Based on the latest light cruiser designs, the Gazelle and Antelope differed in two major ways, no armour, 30% more horsepower. The ships were built along destroyer lines of lightness with the destroyers speed. The premise of the ships was to leave harbour at last light, full power to the drop point, lay the field, then leave the area as fast as the ship could go. Much faster without the weight of a load of mines aboard. The only ships of the enemy that might catch these ships were the enemy destroyers and these ships were armed to take care of themselves against destroyers. The one thing they could not plan about were the reconnaissance Zeppelins that were being used for coastal patrols at this time. If they spotted a minelayer then the enemy would know a new minefield had probably been laid and would invest time and minesweepers searching for it.



The ships remained the only offensive minelayers in the Antarctican Navy till the late 1930's when the Jaguar class was built to replace them. The ships had continued to evolve with updates being placed aboard throughout their refit cycles. The major update was in 1934 when the twin 6" were replaced with twin 5" dual purpose mountings. The 4" were also removed and replaced with a quad 2 pounder mounting, the single 2 pounder being eventually replaced with 20mm cannons.



Neither ship made it to the 40mm refit stage, both being lost in 1941 in the Mediterannean. One was lost running supplies to Tobruk, the other doing the same job to Malta. Both were hit and sunk by aircraft. These vessels and other minelayers were very good for running urgent supplies using the big mine deck areas the ships had and their high speed to get them in and out.

 

Displacement	4,500 tons standard, 5,000 tons full load
Length	454 ft
Breadth	45 ft
Draught	17 ft
Machinery	4 shaft, steam turbines, 54,000 shp
Speed	34 knots
Range	5,000 miles at 15 knots
Armament	As completed 6 x 6" (3x2) 4 x 4" AA (4x1) 4 x 2pd AA (4x1)	Refits to 1941 6 x 5" (3x2) 4 x 2 pdr (1x4) 8 x 20mm (2x2, 4x1)
Mines	up to 200	up to 200
Complement	405	420
Notes	Gazelle - sunk running supplies to Malta 1941 Antelope - sunk running supplies to Tobruk 1941

Hoping to catch some prey with your field of mines. (Normally the mines would be underwater but would not have made as good a picture.)