English: A model of the C Class (Ch group) Destroyer HMS Chivalrous at the Glasgow Transport Museum, 2 March 2007.

When WWII broke out, the standard fleet destroyer being built for the Royal Navy consisted of the J, K, L, M & N classes with three twin 4.7” gun turrets. These were very capable destroyers but a simpler, cheaper design suitable for rapid, large-scale production was needed. The result was a more basic version of the N class with four single turrets rather than three twins. The War Emergency Destroyer was built in batches of eight, each batch forming an Emergency Flotilla, with steady improvements as construction progressed. The O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V & W, Z classes resulted before the final C Class of four flotillas – the Ca, Ch, Co and Cr plus 2 spare Ce ships, although the two Ce’s were cancelled at the end of the war. Thus 112 War Emergency Destroyers were commissioned in 1941-47.

The 32 C Class were launched in 1943-45 and completed in 1944-47. The Ca group, launched in 1943-44 and all completed in 1944, were little more than repeats of the preceding Z Class, which had introduced the excellent 4.5” gun which had been carefully designed to be the ideal compromise between surface and AA requirements. However, the Z and Ca ships lacked a good dual-purpose director tower, the intended Mk.VI HA/LA tower (with RPC – remote power control of the guns) proving far behind schedule because of its complexities. Instead, a simpler, but far less capable interim K tower was designed and fitted. However, it was anticipated that the delayed Mk.VI tower would become available for the following Ch, Co and Cr classes, all being built more or less simultaneously (launched 1944-45, completed 1945-47). In the event, the Mk.VI tower was even further delayed resulting in ships of these classes being completed without a tower and being laid up awaiting them. When the tower finally became available, it was far heavier than intended and weight saving measures such as removing the after bank of torpedoes had to be instituted, although these classes still turned out heavier. As a result, only one of each of these three classes were completed before the war ended.

The eight Ca’s measured 363 ft x 36 ft x 10 ft and had a displacement of 1,710 tons. Their 40,000 shp turbines and 2 screws gave them a speed of 37 kts. Their designed armament was 4x4.5” DP guns, 2x40mm AA (1x2), 4x2 pdr AA pom poms (4x1), 8x21” TT (2x4), and 80 depth charges. The 24 Ch, Co & Cr’s measured the same as the Ca’s except for a draught of 10.6 ft and a displacement of 1,900 tons. They could do 36 kts. Their designed armament was 4x4.5” DP (4x1) guns, 2x40mm AA (1x2), 2x2 pdr AA pom poms (2x1), 2x20mm AA (2x1) guns, 4x21” TT (1x4), and 35 depth charges.

Although the War Emergency Destroyers on paper seemed far outclassed by the German Heavy Destroyers, in fact they were much more seaworthy and their conservatively-designed machinery far more reliable than the sophisticated machinery of their German opponents. They had to keep at sea for long periods with little maintenance and they did so. Huge demands were placed on them during the war and they met those demands.

HMS Chivalrous was built by Denny, Dumbarton, being launched in 1945 and completed in 1946. She was thus too late for WWII and served in the Mediterranean. In 1954 she was loaned to Pakistan and renamed PNS Taimur. She was returned to the RN in 1961 and scrapped.