| Manxman class
Minelaying Cruiser |
| |
| Individual
Specifications |
| Name |
Pennant |
Builder |
Laid Down |
Launched |
Completed |
Fate |
| Abdiel
group |
| Abdiel |
M38 |
White |
29/3/39 |
23/4/40 |
15/4/41 |
Mined Taranto Bay
9/9/43 |
| Latona |
M76 |
Thornycroft |
4/4/39 |
23/8/40 |
4/5/41 |
Bombed by Italian
planes off Libya 25/10/41 |
| Manxman |
M70 |
Stephens |
24/3/39 |
5/9/40 |
20/6/41 |
To minesweeper
support ship 1960, scrapped 1972 |
| Welshman |
M84 |
Hawthorn Leslie |
8/6/39 |
4/9/40 |
25/8/41 |
Torpedoed U617 off
Crete 1/2/43 |
| Apollo
group |
| Apollo |
M01 |
Hawthorn Leslie |
10/10/41 |
5/4/43 |
12/2/44 |
Scrapped 1965 |
| Ariadne |
M65 |
Stephens |
15/11/41 |
16/2/43 |
9/10/43 |
Scrapped 1962 |
| |
 |
| 1:600 HMS Manxman early war, with original
4.7" guns ( same type as in "L" &
"M" destroyers. ) and light AA armament. ©
Andrew Arthur |
These ships were, like the "E" class cruisers, the
essence of all things British; they lost all sort of
proportionality for a ridiculously high speed; on less than half
the displacement of Adventure, they had almost twice the
horsepower; capable of 41 knot runs when light, and of sustaining
38 knots for 1000 nm. At this pace they could outrun torpedoes,
destroyers, torpedo boats and dodge even the most accurate
shellfire, weaving as soon as the salvo was fired.
This speed came at some price; only the lightest of splinter
shielding was carried, and they would not take much of a beating.
Litterally huge destroyers, they were armed as such, and the
enormous power demanded three large funnels, straight like those
of the Bellona class. It was their unique resemblance to
Vichy french 'croisers leger', powerful AA armament and
tremendous speed that saw them in use more often as high speed
trnsports for the run to Malta than as minelayers : a bit of wood
here and a fake gun there and they were extremelly like the large
French "destroyers."
Following the loss of Latona, the first group recieved a
strengthened AA armament like the second group, substitiuting LA
4.7" guns for HA 4" guns.
| Dimensions |
| Full
Displacement |
3415
( 3475 second batch ) tons |
Length |
418' |
| Empty
Displacement |
2650
tons |
Beam |
40' |
| Load |
765
/ 825 tons |
Draft |
11.5'
min, 14.5' max |
| Performance
& Propulsion |
| Machinery |
4 x Adrmirality 3-drum boilers, 2 x Parsons
geared steam turbines driving 2 shafts @ 72000 shp |
| Speed |
41
knots empty, 39.75 knots full |
Range |
1000 nm @ 38 kts |
| Armament &
Complement |
| Complement |
242
( 246 in batch 2 ) Officers & Ratings |
| Armament |
| Group
1 |
- Gun
- 3 x 2 x 4.7" LA
later;
- 3 x 2 x 4" AA
- 1 x 4 x 2pdr pom-pom AA
- later, 4 x 1 x 20mm AA
- 2 x 4 x 0.5" MG AA
- Mines
|
| Group
2 |
- Gun
- 2 x 2 x 4" AA
- 2 x 2 x 40mm Bofors AA
- 2 x 2 x 20mm Oerlikon AA
- Mines
|