Black Swan-class sloop


The Black Swan class and Modified Black Swan class were two classes of sloop of the Royal Navy and Royal Indian Navy. Twelve Black Swans were launched between 1939 and 1943, including four for the Royal Indian Navy; twenty-five Modified Black Swans were launched between 1942 and 1945, including two for the Royal Indian Navy; several other ships were cancelled.

History

Like corvettes, sloops of that period were specialised convoy-defence vessels. However, while corvettes were based on a mercantile design with triple expansion engines, sloops were conventional naval vessels with turbine engines. Sloops were larger and faster with a heavy armament of high angle 4-inch guns which had superior anti-aircraft fire control via the Fuze Keeping Clock, while retaining excellent anti-submarine capability. They were designed to have a longer range than a destroyer at the expense of a lower top speed, while remaining capable of outrunning surfaced Type VII and Type IX U-boats.
In World War II, Black Swan-class sloops sank 29 U-boats. The most famous sloop commander was Captain Frederic John Walker. His sloop became one of the most successful submarine hunters, taking part in the sinking of eleven U-boats.
After the war, sloops continued in service with the Royal Navy, Egyptian Navy, Indian Navy, Pakistan Navy and the West German Navy. In April 1949, was attacked on the Yangtze River by the Communist People's Liberation Army.
Also, several Black Swan sloops fought in the Korean War.

''Black Swan'' class

Royal Navy

The first two ships were built under the 1937 Programme, being ordered from Yarrow and Company, Scotstoun, on 1 January 1938. The second pair was built under the 1939 Programme, being ordered from Furness Shipbuilding Company on 21 June 1939. A further ten RN ships were ordered under the 1940 War Programme on 13 April 1940; however six of these were subsequently replaced by orders for an equal number of escort destroyers.
There were incremental improvements as the building developed, and the Woodcock and Wren when completed were practically indistinguishable from the Modified Black Swan class.
NamePennantBuilderLaid DownLaunchedCommissionedFate
L18
later U18		Yarrow, Scotstoun26 May 193818 April 19393 November 1939Transferred to West Germany as Graf Spee 21 January 1959. Sold for breaking up 25 October 1967.
L57
later U57		Yarrow, Scotstoun20 June 19387 July 193927 January 1940Sold for breaking up 13 September 1956.
U03Furness Sbdg, Haverton Hill-on-Tees22 September 19395 August 194026 April 1941Became RNVR training ship Wessex on the Solent 4 June 1952, broken up October 1965.
U99Furness Sbdg, Haverton Hill-on-Tees22 September 193928 November 194030 August 1941Sunk by Italian torpedo bombers off Algiers on 10 November 1942.
U29Yarrow, Scotstoun31 October 194125 August 194213 January 1943Transferred to Egypt as El Malek Farouq November 1949, renamed Tarik 1954.
U45Yarrow, Scotstoun28 January 194214 October 194211 March 1943Sold for breaking up 27 February 1956.
U08Denny, Dunbarton23 February 194129 June 194214 December 1942Sunk by on 27 February 1944.
U28Denny, Dunbarton27 February 194111 August 19424 February 1943Sold for breaking up 2 February 1956.

Royal Indian Navy

Two ships were ordered under the 1939 Programme, the order being placed with Denny on 8 September 1939. The second pair were ordered under the 1940 Programme, this order with Thornycroft being placed on 29 August 1940. The first two were used as survey ships after the War. The second pair were transferred to the Pakistan Navy in 1948. The third pair
NamePennantBuilderLaid DownLaunchedCommissionedFate
U95Denny, Dunbarton4 January 19401 October 194023 April 1941Survey vessel 1955. Paid off at end 1978 and deleted 1982 or 1983.
U21Denny, Dunbarton28 February 194016 November 194013 May 1941Survey vessel 1957. Renamed INS Jamuna 1968, paid off at end 1980 and broken up.
U40Thornycroft, Woolston30 August 194121 November 194229 April 1943Renamed Jhelum 1948. Sold to be broken up 15 July 1959.
U52Thornycroft, Woolston30 October 194121 January 194328 June 1943Renamed Sind 1948. Sold for breaking up 2 June 1959.

Modified ''Black Swan'' class

Royal Navy

Fourteen sloops for the RN were in the 1940 Supplementary War Programme. The first two were ordered from Denny, Dunbarton, on 9 January 1941, ten more were ordered on 27 March 1941, and a final pair from Fairfield, Govan, on 18 July 1941. The contract with John Brown was transferred to Devonport Dockyard on 3 March 1942, and then to Denny on 8 December 1942.
NamePennantBuilderLaid DownLaunchedCommissionedFate
U05Denny, Dunbarton6 June 194124 September 194229 March 1943Constructive total loss following torpedoing on 18 November 1943 by . Renamed Lusitania 31 December 1943 as a base ship, then broken up at Lisbon 1945.
U23Denny, Dunbarton13 June 19419 November 194210 May 1943Broken up March 1965.
U38Cammell Laird, Birkenhead30 August 194128 July 19421 December 1942Broken up 16 March 1956.
U87Cammell Laird, Birkenhead25 September 194113 October 19421 March 1943Sunk by on 21 August 1944.
U62Scotts, Greenock17 December 194116 July 194321 March 1944Sunk by on 20 March 1945 just outside Murmansk, USSR.
U11Scotts, Greenock5 May 194228 August 194310 April 1944Constructive total loss following torpedoing by off Kola Inlet on 17 February 1945; salvaged by Soviet Navy and added as Neptun, finally broken up 1956.
U82Thornycroft, Woolston30 December 194124 March 194330 August 1943Broken up 12 July 1959.
U96Thornycroft, Woolston29 November 194211 December 194310 May 1944Broken up 7 May 1958.
U49Yarrow, Scotstoun17 March 194221 December 194212 May 1943Broken up January 1963.
U69Yarrow, Scotstoun18 May 194225 February 194324 June 1943Broken up 20 November 1960.
U20Denny, Dunbarton21 September 194420 December 19459 September 1946Broken up 23 August 1960.
U71Denny, Dunbarton30 October 194418 February 194616 December 1946Broken up 26 May 1958.
U66Fairfield, Govan21 October 194114 October 19421 April 1943Broken up July 1965.
U90Fairfield, Govan21 October 194126 November 194229 May 1943Sold for breaking up 28 November 1955.

Another fourteen ships were authorised in the 1941 Programme, but the last three ships were not ordered under this programme. The first of the eleven actually ordered was contracted with Thornycroft on 3 December 1941, with a further pair from Stephens, Linthouse, on 18 December. Eight more were ordered in 1942, two on 11 February, two on 3 March, two on 12 August and two on 5 October. However the order for two sloops were ordered at Portsmouth was moved to Chatham Dockyard on 21 June 1943, and they were laid down there, but were cancelled on 15 October 1945.
Two more sloops were authorised in the 1942 Programme; the names would have been Waterhen and Wryneck but they were never ordered in that year's Programme. The 1944 Programme re-instated these two vessels, as well as the twelfth sloop authorised under the 1941 Programme, and now named as Partridge. These three ships were ordered on 9 October 1944, but they were all cancelled on 15 October 1945. These had been intended to be further modified and enlarged, with a beam of. Two further ships planned under the 1944 Programme would have been named Woodpecker and Wild Swan, but these were never ordered and the intention to build was dropped when the 1945 Programme was compiled.
Two ships for the Indian Navy were included in the 1941 Programme, the order being placed with Yarrow on 10 September 1941.
NamePennantBuilderLaid DownLaunchedCommissionedFate
U46Yarrow, Scotstoun14 July 194222 April 194326 August 1943Renamed INS Krishna 1968. Paid off at end 1981 and broken up.
U10Yarrow, Scotstoun28 October 194215 June 194321 October 1943Renamed INS Kaveri 1968. Sold 1979.

Losses

;In World War II: