The Thornycroft type leader or ''Shakespeare'' class were a

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

of five destroyer leaders designed by John I. Thornycroft & Company and built by them at Woolston, Southampton for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

towards the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. They were named after historical naval leaders. Only ''Shakespeare'' and ''Spenser'' were completed in time for wartime service. The other three were completed after the war, ''Broke'' and ''Keppel'' after being towed to Royal dockyards for completion, and two further ships – ''Saunders'' and ''Spragge'' – were cancelled. The function of a leader was to carry the flag staff of a destroyer

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same cla ...

, therefore they were enlarged to carry additional crew, offices and signalling equipment, allowing a fifth gun to be carried. These ships were very similar to the Admiralty type leader, but had Thornycroft design characteristics, the most noticeable being the broad, slab-sided funnels. The design was used as the basis for several ships built for foreign navies in the 1920s. * built in Italy for the Romanian Navy * built in Spain for the Spanish Navy and Argentine Navy * built in Britain for the Argentine Navy

Ships

The first two ships to this design were ordered under the

War Emergency Programme War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of State (polity), states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or betwe ...

, in April 1916: *; laid down 2 October 1916, launched 7 July 1917 and completed 10 October 1917. Badly damaged by mine in June 1918, sold for breaking up and handed over 2 September 1936. *; laid down 9 October 1916, launched 22 September 1917 and completed 12 December 1917. Saw wartime service, sold for breaking up and handed over 29 September 1936. A third was ordered in April 1917: *; laid down 15 August 1917, launched 26 October 1918 and completed 14 February 1919. Converted to a WAIR

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

escort in 1939. Served mainly on east coast and during the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as the Battle of Sicily and Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allies of World War II, Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis p ...

. Sold for breaking up 20 March 1945. Four more were ordered from Thornycroft in April 1918, but with the end of the War the first pair were completed by HM Dockyards and the second pair were cancelled; the second ship was initially named ''Rooke'', but was renamed ''Broke'' in April 1921: *; launched 23 April 1920, completed 1925 by HM Dockyard Portsmouth. Sold for breaking up July 1945. The ship's bell was saved, and is located adjacent to the cricket pavilion of the

Haileybury and Imperial Service College Haileybury is a co-educational public school (fee-charging boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols pupils at the 11+, 13+ and 16+ stages of edu ...

*; launched 16 September 1920, completed January 1925 by HM Dockyard Pembroke. Sustained damage 8 November 1942 during naval assault upon Algiers during

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

, and foundered the next day. Two more vessels were ordered at the same time, to be built to this design by

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

, but it was subsequently decided to build these instead to the

Admiralty type flotilla leader The Admiralty type leader, sometimes known as the ''Scott'' class, were a class (ship), class of eight Flotilla leader, destroyer leaders designed and built for the Royal Navy towards the end of World War I. They were named after scotland, Scot ...

design and in the event both were subsequently cancelled: *; Cancelled, December 1918. *; Cancelled, December 1918.

References

*Cocker, Maurice ''Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981'', 1983, Ian Allan *'' Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946'', Ed. Robert Gardiner, Naval Institute Press, * M. J. Whitley ''Destroyers of World War II, An International Encyclopedia'', Arms and Armour Press, 1988, {{DEFAULTSORT:Thornycroft Type Leader Destroyer classes Ship classes of the Royal Navy

Ships

See also

References