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 . 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 or 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.Lenton 1970, p. 79.Whitley 2000, p. 142.
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.Whitley 2000, pp. 141–142. Two Foster Wheeler boilers fed steam at and to a pair of geared steam turbines, generating and driving two propeller shafts. This was intended to give a maximum speed of .Lenton 1970, p. 81. While the hull, with a length of between perpendiculars and overall, was of similar design to that of the Weapons, the design's beam increased from to 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 shell to a range of (with a maximum altitude in anti-aircraft fire of ) at a rate of 12 rounds per barrel per minute,Friedman 1997, p. 458. 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.
Ships Ship Pennant number Builder Laid down Launched Completed Fate Gael G07 Yarrow 1944 Cancelled Gallant G03 Yarrow 1944 Cancelled Gauntlet G59 John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston 1944 Cancelled Guernsey G19 Denny 1944 Cancelled Glowworm G45 Thornycroft 1944 Cancelled. ex Gift.This vessel was originally called HMS Gift, but was renamed in October 1945 to HMS Glowworm (G45). Construction was cancelled on 12 December 1945 before completion. Grafton G76 White 1944 Cancelled Greyhound G88 White 1944 Cancelled Gift G67 Denny 1944 Cancelled. ex Glowworm, ex Guinevere.This vessel was originally called HMS Guinevere but was renamed in September 1945 to HMS Glowworm, and renamed again in October to HMS Gift (G67). Construction was cancelled on 1 December 1945 before completion.
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References
Warships of World War II, Pt 2, HT Lenton and JJ Colledge, Ian Allan 1962?