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CORNWALLIS convoy sloop (1917/1921)


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, t1250
Displacement full, t1450
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


<i>Cornwallis</i> 1939
Cornwallis 1939


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.