, Sollbe sank a German submarine with only 1 1 shells in the "Death Light" operation, which also set a record. "Sollbe" has also visited Europe and Latin American countries, and served as the escort of the royal yacht for a long time, accompanying the Queen to visit the Mediterranean and African coastal countries, greatly enhancing the prestige of the royal family.

The longest-serving "battle" class ship of the Royal Navy was Matapan, which was put into reserve before it was officially put into service in 1947, and was towed to Portsmouth port 23 years later, and was converted into a sonar test ship in 1970. The modification range is very wide, and only the original design, hull and engine are retained.

1973, it has passed since its last sister ship in the Royal Navy was retired. 10, Matapan was put into service for the first time and retired from active service five years later. The retirement of Matapan marks the end of the 34-year history of the Royal Navy's "Battle" class destroyer.

However, several "combat" class destroyers have served in foreign navies for decades. 1967, Britain handed over the Louis to the Iranian navy and renamed it Artemis. It is believed that it was the main ship of the Iranian navy until the mid-1990s, with a life cycle of 50 years. Gabad and Cadiz were handed over to the Pakistan Navy in 1956 and 1957 respectively, and were renamed as "Full Moon" and "Hajibar".

In the third India-Pakistan war of 197 1, the Hejbal was sunk by the Indian navy's wasp-class missile boat with SS-N-2 Styx anti-ship missile, and the full moon was not retired until the early 1990s.

At this point, we have to mention two "battle" class destroyers "Anzak" -II and "Bloody Sand" built by the Australian Navy in China. Among them, "Anzak" -II joined the "United Nations Army" shortly after serving in 195 1 and sent troops to North Korea for the first time. Until 1959, it belonged to the Singapore Federal Strategic Reserve Force and arrived on the Korean Peninsula several times before and after, shelling its northern part.

/kloc-0 was converted into a training ship in April, 1963. Even so,1June 1968, as the escort of the "Sydney" aircraft carrier, Anzak-II sent troops to Vietnam, once again playing the disgraceful role of "aggression".