What escort do you hate most?

[Mush Martin]

Destroyers had military power plants and heavier construction
they normally had enclosed turrets where a DE or a commercial
consturtion frigate or corvette more often had open mounts
and used commercial power plants. also destroyers normally
had less range than DE's and Frigates. because as dedicated
escorts they needed the range as an emphasis.

Black Swan is actually a Sloop derived from the name
Sloop of War which is the name given to the smallest
military combatant ship in years past but came to mean
something similar but different in later years.

the BlackSwan class sloops are directline descendents
from the enchantress class sloops and were excellant
sea boats. they had a large emphasis on D/P armament
and were highly useful against aircraft. the also carried
a whole bunch of dc's but were not suited to ahead
throwing weapons like hedgehog or squid.

Blackswans were built in military yards to military standards
William Reed of Smiths Dry Docks Co. when tasked with a
commercialized military follow on to his militarized
commercial design (Flower Class) used the basic hull
design of the Black Swans but set the design to be
built to commerce standards in Commerce yards
River enjoyed excellant range and had the latest
ASW sensors and although equipped with modest
surface armament when compared to a black swan
they did have forward throwing weapons in the case
of the Rivers this was Hedgehog although when
later derivatives came out the Bay class carried
Two Squid launchers making it one of the most
if not the very most dangerous escort of the war.
although american DE's with much longer opportunities
sank more subs. another later AA version the
Bay class addressed the same hull but with an
emphasis on AA and a reduced ASW suite.

the idea of commercial constructions was to liberate
the military construction and repair yards to work on
high priority combatants instead of escort construction
and repair this also had the effect of broadening the
skills of the new workforces. and men who had sailed
in frieghters and commercial ships prior to the war
after their ninety days training could step on board
a DE or a Frigate or Corvette and when they stepped
into the engine room there was nothing exoctic they
were instantly familiar with what they were looking
at. where as a destroyers turbines werent that common.

lots of stuff.
M