The Royal Navy’s ‘Emergency destroyers’ (see pictorial review in SM, Oct) were built to a somewhat austere design to deliver the numbers required to sustain Britain’s destroyer flotillas during the early years of World War II. However, it was always recognised that something much better could be produced. This ambition was ultimately achieved through construction of the much enlarged Battle class.
The first destroyers of this new and improved type were ordered under the Royal Navy’s 1942 construction programmes. By the time design workwas accorded a high priority in the new warships.