The Allies were doing all sorts of research and development in the way of automatic weapons. 3", 5", and 8" were all in the pipeline. The biggest problem was ammunition stowage. Where normal semi-auto weapons had 100-150 rounds per gun storage levels. The automatic weapons really needed four-to-five times that amount. To mount four twin 3" with appropriate ammunition stowage required a light cruiser hull. (see - Norfolk Class DDL) It was not surprising that this class was so long in figuring out what armament should be fitted. The answer was two twin 5" automatic weapons. Those two twins would put more metal in the air than the Ronne's four twin 5".



The hull and machinery layout of the Ronne class was used for the new class, with quite a few internal changes necessary for the new armaments. Find, Target, Destroy, that was the dictum for these ships. To find their enemy the ships had the most up to date air and sea search radar available. To target the enemy, all of the armaments had their own dedicated targeting systems. To destroy the enemy the ships had the automatic 5" twin turrets (dual purpose), the open twin 3" automatic AA mounting abaft the funnel, two triple RATS (Rocket Assisted Torpedoes) mountings, Squid and Hedgehog ASW mountings. This was the first time Squid was mounted on an Antarctican vessel. Squid could be trained on its mounting to point toward the enemy, where with Hedgehog you pointed the ship at your target and fired.



Only one ship took damage in WW2, when the Famous Grouse sailed out to sea on its trials / delivery voyage it was caught by a U-boat that hit the ship aft with an acoustic torpedo. The ship was lucky to survive, making it back to port under tow. The ship was repaired but always seemed to waggle its arse a bit under high power. It was the first ship to be removed from service in 1949 and scrapped. Three more were sold in 1950 when Antarctica was trying to slim down the Navy to a peace time force. No sooner had they done that, when Korea became a hot zone and the four remaining Balantines went to war with the Fleet. The main upgrades were to the Radar installation to help achieve its task of Locate, Target, Destroy. Where the original Hedgehog installation was placed in 'B' position, the Hedgehog was removed in 1947, and a twin 40mm placed there. Whatever was fitted in 'B' position only had the storage in the deck house under the mounting. Below that became 5" magazine territory. The 40mm were retained till 1959 when they were removed and replaced with Sea Cat in 1960. Various torpedo types for both surface and anti-submarine warfare were trialled and what was on the ship depended on what was flavour of the year.

 

Displacement	3,750 tons standard, 4,250 tons full load
Length	436 ft
Breadth	44 ft
Draught	15 ft
Machinery	2 shaft, steam turbines, 70,000shp
Speed	37 knots
Range	7,000 miles at 10 knots
Armament	As completed 4 x 5" (2x2) 2 x 3" (1x2) 1 x Squid ASW Mortar 1 x Hedgehog	Refits to 1960's 4 x 5" (2x2) 2 x Quad Supercat Launchers 1 x Squid ASW mortar
Torpedoes	6 x RATS (2x3)	2 x twin Bidder ASW homing torpedoes
Complement	240	265
Notes	Famous Grouse Balantines Laphroaigh Chivas Regal Johnnie Walker Jack Daniels Jamesons Jim Beam Bushmills

This was going to be the 'Wild' class but I couldn't think of anything to go with 'Wild'
So I made it famous whiskeys instead.