graywolf wrote: > You can tell the old destroyer guys, because they never set their coffee > mug down for fear it will go flying across the room. BTW, I did not know > the RN had destroyers, I thought the RN called that class of ship a > corvette?* > > *Ah, looked it up a corvette seems to be what we would call a sub-chaser > over here (US), quite a bit smaller than a destroyer. See, I can still > learn something new, so much for that old dogs stuff. >
Actually, the US used Destroyer Escorts. These were equivalent to RN Frigates of the WW2 era, larger than the Corvette (Corvette's were really too small for their job) but smaller than a full-on Destroyer. Sub-Chaser is what they did, not what they were designated as. Destroyers were actually invented by the Royal Navy, as their answer to German Torpedo Boats (Originally they were Torpedo Boat Destroyers). The RM currently operates the Type 42 Destroyers, with the Type 45's coming into service in 2009 (the first was launched earlier this year and is fitting out for sea trials). No Blue Water Navy uses Corvette's (Although the current Canadian Kingston-class Patrol Boats are Corvette's in all but name). Several European powers do operate Corvette's, most notably the Swedes, who's Visby class were the first stealth ships to enter active service. Modern Destroyers range in size from the Canadian Tribal/Iroquois class (the first really modern DD design, around 4800 tons) through the Flight IIA Arleigh Burke class of the US, Japan and (soon) Australia, which are around 9200 tons. The US is currently working on the Zumwalt class, which is around 13,000 tons, the same size as a New Orleans class heavy Cruiser of WW2 and is 3000 tons heavier than the Ticonderoga-class Cruisers. -Adam -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
