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Description

Length: 359 feet
Displacement: 1,420 tons
Armament: x2 4 inch guns, x12 quadruple 20mm cannon anti-aircraft mounts, up to 250 naval infantry.

A subspecies of the Uu class destroyer of 1931 (which in itself was a development of 1924's S class), the B class assault destroyer were built in 1934 order to fill a need for a fast transport capable of quickly delivering infantry to beachheads. For this role, the S class was simply unsuitable given her size, and the stretched Uu class was only a little less so with an extra 51 feet in length. But this was little deterence to the naval engineers tasked with the design given budgetary constraints, and so the B class was born.

Sacrificing all of her torpedo tubes, depth charge launchers, mine laying equipment and over half of her deck guns, the much lighter armed B class favours 20mm AA cannons as the majority of her armament, making her tenacious against low flying opposition as might be expected in landing situations. The B class retains only her twin 4 inch bow guns for fire support roles in relation to preceding designs, and so is not likely to operate without support vessels--however little speed is sacrificed in this arrangement, allowing her to keep pace with fast moving combat groups.

Beyond the raised poopdeck which serves as the naval infantry's barracks, the other substantial structural difference is the B class' boat launch cranes. Carrying four motorboats each capable of operating in water as shallow as five feet (in addition to inflatable boats which may be used in cooler landing scenarios), the B class is able to deploy up to 150 infantry ashore in one wave. Given the S and Uu class destroyer's reputation as "cramped" ships, one can only imagine that, at some level, those soldiers will be exceptionally gung ho to go ashore.

B-class destroyer--first launched 1934
SCK Banshee

SCK Basalisk

SCK Broxa

Description

Length: 359 feet
Displacement: 1,420 tons
Armament: x2 4 inch guns, x12 quadruple 20mm cannon anti-aircraft mounts, up to 250 naval infantry.

A subspecies of the Uu class destroyer of 1931 (which in itself was a development of 1924's S class), the B class assault destroyer were built in 1934 order to fill a need for a fast transport capable of quickly delivering infantry to beachheads. For this role, the S class was simply unsuitable given her size, and the stretched Uu class was only a little less so with an extra 51 feet in length. But this was little deterence to the naval engineers tasked with the design given budgetary constraints, and so the B class was born.

Sacrificing all of her torpedo tubes, depth charge launchers, mine laying equipment and over half of her deck guns, the much lighter armed B class favours 20mm AA cannons as the majority of her armament, making her tenacious against low flying opposition as might be expected in landing situations. The B class retains only her twin 4 inch bow guns for fire support roles in relation to preceding designs, and so is not likely to operate without support vessels--however little speed is sacrificed in this arrangement, allowing her to keep pace with fast moving combat groups.

Beyond the raised poopdeck which serves as the naval infantry's barracks, the other substantial structural difference is the B class' boat launch cranes. Carrying four motorboats each capable of operating in water as shallow as five feet (in addition to inflatable boats which may be used in cooler landing scenarios), the B class is able to deploy up to 150 infantry ashore in one wave. Given the S and Uu class destroyer's reputation as "cramped" ships, one can only imagine that, at some level, those soldiers will be exceptionally gung ho to go ashore.

B-class destroyer--first launched 1934
SCK Banshee

SCK Basalisk

SCK Broxa