G-class destroyer (1944)

The G-class destroyers were a proposed class of eight destroyers of the Royal Navy ordered during the Second World War under the 1944 Programme. Two were ordered (from Yarrow) on 24 July 1944, and six more on 30 August 1944, but all were cancelled on 13 December 1945, after the end of the war.

The class was to be an improvement on the Weapon-class destroyer. It has been referred to as the Gael class or Gallant class of destroyers.

Design
The G-class destroyers were proposed for the Royal Navy's shipbuilding programme as a follow-on to the Weapon class. Like the Weapons, the G class were meant as a smaller destroyer, capable of being built in facilities that could not manage the larger Battle-class destroyer or Daring-class destroyer (1949) ships. The major change was to replace the Weapons' main gun armament of six 4-inch guns with four 4.5 inch guns in the new Mk. VI twin mountings.

The new class used the same machinery as the Weapon class, arranged in the "unit" system, with two separate boiler rooms and engine rooms, meaning that a single hit was unlikely to cause a total loss of power. Two Foster Wheeler boilers fed steam at 400 psi and 750 F to a pair of geared steam turbines, generating 40000 shp and driving two propeller shafts. This was intended to give a maximum speed of 34 kn. While the hull, with a length of 341 ft between perpendiculars and 365 ft overall, was of similar design to that of the Weapons, the design's beam increased from 38 ft to 39 ft to accommodate the greater top-weight of the ships' armament and fire control equipment.

The two dual-purpose (anti-surface and anti-aircraft) 4.5 inch mounts, capable of firing a 55 lb shell to a range of 20000 yd (with a maximum altitude in anti-aircraft fire of 19700 ft) at a rate of 12 rounds per barrel per minute, were mounted one forward and one aft. Close in anti-aircraft armament consisted of six Bofors 40 mm guns, with two twin mounts and two single mounts. Ten 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes were fitted, in two quintuple mounts.