P-class sloop

rdf:langString P-class sloop

rdf:langString P class

rdf:langString *: *1 × 4-inch gun *1 × QF 2-pounder (40mm) A/A *2 × 14-inch torpedo tubes

rdf:langString Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Service image of 1:48 scale model P-class sloop HMS P23

rdf:langString TWCMS B9663-w.jpg

rdf:langString o.a.

rdf:langString *2 × steam turbines *2 × cylindrical boilers *2 × screws

rdf:langString Oil fuel

rdf:langString The P class, nominally described as "patrol boats", was in effect a class of British coastal sloops. Twenty-four ships to this design were ordered in May 1915 (numbered P.11 to P.34) and another thirty between February and June 1916 (numbered P.35 to P.64) under the for the Royal Navy in the First World War, although ten of the latter group were in December 1916 altered on the stocks before launch for use as decoy Q-ships and were renumbered as PC-class sloops. None were named initially, although in 1925 P.38 was given the name Spey. These vessels were designed to replace destroyers in coastal operations, but had twin screws, a very low freeboard, ram bows of hardened steel, a sharply cutaway funnel and a small turning circle. Clearly seen as the linear descendants of the late 19th century steam torpedo boats and coastal destroyers, many were fitted with the 14-inch torpedo tubes removed from old torpedo boats. With the survival of a builder's diary by William Bartram, full details of the sea trials of P.23 on 21 June 1916 exist. She worked up to 21.8 knots (40.4 km/h). Bartram's commissioned a model from Sunderland modelmaker C Crawford & Sons and this model, in the collections of Sunderland Museum and Heritage Service, is stored in the model store of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Service at the Discovery Museum.