Modified "W" Class Destroyer (1918)

A total of sixteen destroyers of the Modified "W" Class were completed soon after the war, though many more were cancelled. The ships were a variation of the "W" class destroyers completed in some time earlier. The design of the stern was different, and there were changes in the boiler room arrangement to improve watertightness which made the second funnel larger than the first, but the big change was that the 4-in guns long common on Royal Navy destroyers were now landed in favor of 4.7-in weapons.

Overview of 15 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Vansittart	William Beardmore & Company		17 Apr, 1919		25 Feb, 1946
Volunteer	William Denny & Brothers		17 Apr, 1919		4 Mar, 1947
Venomous	John Brown & Company		21 Dec, 1918		4 Mar, 1947
Verity	John Brown & Company		19 Mar, 1919		4 Mar, 1947
Wanderer	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company		1 May, 1919		31 Jan, 1946
Whitehall	Swan Hunter		11 Sep, 1919		Oct, 1945
Wren	Yarrow & Company		11 Nov, 1919		Sunk 27 Jul, 1940
Veteran	John Brown & Company		26 Apr, 1919		Torpedoed 26 Sep, 1942
Wivern	J. Samuel White		16 Apr, 1919		Sold 18 Feb, 1947
Wolverine	J. Samuel White		17 Jul, 1919		Jan, 1946
Worcester	J. Samuel White		24 Oct, 1919		Broken up Sep, 1946
Witherington	J. Samuel White		16 Apr, 1919		20 Mar, 1947
Wild Swan	J. Samuel White		17 May, 1919		Sunk 17 Jun, 1942
Wishart	John I. Thornycroft & Company		18 Jul, 1919		20 Mar, 1945
Witch	John I. Thornycroft & Company		11 Nov, 1919		Jul, 1946

Armament

Other Guns

In 1918, it was ordered that the Scott class flotilla leaders and destroyers of "V" and "W" classes should have range and deflection receivers for their 3-in H.A. guns and fire gongs worked off the firing key used for the ships' L.A. weaponry.

Fire Control

Directors

Firing Circuits

Training and Slewing Circuits

In 1917, it was approved that the "V" class and later destroyers should all receive installations of the British Destroyer Director Firing System. These ships were likely delivered with directors in place.^{[Citation needed]}

In 1918, it was ordered that those destroyers with director installations were to additionally receive:

• a voice pipe from T.S. to director
• a fire gong at director worked from existing push in T.S.
• a fire gong push on fore bridge to be added, wired in parallel to that in the T.S.
• the repeat receivers on the fore bridge were to be positioned so as to be visible to the director sightsetter.

Rangefinders

By 1921, all four-gun destroyers mounted a 1m F.T. 27 RF on a M.H. 37 mounting or a 9ft F.Q. 2 on an M.Q. 12 mount on their fore bridge.

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892-1953. London: Seeley Service & Co. Limited. (on Bookfinder.com).
• Gray, Randal (editor) (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).