This diverse class was specially designed for the 'China Station', with the accomodation in the supertructure to suit the climate, and armament mounted on it too - making them look like pleasure steamers!
The very shallow draught & freeboard suited the turbine arrangement, but the boilers projected well above the waterline.
Splinter shields were fitted ot the wheelhouse, guns andboiler rooms, and sweep gear was mounted on the aft deck to combat mines left over from the Sino-Japanese war.
Falcon was specially shortened for the tight bends of the upper Yangtze, and Sandpiper and Robin had extremelly shallow draughts to allow them to move futher up the river than any of their sisters, but reverted to low-power triple expansion engines.