| States transferred fifty "flushed decked" World War I destroyers to the British. Seven of these destroyers were manned by the Royal Canadian Navy. Those that entered the Royal Navy were known as Town class destroyers because they were usually named for towns common to both the United States and Britain. These destroyers were 314 feet long with a beam of 31 feet and could go more than 30 knots. When they were turned over to the British, most had a main armament of four 4-inch guns and twelve torpedo tubes. Like all destroyers, these ships were not really suitable to service as escorts in the North Atlantic because they were too fast and too heavily armed, with long hulls and narrow beams that gave them too great a turning radius. Nevertheless, the great shortage of ships forced the Royal Navy to employ them as convoy escorts. The British modified these American destroyers for escort duty by removing some of the 4-inch guns and torpedo tubes and replacing them with smaller weapons, such as 20mm Oerlikons; increasing the space for depth charge storage; and fitting new depth charge throwers. To increase these ships' stability, the foremast and three after-funnels were short-ened, while the after-mast was removed. 39 |
| At the beginning of the war the Admiralty assigned a number of "V and W" class destroyers to escort duties.40 These ships made poor escorts for, like the Town class destroyers, they were too fast, had too many guns, operated with a very long turning radius, and had little endurance. In the years 1941 to 1943, twenty-one of these destroyers were converted into long-range escorts. Most of their heavy guns were replaced by weapons such as 20mm Oerlikons, and in most cases the torpedo tubes were also removed. To increase each ship's range, its No. 1 boiler and funnel were removed, and this space was used for additional fuel bunkers and for accommodation of the ship's crew. In the course of the war, the British also modified other fleet destroyers, such as HMS Duncan and HMS Hesperus, to serve as escorts.41 And in 1943, with the suspension of convoys to Russia, a number of fleet destroyers were reassigned from the home fleet to convoy work in the North Atlantic.42 A number of American and Canadian fleet destroyers also saw service in the North Atlantic during 1943. |
| As the war went on and the U-boat campaign in the Atlantic intensifted, the British built and commissioned River class frigates. These |
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