The Abdiel class were a class of six fast minelayers commissioned into the Royal Navy and active during the Second World War. They were also known as the Manxman class and as "mine-laying cruisers". These ships were armed with a wide variety of defensive weapons from 0.5-inch (13 mm) machine guns to the 4-inch (100 mm) main armament. They were also equipped with a wide array of radars, along with their normal complement of mines. They were easily mistaken for destroyers. Half the class was lost through enemy action during the Second World War; the others saw post-war service, and the last example was scrapped in the early 1970s.