HMS Stevenstone
HMS Stevenstone was a destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was a member of the third subgroup of the class. Completed in 1943, the ship spent the war in the English Channel and British coastal waters. She struck a mine that killed 14 of her crew in November 1944 and was under repair until June 1945. Stevenstone was reduced to reserve in 1947 and was sold for scrap in 1959.
Design and description
The Hunt class was meant to fill the Royal Navy's need for a large number of small destroyer-type vessels capable of both convoy escort and operations with the fleet. The Type III Hunts differed from the previous Type II ships in replacing a twin 4-inch gun mount with two torpedo tubes to improve their ability to operate as destroyers.The Type III Hunts were long between perpendiculars and overall, with a beam was and draught at deep load. Displacement was standard and at full load. The ships were powered by a pair of Parsons geared steam turbines that drove two propeller shafts using steam from two three-drum Admiralty boilers. The turbines were rated at a total of that gave a design speed of. Enough fuel oil was carried to give the ships a range of at.
The main armament of the Type IIIs was four 4-inch (102 mm) QF Mk XVI dual-purpose guns in two twin-gun mounts, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Anti-aircraft defence was provided by a quadruple-barrel mount for two-pounder guns positioned behind the funnel and three Oerlikon AA guns in the superstructure. A single mount for two torpedo tubes was fitted in a mount amidships. The ships' anti-submarine armament could consist of three depth charge chutes, four depth charge throwers and 110 depth charges, although two chutes, four throwers and 70 depth charges was usually carried. A Type 291 search radar and a Type 285 gunnery radar was fitted, as was a Type 128 ASDIC.