Q/R class destroyer

British destroyer HMS Quail (G45) underway in December 1942.

The Q/R-class was a class of sixteen War Emergency Programme destroyers ordered for the British Royal Navy in 1940 as the 3rd and 4th Emergency Flotilla. Seven R-class destroyers were also built for the Royal Indian Navy They served as convoy escorts during World War II. Three Q-class ships were transferred to the Royal Australian Navy upon completion, with two further ships being handed over in 1945. Roebuck had the dubious honour of being launched prematurely by an air raid at Scotts shipyard in Greenock, her partially complete hulk lying submerged in the dockyard for nine months before it was salvaged and completed.

Specifications

• Type: Destroyer
• Service Period: 1942-1979
• Characteristics:
  • Length: 358 feet 3 inches (109.19 meters)
  • Beam: 35 feet 9 inches (10.9 meters)
  • Draught: 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 meters)
  • Displacement: 1,692 tons (Standard); 2,411 tons (Full Load)
• Crew: 172 (225 as flotilla leader)
• Propulsion: 2 x Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers, Parsons geared steam turbines, 2 x shafts, 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
• Range: 4,675 nautical miles (8,658.1 kilometers) at 20 knots (37.04 km/h)
• Speed: 36 knots (66.7 km/h)
• Sensor Suite:
  • Type 272 Target Indication RDF
  • Type 285 Ranging and Bearing RDF
  • Type 290 Air Warning RDF - replaced by Type 291 and later 293 RDFs
  • High Frequency Direction Finder
• Armament:
  • 4 x QF 4.7"/45-caliber Mk.IX naval guns (4x1)
  • 4 x QF 40mm/39-caliber anti-aircraft guns (1x4)
  • 6 x QF 20mm anti-aircraft cannons (6x1)
  • 8 x 21" torpedo tubes (2x4)
  • 3 x depth charge throwers with 45 depth charges on 3 racks

Unit Run

Royal Navy

Q-class

• HMS Quilium (G09) - transferred to Royal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS Banckert 1945.
• HMS Quadrant (G11) - transferred to Australia as HMAS Quadrant in 1945, later converted to Type 15 frigate.
• HMS Queenborough (G30) - transferred to Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Queenborough in 1945, later converted to Type 15 frigate
• HMS Quail (G45)
• HMS Quality (G62) - transferred to Australia as HMAS Quality in 1942.
• HMS Quentin (G78)
• HMS Quiberon (G81) - transferred to Australia as HMAS Quiberon in 1942, later converted to Type 15 frigate.
• HMS Quickmatch (G92) - transferred to Australia as HMAS Quickmatch in 1942, later converted to Type 15 frigate.

R-class

• HMS Rotherham (H09)
• HMS Racehorse (H11)
• HMS Raider (H15)
• HMS Ranger (H24)
• HMS Rapid (H32)
• HMS Redoubt (H41)
• HMS Relentless (H85)
• HMS Rocket (H92)
• HMS Roebuck (H95)

Royal Indian Navy

• HMIS Rana (D111)
• HMIS Ranjit (D112)
• HMIS Rajput (D113)
• HMIS Rajputana (D114)
• HMIS Rawalpindi (D115)
• HMIS Ranchi (D116)
• HMIS Ranpur (D117)