"A" and "B" Class Destroyer (1929)

Twenty "A" and "B" Class Destroyers were completed in the early 1930s. This class of destroyer inaugurated Britain's new scheme for destroyer production, in which a given year's build would comprise a flotilla of eight destroyers and one leader, all ships having the same initial letter (more or less). Moreover, the even years would have ships of a very minor alteration over the previous year's design, reducing cost and complexity while making it convenient to name the classes by paired letters.

The "A" class ships, launched primarily in 1929 were comprised of eight destroyers for the Royal Navy with leader H.M.S. Codrington, as well as an additional two for the Royal Canadian Navy. The following year's "B" class was more typical of the pattern to come: eight destroyers for Britain and their leader, H.M.S. Keith.

Overview of 20 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Codrington	Swan Hunter	20 Jun, 1928	7 Aug, 1929	4 Jun, 1930	Bombed 27 Jul, 1940
Acasta	John Brown	13 Aug, 1928	8 Aug, 1929	11 Feb, 1930	Sunk 8 Jun, 1940
Achates	John Brown	11 Sep, 1928	4 Oct, 1929	11 Feb, 1930	Sunk 31 Dec, 1942
Active	Hawthorn Leslie	10 Jul, 1928	9 Jul, 1929	9 Feb, 1930	Sold 7 Jul, 1947
Antelope	Hawthorn Leslie	11 Jul, 1928	27 Jul, 1929	20 Feb, 1930	Sold 28 Jan, 1946
Anthony	Scotts	30 Jul, 1928	24 Apr, 1929	14 Feb, 1930	Sold 21 Feb, 1948
Ardent	Scotts	30 Jul, 1928	26 Jun, 1929	14 Apr, 1930	Sunk 8 Jun, 1940
Arrow	Vickers Armstrongs	20 Aug, 1928	22 Aug, 1929	14 Apr, 1930	Blown up 8 Apr, 1943
Acheron	Thornycroft	20 Aug, 1928	22 Aug, 1929	14 Apr, 1930	Mined 17 Dec, 1940
Saguenay	Thornycroft	27 Sep, 1929	11 Jul, 1930	22 May, 1931	Sold 1945
Skeena	Thornycroft	14 Oct, 1929	10 Oct, 1930	10 Jun, 1931	Wrecked 25 Oct, 1944
Keith	Vickers Armstrongs	1 Oct, 1929	10 Jul, 1930	20 Mar, 1931	Bombed 1 Jun, 1940
Basilisk	John Brown	18 Aug, 1929	6 Aug, 1930	4 Apr, 1931	Bombed 1 Jun, 1940
Beagle	John Brown	11 Oct, 1929	29 Sep, 1930	9 Apr, 1931	Scrapped 1946
Blanche	Hawthorn Leslie	29 Jul, 1936	29 May, 1930	14 Feb, 1931	Mined 13 Sep, 1939
Boadicea	Hawthorn Leslie	11 Jul, 1929	23 Sep, 1930	7 Apr, 1931	Bombed 13 Jun, 1944
Boreas	Palmers	22 Jul, 1929	18 Jul, 1930	1920	Scrapped 1952
Brazen	Palmers	22 Jul, 1929	25 Jul, 1930	8 Apr, 1931	Bombed 20 Jul, 1940
Brilliant	Swan Hunter	8 Jul, 1929	9 Oct, 1930	21 Feb, 1931	Scrapped 1948
Bulldog	Swan Hunter	10 Aug, 1936	6 Dec, 1930	8 Apr, 1931	Scrapped 1946

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892-1953. London: Seeley Service & Co. Limited. (on Bookfinder.com).

"A" and "B" Class Destroyer

"A" Class Leader

Codrington

Destroyers

Acasta

Achates

Active

Antelope

Anthony

Ardent

Arrow

Acheron

Canadian Destroyers

Saguenay

Skeena

"B" Class Leader

Keith

Destroyers

Basilisk

Beagle

Blanche

Boadicea

Boreas

Brazen

Brilliant

Bulldog

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Modified "W" Class

Destroyers (UK)

"C" and "D" Class

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