Prince Class AA Ships.
The British and Canadian Governments had given assistance to various merchant
ship lines to build ships that would be assets in time of war. These ships
included eight ships which comprised four Canadian Prince Class, and four
British Engadine Class Cargo-Liners.
While the ships were not overly large at 385 x 57 x 21 feet, they were the size
of the cruisers of old. At 5,800 tons displacement, the ships were exactly what
the Admiralty had wanted to have built for conversion into Escort Cruisers.
Classed as Anti-Aircraft Ships because of their dual purpose armaments, their
main and most important role was as the Convoy Escort Commanders ship. With a
speed of 22 knots the ships were able to shepherd any of the standard 8 and 15
knot convoys. Their long range of 3,500 miles at 20 knots made them ideal as
long range escorts.
The ships were taken in hand, 2 at Esqimault, 2 at Glasgow, 2 at Belfast and the
last 2 at Southampton. Being of merchant construction the conversion work could
be carried out at non-naval yards, freeing up the navy yards for other essential
work. The two Canadian conversions were initially armed with 4x6", 2x4" AA,
4x2pd, 8x0.5"mg. These two ships were then used for patrol work in the Pacific
and Indian Oceans, chasing German Raiders. They also provided escort for the
troop convoys going from Australia up to the Western Desert theatre. The three
pairs of conversions completed in the UK had much enhanced weaponry with 4 twin
4.7" DP open mountings. These guns gave the ships a good Anti-aircraft
capability better than the converted C Class cruisers. Two quad 2pd mountings
and 9 twin 20mm finished the gun armament. What was just as important was the
electronics armament. With both sea and air, search and targeting radar systems,
this allowed the convoy escort commander to keep track of the convoy, who was in
position and who was not. U-Boats could be targeted when on the surface or
sub-surface using ASDIC. Aircraft coming near the convoy could be spotted far
enough away so that the convoy could not be 'surprised', and would be waiting
for their visitors. The Hedgehog was added in 1942 to surviving units.