Allied Warships

Sloops


The Modified Black Swan class sloop HMS Woodpecker (U 08) of the Royal Navy. She was lost on 27 Feb 1944.

Like Corvettes, the sloop was a slow escort (16 knots) vessel, small and somewhat lightly armed. The main design element of this type of ship was long voyages so they could outperform the corvette in this regard.

They were intended for the Mediterranean and South Pacific service which made them cold and miserable ships in the more hostile North Atlantic. One class, Black Swan, that was designed just before the war, was faster (19 knots) and carried more anti-aircraft armament. Sloops generally carried a large number of depth charges and were very well equipped with sensors making then effective U-boat hunters.

The Royal Navy's escort sloop emphasized range and anti- aircraft protection on a destroyer size hull. Destroyers, by contrast, emphasized high speed, low angle guns, and torpedoes for their fleet screen duties. A sloop achieved half a destroyer's speed on 1/10 the horsepower; but ASDIC was useless at higher speeds, and more economical engines offered greater endurance. Destroyer construction took precedence between the wars because destroyers could undertake convoy escort, but sloops could never effectively screen the battle fleet.

The sloop was favored by perhaps the most famous of all Allied ASW commander was Captain Johnnie Walker, RN. Under his command the sloop HMS Starling became the most successful U-boat killer of all.

All Sloop classes

The list is divided by navy, then ordered by commissioned date of each class (oldest first).

Commissioned

Royal Indian Navy

 Cornwallis (2)1921 - 1939
 no class name (1)1934 - 1934

Royal Navy

 24 (3)1919 - 1925
 Bridgewater (2)1929 - 1929
 Folkestone (5)1930 - 1931
 Shoreham (4)1931 - 1932
 Falmouth (4)1932 - 1933
 Grimsby (13)1934 - 1940
 Bittern (3)1935 - 1938
 Egret (3)1938 - 1939
 Black Swan (8)1939 - 1943
 Modified Black Swan (29)1942 - 1946

Royal Dutch Navy

 Flores (2)1926 - 1926
 Johan Maurits van Nassau (1)1933 - 1933
 Van Kinsbergen (1)1939 - 1939

Italian Navy

 Eritrea (1)1937 - 1937

16 ship classes.


Please note that we list the classes by navies that initiated/owned the class. Often vessels of certain classes were then built for other nations (or lent), those ships are not visible here but only through the navies pages or by looking into each class.

War losses: Sloops


 DateVesselClass

1940

Royal Navy30 Apr 1940HMS Bittern (L 07)Bittern 
Royal Dutch Navy14 May 1940HNMS Johan Maurits van Nassau (i)Johan Maurits van Nassau 
Royal Navy24 Aug 1940HMS Penzance (L 28)Folkestone 
Royal Navy15 Sep 1940HMS Dundee (L 84)Falmouth 

1941

Royal Navy25 May 1941HMS Grimsby (L 16 / U 16)Grimsby 
Royal Navy24 Jun 1941HMS Auckland (L 61 / U 61)Egret 
Royal Australian Navy27 Nov 1941HMAS Parramatta (L 44 / U 44)Grimsby 

1942

Royal Navy31 Jan 1942HMS Culver (Y 87)Banff 
Royal Australian Navy4 Mar 1942HMAS Yarra (L 77 / U 77)Grimsby 
Royal Indian Navy6 Apr 1942HMIS Indus (L 67 / U 67)Grimsby 
Royal Navy8 Nov 1942HMS Hartland (Y 00)Banff 
Royal Navy8 Nov 1942HMS Walney (Y 04)Banff 
Royal Navy10 Nov 1942HMS Ibis (U 99)Black Swan 

1943

Royal Navy27 Aug 1943HMS Egret (L 75 / U 75)Egret 

1944

Royal Navy27 Feb 1944HMS Woodpecker (U 08)Modified Black Swan 
Royal Navy21 Aug 1944HMS Kite (U 87)Modified Black Swan 

1945

Royal Navy17 Feb 1945HMS Lark (U 11)Modified Black Swan 
Royal Navy20 Mar 1945HMS Lapwing (U 62)Modified Black Swan 

18 Sloops lost. See all Allied Warship losses.

See all Allied Warship types



British destroyers & frigates

Norman Friedman

Books dealing with this subject include:

British destroyers & frigates, Norman Friedman, 2006



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