P-class sloop

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TWCMS B9663-w.jpg
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Service image of 1:48 scale model P-class sloop HMS P23
Class overview
NameP class
OperatorsNaval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  Royal Navy
In service1916–1921
Planned64
Completed64 (including 20 as PC-class Q-ships)
Lost3
General characteristics [1]
Displacement613 long tons (623 t)
Length244 ft 6 in (74.52 m) o.a.
Beam23 ft 9 in (7.24 m)
Draught8 ft (2.4 m)
Installed power3,500  shp (2,600 kW)
Propulsion
  • 2 × steam turbines
  • 2 × cylindrical boilers
  • 2 × screws
Speed20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h)
RangeOil fuel
Complement50–54 men
Armament

The P class, nominally described as "patrol boats", was in effect a class of British coastal sloops. Twenty-four ships to this design were ordered in May 1915 (numbered P.11 to P.34) and another thirty between February and June 1916 (numbered P.35 to P.64) under the Emergency War Programme [2] for the Royal Navy in the First World War, although ten of the latter group were in December 1916 altered on the stocks before launch for use as decoy Q-ships and were renumbered as PC-class sloops. None were named initially, although in 1925 P.38 was given the name Spey.

Contents

These vessels were designed to replace destroyers in coastal operations, but had twin screws, a very low freeboard, ram bows of hardened steel, a sharply cutaway funnel and a small turning circle. Clearly seen as the linear descendants of the late 19th century steam torpedo boats and coastal destroyers, many were fitted with the 14-inch torpedo tubes removed from old torpedo boats.

With the survival of a builder's diary by William Bartram, full details of the sea trials of P.23 on 21 June 1916 exist. She worked up to 21.8 knots (40.4 km/h). Bartram's commissioned a model from Sunderland modelmaker C Crawford & Sons and this model, in the collections of Sunderland Museum and Heritage Service, is stored in the model store of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Service at the Discovery Museum.

PC class sloops

Patrol boat HMS P32 Patrol boat HMS P32 - IWM Q 75571.jpg
Patrol boat HMS P32

Ten of these ships were completed as Q-ships, with their numbers being altered by the addition of a "C" after the "P". These were termed the PC class sloops. A further batch of ten ships were ordered in 1917 (PC.65 to PC.70 in January, and PC.71 to PC.74 in June) as PC class sloops. These were built to resemble small merchant vessels for use as decoy (Q) ships, and were alternatively known as "PQ" boats. Again, none were named, although in 1925 PC.73 was given the name Dart, while PC.55 and PC.69 were named Baluchi and Pathan respectively upon transfer to the Royal Indian Navy in May 1922.

The PC-class sloops were completed with slight enlargement from the standard P-class sloops. They were 247 ft (overall) long and 25½ ft in breadth, although they had similar machinery. Displacement varied from 682 tons in PC.42, PC.43, PC.44, PC.51, PC.55 and PC.56 to 694 tons in PC.60 to PC.63 and in PC.65 to PC.74. They carried one 4-inch and two 12-pounder guns, and no torpedo tubes.

Ships

ShipBuilderLaunched [3] [4] Fate
1915 batch
P.11 J. Samuel White & Company, Cowes 14 October 1915Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
P.12 White, Cowes4 December 1915Sunk in collision in the Channel 4 November 1918 [5]
P.13 William Hamilton and Company, Port Glasgow 7 June 1916Renumbered P.75 on 31 July 1917 and sold for breaking up 31 July 1923
P.14 Charles Connell and Company, Scotstoun 4 July 1916Sold for breaking up 31 July 1923
P.15 Workman, Clark and Company, Belfast 24 January 1916Sold on 26 November 1921
P.16 Workman Clark23 March 1916Sold on 26 November 1921
P.17 Workman Clark21 October 1915Sold on 26 November 1921
P.18 A. & J. Inglis, Glasgow 20 April 1916Sold 26 November 1921
P.19 Northumberland Shipbuilding Company, Howdon 21 February 1916Sold 24 July 1923
P.20 Northumberland Shipbuilding3 April 1916Sold for breaking up in May 1923
P.21 Russell & Company, Port Glasgow 31 March 1916Sold 26 November 1921
P.22 Caird & Company, Greenock 22 February 1916Sold for breaking up 12 December 1923
P.23 Bartram & Sons, [2] Sunderland 5 March 1916Sold 24 July 1923
P.24 Harland & Wolff, Govan 24 November 1915Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
P.25 Harland & Wolff, Govan15 January 1916Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
P.26 Tyne Iron Shipbuilding Company, Newcastle upon Tyne 22 December 1915Mined off Le Havre 10 April 1917 [6]
P.27 Joseph T. Eltringham & Company, South Shields 21 December 1915Sold 24 July 1923
P.28 Robert Thompson & Sons, Sunderland 6 March 1916Sold 24 July 1923
P.29 William Gray & Company, West Hartlepool 6 December 1915Sold 24 July 1923
P.30 W. Gray & Co5 February 1916Sold 24 July 1923
P.31 J. Readhead & Sons, South Shields 5 February 1916Sold for breaking up 16 December 1926
P.32 W. Harkess & Sons, Middlesbrough 20 January 1916Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
P.33 Napier & Miller, Old Kilpatrick (Glasgow)8 June 1916Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
P.34 Barclay Curle & Company, Whiteinch 22 March 1916Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
1916 batch
P.35 Caird & Company29 January 1917Sold for breaking up 15 January 1923
P.36 Eltringham25 October 1916Sold for breaking up in May 1923
P.37 W. Gray & Co28 October 1916Sold 18 February 1924
P.38 William Hamilton10 February 1917Sold for breaking up 7 December 1937
P.39 Inglis1 March 1917Sold for breaking up 6 September 1922
P.40 White, Cowes12 July 1916Sold for breaking up 1937
P.41 Bartram23 March 1917Sold for breaking up 6 September 1922
P.42 Caird & Company7 June 1917Renumbered PC.42 before being launched and completed as PC-class sloop. Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
P.43 Caird & Company14 August 1917Renumbered PC.43 before being launched and completed as PC-class sloop. Sold for breaking up 20 January 1923
P.44 Eltringham25 April 1917Renumbered PC.44 before being launched and completed as PC-class sloop. Sold for breaking up 9 April 1923
P.45 W. Gray & Co24 January 1917Sold for breaking up 15 January 1923
P.46 Harkess7 February 1917Sold for breaking up 28 October 1925
P.47 Readhead9 July 1917Sold for breaking up 28 October 1923
P.48 Readhead5 September 1917Sold for breaking up May 1923
P.49 Thompson19 April 1917Sold for breaking up 15 January 1923
P.50 Tyne Iron25 November 1916Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
P.51 Tyne Iron25 November 1916Renumbered PC.51 before being launched and completed as PC-class sloop. Sold for breaking up 18 January 1923,
P.52 White, Cowes28 September 1916Sold for breaking up May 1923
P.53 Barclay Curle8 February 1917Sold 18 February 1924
P.54 Barclay Curle25 April 1917Sold 18 February 1924
P.55 Barclay Curle5 May 1917Renumbered PC.55 before being launched and completed as PC-class sloop. Transferred to Royal Indian Navy February 1922, renamed Baluchi in May 1922; sold 1935
P.56 Barclay Curle2 June 1917Renumbered PC.56 before being launched and completed as PC-class sloop. On 25 December 1917 helped sink SM U-87. Sold for breaking up 31 July 1923
P.57 Hamilton6 August 1917Sold to Egypt 21 May 1920 and renamed El Raqib
P.58 Hamilton9 May 1918Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
P.59 White, Cowes2 November 1917Sold for breaking up 16 June 1938
P.60 Workman Clark4 June 1917Renumbered PC.60 before being launched and completed as PC-class sloop. Sold 18 February 1924
P.61 Workman Clark19 June 1917Renumbered PC.61 before being launched and completed as PC-class sloop. Sold for breaking up 9 April 1923
P.62 Harland & Wolff, Govan7 June 1917Renumbered PC.62 before being launched and completed as PC-class sloop. Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921.
P.63 Connell2 October 1917Renumbered PC.63 before being launched and completed as PC-class sloop. Sold for breaking up May 1923
P.64 Inglis30 August 1917Sold for breaking up 9 April 1923
1917 batch
PC.65 Eltringham5 September 1917Sold for breaking up 8 January 1923
PC.66 Harkess12 February 1918Sold for breaking up 31 July 1923
PC.67 White, Cowes7 May 1917Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
PC.68 White, Cowes29 June 1917Sold for breaking up 1 December 1921
PC.69 Workman Clark, Belfast11 March 1918Transferred to Royal Indian Navy 5 August 1921, and renamed Pathan 30 May 1922; sunk by Italian submarine Galvani on 23 June 1940. [7] [8] [9] [10]
PC.70 Workman Clark, Belfast12 April 1918Sold for breaking up 3 September 1926
PC.71 White, Cowes18 March 1918Sold for breaking up 28 October 1925
PC.72 White, Cowes8 June 1918Sold for breaking up 28 October 1925
PC.73 White, Cowes1 August 1918Renamed Dart in April 1925. Sold for breaking up 16 June 1938
PC.74 White, Cowes4 October 1918Operated as Q-ship Chatsgrove during WW2 [11] (from late 1939 to July 1945). Sold for breaking up 19 July 1948

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References

  1. ↑ Gardiner and Gray 1985, p. 96.
  2. 1 2 "P boats of the First World War – William Bartram and P23", Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Blog, 18 April 2013
  3. ↑ Dittmar and Colledge 1972, p. 98
  4. ↑ Dittman and Colledge 1972, p. 99.
  5. ↑ "P class patrol boat (sloop br.)". www.wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  6. ↑ "HMS P-26 (fore part) [+1917]". www.wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  7. ↑ Rohwer & Hummelchen, p.23
  8. ↑ Collins, D.J.E. (1964). The Royal Indian Navy, 1939–1945, Official History of the Indian Armed Forces In the Second World War. Combined Inter-Services Historical Section (India & Pakistan).
  9. ↑ "House of commons debate – Indian, Burman, and Colonial War Effort". House of Commons of the United Kingdom . 20 November 1940.
  10. ↑ "Fighting the U-boats = Indian Naval forces". Uboat.net.
  11. ↑ "RFA Chatsgrove". www.historicalrfa.org.

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