Hunt-class destroyer

Class overview
HMS Blean, a Type III Hunt class, in dazzle camouflage
Builders:	John Brown & Company Cammell Laird Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Hawthorn Leslie and Company Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Alexander Stephen and Sons Swan Hunter John I. Thornycroft & Company J. Samuel White Vickers-Armstrongs Yarrow Shipbuilders
Operators:	Royal Navy (72 ships) Royal Hellenic Navy (7) Polish Navy (3) Royal Norwegian Navy (3) Free French Navy (1) After 1945: Federal German Navy (3) Indian Navy (3) Ecuadorian Navy (2) Egyptian Navy (2) Royal Danish Navy (1) Israeli Navy (1)
Built:	1939–1943
In commission:	1940–1963
Completed:	86
Lost:	23

General characteristics Type I
Displacement:	1,000 long tons (1,020 t) standard 1,340 long tons (1,360 t) full load
Length:	85 m (278 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam:	8.8 m (28 ft 10 in)
Draught:	3.27 m (10 ft 9 in)
Propulsion:	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,170 kW)
Speed:	27.5 knots (31.6 mph; 50.9 km/h) 26 kn (29.9 mph; 48.2 km/h) full
Range:	3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h) 1,000 nmi (1,850 km) at 26 kn (48 km/h)
Complement:	146
Armament:	4 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX 4 × QF 2-pounder (40 mm) Mk. VIII AA guns on quad mount MK.VII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns on single mounts P Mk. III 40 depth charges, 2 throwers, 1 rack

General characteristics Type II
Displacement:	1,050 long tons (1,070 t) standard 1,430 long tons (1,450 t) full load
Length:	85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam:	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught:	2.51 m (8 ft 3 in)
Propulsion:	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,200 kW)
Speed:	27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h) 25.5 kn (29.3 mph; 47.2 km/h) full
Range:	3,600 nmi (6,700 km) at 14 kn (26 km/h)
Complement:	164
Armament:	6 × QF 4 in Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX 4 × QF 2 pdr Mk. VIII on quad mount MK.VII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikons on single mounts P Mk. III 110 depth charges, 2 throwers, 3 racks

General characteristics Type III
Displacement:	1,050 long tons (1,070 t) standard 1,435 long tons (1,458 t) full load
Length:	85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam:	10.16 m (33 ft 4 in)
Draught:	3.51 m (11 ft 6 in)
Propulsion:	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,000 kW)
Speed:	27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h) 25.5 kn (29.3 mph; 47.2 km/h) full
Range:	2,350 nmi (4,350 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h)
Complement:	168
Armament:	4 × QF 4 in Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX 4 × QF 2 pdr Mk. VIII on quad mount MK.VII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikons on single mounts P Mk. III 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 110 depth charges, 4 throwers, 3 racks
Notes:	cost £352,000

General characteristics Type IV
Displacement:	1,175 long tons (1,194 t) standard 1,561 long tons (1,586 t) full load
Length:	90.22 m (296 ft 0 in) o/a
Beam:	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught:	3.51 m (11 ft 6 in)
Propulsion:	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,000 kW)
Speed:	26 knots (30 mph; 48 km/h) 25.5 kn (29.3 mph; 47.2 km/h) full
Range:	950 nmi (1,760 km) at 25 kn (46 km/h) (Brecon) 1,175 nmi (2,176 km) at 25 kn (46 km/h) (Brissinden)
Complement:	170
Armament:	6 × QF 4 in Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX 4 × QF 2 pdr Mk. VIII on quad mount MK.VII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikons on single mounts P Mk. III 4 × 0.5 in Vickers machine guns on twin mounts Mk. V, later replaced by 4 × 20 mm Oerlikons on twin mounts Mk. V 3 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 40 depth charges, 2 throwers, 1 rack

The Hunt class was a class of escort destroyer of the Royal Navy. The first vessels were ordered early in 1939, and the class saw extensive service in the Second World War, particularly on the British east coast and Mediterranean convoys. They were named after British fox hunts. The contemporary Hunt class of GRP hulled mine countermeasure vessels maintain the Hunt names lineage in the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy had identified the need for two types of destroyer: larger vessels with heavy gun and torpedo armaments for fleet work and another type for escort duties. Although old fleet destroyers could be allocated to escort work as new construction replaced them, they were unsuitable for the task. Fleet destroyers were designed for speed and their machinery was inefficient at convoy speeds, reducing their range. Their shape made them poor sea boats at low speed, also exacerbated by additional equipment on the superstructure. Modifications were needed to ease these problems.

The escort vessels forsook the heavy armament and some of the speed of the fleet type to reduce unit cost and better suit mass production and the conditions. This new "fast escort vessel" was later classified as an "escort destroyer".

Eighty-six Hunts were completed, of which 72 were commissioned into the Royal Navy and the remaining 14 were transferred to allied navies; Bolebrooke, Border, Catterick, Hatherleigh, Modbury, Bramham and Hursley to the Greek Royal Hellenic Navy, Bedale, Oakley (i) and Silverton to the Free Polish Navy, Glaisdale, Eskdale and Badsworth to the Royal Norwegian Navy and Haldon to the Free French Navy.

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