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HMAS Westport (DDE-1918 (1936-Mod))
Like the R class before them, 1934 was the year these ships were sorted into keepers and discards. 10 of the 16 were kept the other 6 being sold to Chile. The refurbishment of the class was similar to the R's but in the S type they kept a set of torpedo tubes to give them some teeth against larger targets. The single 4" low angle guns were also refurbished gaining an AA mounting and a new shield. The light AA armament was just 2 twin 20mm. More were added during the war. Most of the class lost the set of torpedoes during the war in favour of more AA and depth charges. Some even lost their foreward 4" with a Hedgehog mounting being fitted in its place.
The speed of these ships meant that when submarines were contacted they could be left to hunt the submarine and when the hunt was over they would not take long to catch back up to the convoy. Something the British corvettes and frigates were to slow to do. It always surprised me that the 'purpose built' escorts were so slow, while the scrapyard flotilla ships like these proved so excellent the Commonwealth countries would have loved to have had 50+ more of these ships.
| Displacement | 1100 tons std, 1550 tons full load. |
| Length | 276 ft |
| Breadth | 27 ft |
| Draught | 11 ft |
| Machinery | 2 shaft steam turbines, 27,000shp |
| Speed | 35 knots |
| Range | 3000 miles at 15 knots |
| Armour | nil |
| Armament | 2 x 4" (2x1) 2 x 40mm (1x2) 6 x 20mm (2x2 2x1) |
| Aircraft | nil |
| Torpedoes | 3 x 21" (1x3) |
| Complement | 90 |
| Notes | HMAS Westport HMAS Port Douglas HMAS Port Hedland HMAS Southport HMAS Portland HMAS Port Pirie HMAS Port Stewart HMAS Port Lincoln HMAS Port Augusta HMAS Port Gregory |
S class destroyer escort with only forward 4" left the rest have been removed either for more AA guns or depth charges.
