The Hayes class was a much more powerful design than the Tigris
class being built at the same time. The Tigris was following the
destroyer development stream while the Hayes was a new
development into the destroyer leader type. Turbine technology
was getting better year on year, being fuelled by wartime
pressure on resource and development streams. The Hayes class
had the latest and greatest turbines available to produce the
38,000shp that propelled the Hayes class at 35 knots. Armed with
low angle 5" and 2 pounder AA pom poms, they were as well armed
as any destroyer of the time. They were fitted with the new
longer ranged 21" torpedoes in two triple mountings. All of
these improvements and they ended up only one foot longer than
the Tigris type. Yay for technology improvements!
Until the Hayes class
entered service, the Antarctican Navy had been using light
cruisers to act as destroyer leaders. Which was a bit of a waste
as the destroyers could all make 30+ knots where the cruisers
were unable to make 30 knots. The advent of the Hayes type meant
improved flexibility for the destroyer squadrons. There were no
losses to the class during World War One. They had arrived at
the end of the war when the battles had finished. Swinging
around a buoy in harbour was their lot.
The inter-war years saw continued improvements to the class. The
mid 1930's saw the introduction of the single 5" dual purpose
guns which were retrofitted to the class as their refits came
due. A quad 2 pounder mounting replaced the 5" between the
funnels which meant each ship only needed four of the DP 5" per
ship. The single 2 pounder guns were replaced with 20mm cannons.
In that guise the ships fought the first three years of the war.
Some of the survivors that made it to 1942, had the 40mm refit,
which replaced the 2 pounder and 20mm weapons with 10 40mm, in
one quad and 3 twin mountings. These mountings were all coupled
to radar predictors for greater accuracy. Of the original six,
two had been sunk, and of the other four only two were given the
40mm refit when it was decided it was not worth spending that
amount of money on these old ships. The other two fought the
last of the war with the 2 pounder, 20mm cannon armament.
| Displacement | 1,600 tons standard, 1,800 tons full load | ||
| Length | 336 ft | ||
| Breadth | 36 ft | ||
| Draught | 13 ft | ||
| Machinery | 2 shaft, steam turbines, 40,000shp | ||
| Speed | 35 knots | ||
| Range | 6,000 miles at 10 knots | ||
| Armament | As completed 5 x 5" (5x1) 6 x 2pd (6x1) |
Refits to 1940 4 x 5" DP (4x1) 4 x 2pd AA (1x4) 6 x 20mm (6x1) |
40mm refit 4 x 5" DP (4x1) 10 x 40mm (1x4, 3x2) |
| Torpedoes | 6 x 21" (2x3) | ||
| Complement | 128 | 130 | 142 |
| Notes | Hayes Hendrixx Isley Ruffin Jackson Charles |
||
Quad 40mm mounting as fitted between the funnels on the Hayes
class.
