NAVYPEDIA

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Cornwallis (ex-Lychnis)	T56		Hamilton, Glasgow, UK	1917	21.8.1917	11/1917 // 9.1921	sold 1946

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	1250
Displacement full, t	1450
Length, m	81.7
Breadth, m	10.2
Draught, m	3.36
No of shafts	1
Machinery	1 VTE, 2 cylindrical boilers
Power, h. p.	2500
Max speed, kts	17.5
Fuel, t	coal 130
Endurance, nm(kts)	2000(15)
Armament	2 x 1 - 102/40 QF Mk IV or 2 x 1 - 102/44 BL Mk IX or 2 x 1 - 102/45 BL Mk X, 1 x 1 - 47/40 3pdr Hotchkiss Mk I, 2 DCT, 1 DCR
Complement	92

Standard scale images

Project history

A further order was placed for six sloops in January 1916, but it was hoped to improve their anti-submarine capabilities by disguising them as small merchant ships, with armament concealed. The earlier 'Flower' class ships had proved useful escorts but their unmistakable silhouette always betrayed them as warships, and it was hoped that a more mercantile silhouette would tempt U-boats to stay on the surface long enough for the sloops to get within gun-range. Six more were ordered in December. The builders were given a free hand to model the sloops on similar-sized ships which they had already built. This frequently resulted in unsuitable accommodation and internal arrangements, but was considered a necessary evil to make the disguise effective. Although not strictly Q-ships, in the sense that they were built as commissioned warships, they were incorporated into the decoy organisation, with 'Q' numbers and false identities (shown in the table). Their main problems were that when viewed from bow or quarter their lines were much too fine for a mercantile hull, and if engaged by a U-boat their crews were too large to fake an 'abandon ship' routine.

Modernizations

mid-1930s: - 1 x 1 - 47/40; + 2 x 1 - 40/39 2pdr QF Mk II

Naval service

No significant events.