V & W CLASS DESTROYERS
The website of the V & W Destroyer Association


In the pre 1914 world destroyer names had been allocated somewhat haphazardly but in 1913 Churchill (at that time First Lord of the Admiralty) appointed a committee which proposed that all destroyers of the same type (or class) should have names beginning with the same initial letter. To institute this system would have meant that virtually all the destroyers then in service would have to be renamed and all documentation, fleet orders, signal books etc. would need to be scrapped and reprinted, an expensive operation bound to lead to errors and confusion. To avoid this it was decided to begin with the L class which were then under construction and as yet un-named, and then continue through the alphabet. This sensible approach was not strictly adhered to and rapidly fell apart as the M class included not only Mastiff, Manly, etc. but also names beginning with N, O, P, S and T while some of the R class were named Skate, Telemachus, Ursula and Ulster.

This peculiar approach disappeared with the introduction of the V class which set a new standard of design in that it took tried and tested components such as geared turbines, oil fired boilers, superimposed 4” guns and twin torpedo tubes and mounted them on a larger strong and seaworthy hull. The V class carried two sets of double torpedo tubes while the later W class were upgraded to carry two sets of the newly developed triple tubes though, perhaps as old habits die hard Voyager was built with the triple tubes and so should have been a W. The design proved to be a sturdy, reliable workhorse with sufficient stability to carry a heavier gun armament which led to the Modified W’s in which the 4” guns were replaced with 4.7” to produce what were the fastest and most heavily armed destroyers in the world at that time.
HMS Venomous as Atlantic Escort
HMS Venomous was one of 67 V & W Class destroyers built at the end of World War 1 and scrapped at the end of World War 2
The men who served in them tell their stories on separate websites for each V & W linked to from the names of the ships on this list

The Destroyer Flotilla

As the design of destroyers developed so did ideas for their tactical use.  It was envisaged that they would be deployed in Flotillas of 16 alongside the Battle Fleet and released to create mayhem upon the enemy in concerted torpedo attacks, it would have been quite a sight to see that number of destroyers dashing off at 30+ knots to make their attack.  It was soon realised that this number of ships was difficult to control, especially given the state of communications at that time and the flotilla size was reduced to 8 and the flotilla was put under the command of a senior officer who travelled aboard one of their number along with his staff which required a larger ship to accommodate them, hence the leader.

In theory we could now have a V type leader heading a flotilla of eight V & W destroyers and on occasions between the wars it did happen.  A peacetime example from the interwar years is the visit of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla and the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron to the Spanish port of Tarragona in September 1924.

The Flotilla Leaders

The veteran members of the V & W Destroyer Association argued fiercely about whether the Flotilla Leaders were "real" V & Ws since they were larger and better equpped  than the standard V & Ws. I decided to list them here, separately from the msin alphabetic list below. The first batch of V’s (Valentine, Valhalla, Valkyrie, Valorous and Vampire) were designated as Leaders, the main difference in design being the internal arrangement of accommodation for Captain D and his staff, in 1920 they were re-rated as ordinary destroyers though the internal layout was retained. They also have entries in the main list below.

SHIP NAME
 COMP'D
 SUB CLASS
 CONVERSION
 ADOPTIONS 
FATE
Valentine
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Leader
 WAIR
Bombed and abandoned in the Scheldt Estuary on 15 May 1941; broken up, Belgium, 1953
Valhalla
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Leader Not converted
Scrapped in 1932
Valkyrie
1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Leader Not converted
Scrapped in 1936
Valorous (ex Montrose)
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Leader WAIR
 Dewsbury
 Scrapped 1947-8
Vampire (ex Wallace)
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Leader Not converted
Transferred to RAN in 1933. Bombed and sank by Japanese, Bay of Bengal 9 April 1942.

A further batch of Leaders (Rooke, Keppel, Shakespeare, Spenser and Wallace) was built by Thorneycroft to a larger design, 1,554 tons standard displacement as against 1,188 tons for the first batch and armed with five 4.7-inch guns and two triple torpedo tubes.

Keppel
 1925
 Thorneycroft Class Leader
 Short Range Escort
 Rugby
 Broken up 1946.
Rooke (later, Broke)
 1925
 Thorneycroft Class Leader Short Range Escort
Sunk off Algiers landings, November 1942.
Shakespeare
 1917
 Thorneycroft Class Leader Not converted
Sold for breaking up 1936
Spencer
 1917
 Thorneycroft Class Leader Not converted
Sold for breaking up 1936
Wallace
 1919
 Thorneycroft Class Leader WAIR Conversion
 West Lothian
 Sold for breaking up 1945

A third group of leaders (Bruce, Campbell, Douglas, Mackay, Malcolm, Montrose, Scott and Stuart) were designated Admiralty Leaders and built by Cammel Laird.  Again, these ships were larger at 1,530 tons with the same armament as the Thorneycroft group. They are often referred to as the Scott Class of Flotilla Leaders.

Bruce
 1918
 Admiralty Class Leader
 Not converted
Used as a target and sunk on 22nd November 1939, off the isle of Wight
Campbell
 1918
 Admiralty Class Leader Short Range Escort
 Caithness
 Sold for breaking up 1947
Douglas
 1918
 Admiralty Class Leader Short Range Escort Dumfrieshire
 Sold for breaking up 1945
Mackay
 1918
 Admiralty Class Leader Short Range Escort Wigtownshire
 Sold for breaking up 1947
Malcolm
 1919
 Admiralty Class Leader Short Range Escort Dunfermeline
Sold for breaking up 1945
Montrose
 1919 Admiralty Class Leader Short Range Escort Frome,  Somerset
 Sold for breaking up 1945
Scott
 1918 Admiralty Class Leader Short Range Escort
Torpedoed and sunk on 15th August 1918.
Stuart
 1918 Admiralty Class Leader Short Range Escort
Transferred to Australia in 1933 and sold for scrapping in February 1947

V & Ws working together on Operations

The Flotilla system broke down in World War II but the V & Ws often operated together on operations and I have decided to create pages about these operations which  link to more detailed pages about the role of individual ships. One of the best known example of V & Ws operating together in World War II is the evacuation of the Welsh and Irish Guards from Boulogne, a heroic exploit overshadowed by Operation Dynamo five days later which brought 300.000 men in the British Expeditionary Force back from Dunkirk.

On 12 February 1942 the 16th and 21st Destroyer Flotillas attacked the German Battle Fleet in what became known as the Channel Dash.  It may sound impressive but the 16th DF consisted of the Leader Mackay with Whitshed, Worcester and Walpole while the 21st DF led by Campbell had Vivacious as the rest of the flotilla, a far cry from the original concept. This page about the Channel Dash links to the websites about each of the six V & W Class destroyers which took part. The ever expanding role of the destroyer as maid of all work meant that the ideal of a flotilla of 8 plus a leader was rarely realised.

I have began building a web page about Operation Neptune, the naval contribution to Operation Overlord which will link to the websites of the V & W Class destroyers which took part. The V & Ws supported the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944 by escorting the Landing Crafts  (LCT for tanks and LCI for infantry) to the five invasion beaches and bombarding German gun positions and after the beacheads had been secured by carrying supplies and reinforcements to the landing beaches and the Mulberry Harbour. The page also includes the service of officers and men who joined Combined Operations after leaving a V & W and took a more active part in the Normandy landings.

In May 1945 the V & W Class destroyers in the Rosyth Escort Force were rewarded for their repetitive but dangerous task of escorting East Coast Convoys between the Firth of Forth and the Thames Estuary by being given the job of liberating Norway, Operation Conan. Eight V & W Class destroyers entered the ports on the west coast of Norway after the surrender of German Forces on 8 May 1945 to accept the surrender of German naval forces.

V & Ws as Convoy Escorts

For most of the war V & W Class destroyers were escorts for convoys and the conditions and hazards they faced differed over time and between convoy routes. They were usually part of escoort groups which included other classes of ships including more modern Hunt Class destroyers, and Corvettes.  I propose to develope separate pages for Arctic Convoys, Atlantic Convoys, East Coast Convoys and Mediterranean Convoys. An introductory page will link to stories told on the websites of the V & Ws by the officers and the men who served in them. This will enable visitors with a special interest in a specific ship to also read stories told by men from different ships who served on the same convoy route and, occasionally, on the same convoy.

 The Scrap Iron Flotilla

In 1933 the Admiralty agreed to loan the Flotilla Leader Stuart (I) and four V and W Class destroyers Vampire (I), Vendetta (I), Voyager (I) and Waterhen (I) to the Royal Australian Navy as replacements for the S Class destroyers Stalwart, Success, Swordsman, Tasmania and Tattoo and the Flotilla Leader Anzac, then due for scrapping. These five ships were commissioned in the Royal Australian Navy at Portsmouth on 11 October 1933 to form the Australian Destroyer Flotilla, later to become famous as the ‘Scrap Iron Flotilla’ during World War II. Their entries on the list below link to their history after thy were commissioned into the RAN on the "Ship Histories" section of the Royal Australian Navy's website.
The V & W Class Destroyers

If you discovered this website to find out more about a V & W Class destroyer in which a family member served you may already have a copy of his service record. If you don't then I suggest you begin your research by applying for a copy as it will give the names and dates of service for all the ships in which he served. This page describes how to obtain service records for family members.

You may have photographs of the ships in which he served and noticed the Pennant Numbers painted on the hull. These are a reliable means of identifying the ship but they change so also provide a guide to when the photograph was taken. Jim Bryce has published a PDF guide to Pennant numbers on the website of the RN Communications Branch Museum.

These brief entries link to websites for each of the ships listed. They also link to pages about the towns which adopted V & W Class destroyers during Warship[ Weeks held in 1941 - 2 under a National Savings Programme to raise the money to build new warships. I am hoping these pages will help revive these wartime links and encourage towns throughout Britain to take a fresh interest in the ships they adopted and make sure the crests exchanged between ships and towns are preseverved and displayed for the public to view. Click on the link for a regional guide to Warship Weeks and to find out more about the programme.

SHIP NAME
 COMP'D
 SUB CLASS
 CONVERSION
 ADOPTIONS
FATE






Valentine
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Leader
 WAIR
Bombed and abandoned in the Scheldt Estuary
on 15 May 1940; broken up, Belgium, 1953.
Valhalla
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Leader Not converted
Scrapped in 1932
Valkyrie
(ex Montrose)
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Leader Not converted
Scrapped in 1936
Valorous
(ex Malcolm)
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Leader WAIR
 Dewsbury, Yorkshire
 Scrapped 1947-8
Vampire
(ex Wallace)
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Leader Not converted
Transferred to RAN in 1933. Bombed and sank by Japanese, Bay of Bengal 9 April 1942.






Vanessa
 1918
 Admiralty 'V' Class Long Range Escort
 Barry, Glamorgan
 Converted to Air Target Ship, 1944.
Sold for disposal 1947
Vanity
 1918
 Admiralty 'V' Class WAIR
 Scunthorpe, Lincs.
 Sold for disposal 1947
Vanoc
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Long Range Escort
 Gainsborough, Lincs.
Wrecked, salvaged and scrapped 1946.
Vanquisher
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Long Range Escort
 Nuneaton, Warwicks.
 Sold for disposal 1947
Vansittart
 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 1st Grp
 Long Range Escort
 Kidderminster
 Sold for disposal 1946
Vectis
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Not converted
Sold for disposal 1936
Vega
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class WAIR
 Godalming, Surrey
 Sold for disposal 1947
Vehement
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Not converted
Mined 1 August 1918 in North Sea,
wreck sunk by gunfire next day.
Velox
 1918
 Admiralty 'V' Class Front boiler removed.
 Rhondda, Glamorgan
 Converted to Air Target Ship, 1944.
Sold for disposal 1947
Vendetta
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Not converted
Transferred to the Royal Australian Navy - scuttled off Sydney 2 July 1948.
Venetia
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Not converted
Mined 19 Oct 1940 and sank in the Thames Estuary.
Venomous
(ex Venom)
 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 1st Grp
Front boiler removed.
 Loughborough, Leic.
 Converted to Air Target Ship, 1944.
Sold for disposal 1947
Venturous
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Not converted
Handed over for disposal in 1936.
Verdun
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class WAIR (Chatham, 1938-9)
 Hoylake, Cheshire
 Sold for disposal 1946.
Verity
 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 1st Grp Long Range Escort
 Stratford, Warwickshire
 Sold for disposal 1947.
Versatile
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Long Range Escort
 Tipton, Staffs.
 Sold for disposal 1946.
Verulam
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Not converted
Mined and sunk, Gulf of Finland 1919.
Vesper
 1918
 Admiralty 'V' Class Long Range Escort
 Skipton, Yorkshire
 Sold for disposal 1947.
Veteran
 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 2nd Grp
 Short Range Escort
 Wrexham, E. Denb'shire
 Torpedoed and sunk by U-404 SW of Iceland 26 Sept 1942. Lost with all hands.
Viceroy
 1918
 Thorneycroft 'V & W' Class
WAIR
 Heart of England,
Meridon RD, Warwicks.
 Sold for disposal 1948.
Vidette
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Long Range Escort
 Todmorden, Yorkshire
 Sold for disposal 1947.
Vimiera
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class WAIR
 Sandbach, Cheshire
 Mined and sunk 9 January 1942 off the Nore, Thames Estuary.
Vimy (ex Vancouver)
 1918
 Admiralty 'V' Class  
 Long Range Escort (1941)
 Hucknall, Derbyshire
 Sold for disposal 1947.
Violent
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Not converted
Handed over for disposal 1937.
Viscount
 1918
 Thorneycroft 'V & W' Class
Long Range EScort (1941)
 Chislehurst & Sidcup, Kent
 Sold for disposal 1945.
Vittoria
 1918
 Admiralty 'V' Class Not converted
Torpedoed and sunk by Bolshevik submarine
Gulf of Finland 1919                             
Vivacious
 1917
 Admiralty 'V' Class Short Range Escort
 Solihull, Warwickshire
 Sold for disposal 1947.
Vivien
 1918
 Admiralty 'V' Class WAIR
 Bromyard, Herefordshire
 Sold for disposal 1947.
Volunteer
 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 1st Grp Long Range Escort
 Hereford, Herefordshire
 Sold for disposal 1947.
Vortigern
 1918
 Admiralty 'V' Class Not converted
Torpedoed by E-Boat off Cromer, 1942.
Voyager
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class
 Not converted
Transferred to Royal Australian Navy.
Bombed by Japanese aircraft and beached 1942.
Wakeful
 1917
 Admiralty 'W' Class
Not converted
Torpedoed and sank during the Dunkirk evacuation
Walker
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class
Long Range Escort (1943)
 Sale, Cheshire
 Sold for disposal 1946
Walpole
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class
Short Range Escort
 Ely, Camb.
 		Mined North Sea 6 Jan 1945 and written off and sold for disposal.
Walrus
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class Not converted
Stranded in North Bay, Scarborough, 12 Feb 1938 and written off.
Wanderer
 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 1st Grp Long Range Escort
 Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham
 Sold for disposal 1946
Warwick
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class Long Range Escort
 Warwick
 Torpedoed and sunk by U-413 off Trevose Head 20 Feb 1944.
Watchman
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class Long Range Escort
 Brierley Hill, Staffs.
 Sold for disposal 1945
Waterhen
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class Not converted
Transferred to the Australian Navy in 1933. Bombed and sunk off Libya 30 June 1941.
Wessex
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class Not converted
Sunk by Luftwaffe off Calais 24 May 1940.
Westcott
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class Short Range Escort
 Morecombe & Heysham, Lancashire
 Sold for disposal 1945
Westminster
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class WAIR
 City of Westminster
 Sold for disposal 1947
Whirlwind
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class
 Not converted
Torpedoed and sunk by U-34 SW of Ireland
5 July 1940.
Whitehall
 1924
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 1st Grp Long Range Escort
 Cheltenham, Gloucs
 Sold for disposal 1945
Whitley
(not Whitby)
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class WAIR
Bombed by the Luftwaffe and beached off
Ostend Belgium 19 May 1940.
Whitshed
 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 2nd Grp
 Short Range Escort
 Whitby, Yorkshire
 Sold for disposal 1947
Wild Swan
 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 2nd Grp
 Not converted
 Surbiton, Surrey
 Bombed and sunk by the Luftwaffe in
Bay of Biscay 17 June 1942.
Winchelsea
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class
Long Range Escort
 Wilmslow, Cheshire
 Sold for disposal 1945.
Winchester
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class
WAIR
 Winchester, Hampshire
 Sold for disposal 1946.
Windsor
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class
Short Range Escort
 Windsor, Berkshire
 Sold for disposal 1947.
Wishart
 1919
 Thorneycroft Modified 'W' Class
 Short Range Escort
 Port Talbot, Glamorgan
 Sold for disposal 1945
Witch
 1924
 Thornycroft Modified 'W' Class
Short Range Escort
 Northwich, Cheshire
 Sold for disposal 1945
Witherington
 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 2nd Grp Short Range Escort
 Durham City
 Sold for disposal 1947 but wrecked
enroute to breakers.
Wivern
 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 2nd Grp Short Range Escort
 W. Hartlepool, Durham
 Sold for disposal 1947
Wolsey
 1918
 Thorneycroft 'V & W' Class
WAIR (Malta, 1938-9)
 Spennymoor, Durham
 Sold for disposal 1945
Wolfhound
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class
WAIR Bridgewater, Somerset
 Sold for disposal 1948.
Wolverine 1919
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 2nd Grp Short Range Escort
 East Elloe, Lincs.
 Sold for disposal 1947
Woolston 1917
 Thorneycroft 'V & W' Class WAIR
 Congleton, Cheshire
 Scrapped in 1947
Worcester
 1922
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 2nd Grp Short Range Escort
 Worcester
 Mined 23 Dec 1943, written off & used as accommodation hulk, Yeoman.
Wren
 1923
 Admiralty Modified 'W' Class, 1st Grp Not converted
Sunk by Luftwaffe off Aldeburgh, North Sea
27 July 1940.
Wrestler
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class
Long Range Escort
 Hyde, Cheshire
 Mined off Juno Beach on 6 June 1944
and written off
Wryneck
 1918
 Admiralty 'W' Class
WAIR
Bombed and sunk by Luftwaffe on 27 Apr 1941 during evacuation of Crete.

V & Ws can be identified and dated by the pendant numbers painted on their hulls. For example, the pendant (pennant) number of HMS Venom (renamed Venomous by June 1919) was G98 from September 1918 until September 1919 when it changed to D75. In early 1940 it changed again from D75 to I75.

All the V & Ws carried Screen badges on the superstructure of the bridge, boat badges on their whalers and tampion badges on the plugs which sealed the barrels of their 4 inch and 4.7 inch guns. Click on the link to see a selection of these from the collection of Alan Dowling, an Associate member of the V & W Destroyer Association.
Warships Weeks and the adoption of V & W Class Destroyers

Between October 1941 and the end of March 1942, Warships Weeks were organised in cities, towns and villages throughout Great Britain.  The intention was to raise a sum by investment or deposit in all types of war savings representing the cost of building one of His Majesty’s ships ranging from the smallest to the largest vessels.  Once the target had been raised the community adopted the vessel along with its crew and the bond was strengthened by presentations in recognition of the money raised. Adoption plaques were presented by the Admiralty to the community and a plaque presented by the community to the adopted vessel. Links were maintained by the writing of letters and the provision of comforts and whenever possible visits were arranged to the adopting area. Most of the V&W Class destroyers in commission with the Royal Navy were adopted during the Warship Week scheme and in a number of cases local sea cadet units later took the name of the ship.

Click on the town in the "adoptions" column in the above list for for more details. A regional guide to the adoption of V & W destroyers by cities, towns and villages of Great Britain is also provided. Please get in touch if you can provide further details or photographs about the adoption of a V&W destroyer by your town or district.  The list of ship adoptions was supplied by Dr Peter Schofield.  To find more about Warship Weeks see his article on ‘National Savings and Warship Weeks’.

Within a year or two of the end of the war all the surviving V & W Class destroyers had gone to the breakers yards for scrapping. A few of their whalers and ships' boats are in museums or private ownership being restored. Their "boat badges" bearing the ships's crest are highly collectable as are the tampions which protected the mussels of their 4.7 inch main guns. In addition to the boat badges there were much larger and heavier bronze screen plaques which were attached at head height to the front of the superstructure supporting the bridge.  The ships crest mounted on a wooden shield presented by the Admiralty to towns and cities after a successful Warships Week National Savings programme to raise money for the building of new ships were made of cast iron painted in gold. The most  collectable items were, of course, the ships' bells which conveyed the local time at sea to officers and men which enabled them to turn up "on Watch" on time. Further details of time st sea, ships chronometer and the ships bells with photographs of the bells of V & W destroyers on this website.  One of the largest collections of boat badges, tampions and screen plaques in private ownerships has been assembled by Alan Dowling, an Associate Members of the  V & W Destroyer Association.
Reuse of 1917 V&W Class Names

A number of destroyers built under the War Emergency Programme had names beginning with V or W, and five inherited names previously assigned to WW1 V&W class ships which had been sunk.

The U and V class
The U and V class was a batch of 16 ships launched in 1942 and 1943; seven were given V names, of which two (Valentine and Verulam) were inherited.

The W and Z class
The W and Z class was a batch of 16 ships launched in 1943 and 1944; seven were given W names, of which three (Wakeful, Wessex and Whirlwind) were inherited.

Most of these destroyers were converted after the war into fast Type 15 ASW frigates and their appearance was very different from that of the V & W Class destroyers whose names they inherited. To avoid any possible confusion further details of these ships and a photograph of HMS Vigilant are given by Frank Donald who served in HMS Vigilant.

Wartime Conversions of V & W Class destroyers

The experience of World War I showed that in the destroyer the Royal Navy had a maid of all work, a ship suitable for screening the Grand Fleet, escorting convoys, engaging enemy destroyers, (hopefully) detecting and dealing with submarines and mine-laying together with any other odd jobs that could be found for them.

Between the wars it was realised that this multiplicity of roles demanded some changes in destroyer design leading to two main types – the fleet and the escort destroyer. As the name suggests the fleet destroyer would work with a fleet of larger capital ships acting as a screen against attack and engaging enemy destroyers before they could get within range to release their torpedoes – hence the earlier name of Torpedo Boat Destroyer (TBD).

When the V & W’s were designed battleships were relatively slow, the Royal Sovereign Class had a speed of 21 knots and the Queen Elizabeth Class was a little faster at 25 knots.  The destroyers were likely to spend much of their time at reduced (and therefore more economical) speeds and so have an ample range; for example the V’s had a radius of action of 1,000 miles at full speed but more than three times this at 15 knots, travelling quickly takes a lot more fuel!

Between the wars technology advanced, improvements in boiler and turbine design led to faster battleships, the King George V Class achieving 28 knots while Hood, Repulse and Renown were nearer 30 knots so the fleet (and its screen) could be expected to move more rapidly; the V & W’s had the speed to keep up but lacked the fuel stowage to maintain it for long.

Aircraft were also improving in design and in numbers and it was recognised that ships would need some defence against air attack. The anti-aircraft provision of the V & W’s consisted of one or two 2 pounder pom-poms mounted on a platform between the funnels. The main armament had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees and was only of use against surface targets.

The V & W’s had proved to be fast, seaworthy and rugged but the world had changed around them and it was recognised that in any future conflict their duties would also change, for instance escorting convoys of merchant ships long distances would not require high speed but would need increased fuel capacity, also lessons had been learned from the use of aircraft in the Spanish Civil War which demonstrated the need for improved anti-aircraft defence.

Long Range Escorts

The lack of endurance (range) was more easily corrected in the earlier V’s and some of the W’s. All the V & W’s had three boilers in two boiler rooms but in these early ships the forward boiler room contained a single boiler (hence the forward thin ‘woodbine’ funnel), the removal of this boiler (and funnel) would allow an additional 130 tons of oil to be carried and also provide much needed accommodation and storage space. The reduction in power reduced their speed to 24 knots but this was felt to be sufficient for their duty as Long Range Escorts (LRE) for convoys. Ships so converted were Vimy, Viscount, Vanessa, Winchelsea, Whitehall, Volunteer, Vidette, Vanquisher, Vesper, Walker, Wrestler, Warwick, Wanderer, Vansittart, Versatile, Verity, Vanoc, Watchman and Velox. It was long thought that Venomous was converted to an LRE since its front boiler and tall thin front funnel were removed in 1944 but the Admiralty cancelled plans to use the space freed for storing fuel to extend its range and she spent the last nine months of the war towing targets for air launched torpedoes in the Irish Sea and off the east coast of Scotland.

WAIR Conversion

The airborne menace was countered by the WAIR conversion where High Angle (HA) 4 inch guns replaced the original Low Angle 4 inch or 4.7 inch and a variety of close range machine guns, pompoms and Oerlikons were fitted together with improved fire control and ranging systems. They retained all three boilers making them fast short-range anti-aircraft escorts. WAIR conversions were the Leader Wallace and Whitley, Wolsey, Valorous, Vivien, Winchester, Valentine, Woolston, Vega, Vimiera, Wryneck, Verdun, Westminster, Vanity, Viceroy and Wolfhound. All the V&Ws in the Rosyth Escort Force were WAIR conversions. Their HA guns provided defence against German aircraft attacking the East Coast convoys.

Short Range Escorts

Some of the V & W’s, particularly the later Modified W’s were unsuitable for conversion to Long Range Escorts due to the disposition of the boiler rooms. They had two boilers in the forward room as opposed to the one boiler in the earlier ships and were easily identifiable by having a short stubby front funnel instead of the tall thin “Woodbine”. The loss of two thirds of the boiler power would have resulted in too great a reduction in speed and the use of the after boiler room for fuel stowage was not possible as it would have led to problems of stability so they were reclassified as Short Range Escorts (SRE). This group consisted of the Leaders Broke, Campbell, Douglas, Keppel, Mackay, Malcolm, Montrose and Stuart together with Whitshed, Witherington, Wivern, Veteran, Wolverine, Windsor, Walpole, Wishart, Witch, Worcester and Vivacious. These ships retained their high-speed and tended to be used as convoy escorts in areas such as the North Sea where long periods away from refuelling bases were unlikely.
Armament

The armament of all V & W’s changed throughout their Second World War service as new weapons became available; for example Westcott became the guinea pig for the Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar fitted in place of A gun and eventually it was added to most of the LRE conversions. Worcester emerged from a 1938 – 40 refit largely as built but after Dunkirk one set of torpedo tubes was removed and replaced by a 3 inch anti-aircraft gun. Early 1943 saw her undergo major surgery when twin 6 pounder guns were fitted in place of a 4.7 inch, the searchlight platform removed and a larger radar array fitted making her better able to deal with E-Boats.

Vic Green
Honorary Secretary, V & W Destroyer Association



Sea Cadet Units named after a V & W Class destroyer

This is an extract from a short history if the Sea Cadet Corps on Wikia.org:

The Sea Cadet Corps usually dates it history from 1899 when Queen Victoria presented a a £10 note to the Windsor Naval Lads’ Brigade for the purchase of uniforms but its expansion was due to the support of The Navy League, a pressure group formed to remind the country of its naval history and influence Parliament,  which in 1910 decided to support a small number of these independent Units as the Navy League Boys' Naval Brigade. The Admiralty recognised the Navy Leagues 34 Brigades in 1914 and by 1939 there were nearly 100 Units with some 10,000 cadets.

The Navy League's 1941 scheme for training Sea Cadets in TS Bounty for service in the wartime Navy caught the Admiralty's imagination. The Admiral Commanding Reserves took over the training role in January 1942, HM King George VI became Admiral of the Corps, Officers were granted appointments in the RNVR and the Corps was renamed the Sea Cadet Corps (SCC).

A huge expansion to 400 Units and 50,000 cadets coincided in many towns with Warship Weeks so that newly formed Units took the names of adopted warships. The Admiralty now paid for uniforms, equipment, travel and training while the Navy League funded sport and Unit headquarters. Thousands of "Bounty Boys" progressed into the Navy as communications ratings, many returning to their Units after the war ended. In the same year the Girls' Naval Training Corps was formed as part of the National Association of Training Corps for Girls with Units mainly in southern England.

In 1943 all Units were given Unit numbers in alphabetical order from "1 Aberdare" to "381 York". Thereafter Units were numbered in sequence as they were affiliated to the Navy League, reaching 430 by the end of the war. TS Vansittart at Kidderminster, Sea Cadet Unit 430, was formed in 1945 and dissolved in the late 1960s.

Click on the Training Ship (TS) in the first column  to link to the Facebook page for Sea Cadet Unit
Click on the town in the second column to link to its Warship  Week - if any
Click on the name of the V & W in the third column to find out more about the ship

TRAINING SHIP
 WARSHIP WEEK
 V & W
TS Vancouver
  Hucknall
HMS Vimy
TS Vanquisher 
Nuneaton & Bedworth
 HMS Vanquisher
TS Vansittart
 Kidderminster
 HMS Vansittart
TS Venomous
Loughborough
HMS Venomous
TS Veteran New Romney 
HMS Veteran
TS Whirlwind
Orpington HMS Whirlwind
TS Whitley  Whitley Bay
 HMS Whitley
TS Worcester
 Worcester
 HMS Worcester
TS Wyvern  West Hartlepool
 HMS Wivern

We are hoping the Sea Cadet Units whose Training Ships are named after a V & W Class destroyer will help us research these ships
 When the V & W Destroyer Association was dissolved at Derby in April 2017 the veterans donated their funds to the Sea Cadet Units whose Training Ships were named after one of the 67 V & W Class destroyers.
Each of the eight Sea Cadet Units received £450.




If you want to find out more about the wartime service of a member of your family who served on a V & W Class destroyer you should first obtain a copy of their service record
To find out how follow this link: http://vandwdestroyerassociation.org.uk/Service_Records.html


If you have stories or photographs about a V & W destroyer you would like to contribute to the web site please contact Bill Forster or post on

Facebook button
click to view the facebook page for the V & W Destroyer Association

 Learn how to research the story of the V & W destroyers and the lives of the men who served on them
If you have stories or photographs you would like to contribute to the web site please e-mail Bill Forster


Return to the Home Page of the V & W Destroyer Association