NAVYPEDIA

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Elphinstone (ex-Ceanothus)	T19		Armstrong, Elswick, UK	2/1917	2.6.1917	9/1917 // 5.1922	wrecked 29.1.1925

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	1290
Displacement full, t	1493
Length, m	80.0
Breadth, m	10.7
Draught, m	3.51
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, 2 x 1 - 76/40 12pdr 12cwt QF Mk I/II, 2 DCT, 2 DCR
Complement	119

Project history

Similar to the Aubrietia type, and like them, varied according to the builders' ideas; Armstrongs had at least three designs, Barclay Curle at least two. When merchant ships were defensively armed many ships of these types received a dummy gun on the poop to maintain the disguise. In addition to concealed guns they had anti-submarine weapons, including depth-charges dropped through traps under the poop, and bomb-throwers of various types mounted on deck, usually behind breastworks where they could not be seen easily. The first six were ordered on 6 January 1917 (four from Armstrongs and two from Barclay Curle), followed by Syringa and Spiraea on the 13th and the remainder (Arbutus etc) on 21 February 1917, and they came into service between June 1917 and June 1918.

Modernizations

None.

Naval service

Elphinstone wrecked 29.1.1925 at Nicobar Islands.