H-class destroyer

HMS Hunter, a ship with the traditional bridge and wheelhouse layout
Class overview
Operators:	Royal Navy  Royal Hellenic Navy  Brazilian Navy  Argentine Navy  Polish Navy  Royal Canadian Navy  Dominican Navy  Royal Netherlands Navy
Preceded by:	E and F class
Succeeded by:	I class
Subclasses:	G, H, Havant
Built:	1934–40
In commission:	1936–64
Completed:	24
Lost:	17
Scrapped:	7
General characteristics (G- and H-class as built)
Displacement:	1,340–1,350 long tons (1,360–1,370 t) (standard) 1,854–1,860 long tons (1,884–1,890 t) (deep load)
Length:	323 ft (98.5 m) (o/a)
Beam:	33 ft (10.1 m)
Draught:	12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Installed power:	34,000 shp (25,000 kW) 3 Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts, 2 Parsons geared steam turbines
Speed:	35.5 knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph)
Range:	5,530 nmi (10,240 km; 6,360 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	137 (peacetime), 146 (wartime)
Sensors and processing systems:	ASDIC
Armament:	4 × 1 - QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk IX guns 2 × 4 - 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) machine guns 2 × 4 - 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 20 × Depth charges, 1 rack and 2 throwers
General characteristics (Havant class, where different)
Armament:	3 × 1 - QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk IX guns up to 110 depth charges
General characteristics (Grenville & Hardy, where different)
Displacement:	1,445–1,465 long tons (1,468–1,489 t) (standard) 1,953–2,033 long tons (1,984–2,066 t) (deep load)
Length:	330–337 ft (100.6–102.7 m) (o/a)
Beam:	33.75–34 ft (10.3–10.4 m)
Installed power:	38,000 shp (28,000 kW)
Complement:	175
Armament:	5 × 1 - QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk IX guns

The G- and H-class destroyers were a group of 18 destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. Six additional ships being built for the Brazilian Navy when World War II began in 1939 were purchased by the British and named the Havant class. The design was a major export success with other ships built for the Argentine and Royal Hellenic Navies. They were assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet upon completion and enforced the Non-Intervention Agreement during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39.

Most ships were recalled home or were sent to the North Atlantic from October–November 1939, after it became clear that Fascist Italy was not going to intervene in World War II. Then they began to escort convoys and patrol for German submarines and commerce raiders. Two ships were lost to German mines in the first six months of the war. Three more were lost during the Norwegian Campaign, one in combat with a German cruiser and two during the First Battle of Narvik in April 1940. The Battle of France was the next test for the destroyers from May–June, with many of the Gs and Havants participating in the evacuation of Dunkirk and the subsequent evacuations of Allied troops from western France. Three ships were sunk, two by bombs and the other to torpedoes. Most of the H-class ships were sent to the Mediterranean in May in case Mussolini decided to attack France and the majority of the surviving Gs were sent to Force H at Gibraltar in July. Two of them, Griffin and Greyhound, participated in the Battle of Dakar, before being assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet with their sister ships. By the end of the year, the ships participated in several battles with the Royal Italian Navy, losing two to Italian mines and torpedoes, while sinking two Italian submarines. The Havants spent most of the war in the North Atlantic on convoy escort duties, losing half their number to German submarines, while helping to sink six in exchange by the end of the war.