World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

This article refers to the entire Tribal-class; it is not about an individual vessel.

ww2dbaseBritish inter-war destroyer advances were rather lacking, and by the early-1930s, British destroyers were rather obsolete. In mid-1935, a new specification was agreed upon on a design that eventually evolved into the Tribal-class destroyers. 16 ships were ordered by the Royal Navy in 1936; 8 of which were for the Royal Navy, 7 for the Royal Australian Navy, and 1 for the Royal Canadian Navy. Initial design limited the elevation of the primary armament on Tribal-class destroyers, which made them extremely vulnerable to hostile dive bombers that had reached close distances. A later modified design replaced the original 4.8-inch primary armament with a twin 4-inch QF Mark XVI gun, which improved the situation. Later models were also equipped with Type 293 target indication, Type 291 air warning, and Type 285 range finding radars. By the end of the production life of the Tribal-class, a total of 27 were built; the Royal Navy operated 16, Royal Canadian Navy 8, and Royal Australian Navy 3. 12 of the British Tribal-class destroyers and 1 of the Canadian ones were sunk during WW2.

Tribal-class Destroyer Operational Timeline