Weapon-class destroyer

The Weapon class was a class of destroyers designed for the British Royal Navy towards the end of World War II, a smaller counterpart to the Battle class that followed. Twenty ships were planned and thirteen were laid down, but the end of the war meant that only four were completed. Yarrow received orders on 2 April 1943 for Battleaxe and Broadsword, and later for Cutlass and Dagger, and built the first two at Scotstoun; the other ships were ordered from Scotts, Thornycroft, Denny and White. The class adopted a unit arrangement of alternating boiler and engine rooms, which required two funnels and gave the ships an unbalanced appearance. Armament was three twin 4 inch guns, later reduced to two beside two Squid anti-submarine mortars, with Bofors STAAG mounts and two sets of torpedo tubes. The steam turbines had design flaws that left the ships slow to decelerate, and HMS Battleaxe was rammed by the frigate Ursa in the Clyde in 1962 and scrapped. The class was laid up by 1956 and later given a limited radar picket conversion.