Broke 1925
Broke 1942
Keppel 1944
| Name | No | Yard No | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Comp | Fate |
| Shakespeare | F89 | Thornycroft, Woolston | 10.1916 | 7.7.1917 | 10.1917 | BU 9.1936 | |
| Spencer | F90 | Thornycroft, Woolston | 10.1916 | 22.9.1917 | 12.1917 | BU 9.1936 | |
| Wallace | D3A, L64 | Thornycroft, Woolston | 8.1917 | 26.10.1918 | 2.1919 | BU 3.1945 | |
| Keppel | D84 | Thornycroft, Woolston | 10.1918 | 23.4.1920 | 12.1924 | BU 7.1945 | |
| Broke (ex-Rooke) | D83 | Thornycroft, Woolston / Pembroke DYd | 10.1918 | 16.9.1920 | 4.1925 | sunk 9.11.1942 | |
| Saunders | Thornycroft, Woolston | 1918 | --- | --- | cancelled 4.1919 | ||
| Spragge | Thornycroft, Woolston | 1918 | --- | --- | cancelled 4.1919 |
|
Displacement normal, t |
1554 |
|
Displacement full, t |
2000 |
|
Length, m |
100.3 |
|
Breadth, m |
9.61 |
|
Draught, m |
3.81 |
|
No of shafts |
2 |
|
Machinery |
2 sets Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, 4 Yarrow boilers |
|
Power, h. p. |
40000 |
|
Max speed, kts |
36 |
|
Fuel, t |
oil 500 |
|
Endurance, nm(kts) |
5000(15) |
|
Armament |
5 x 1 - 120/45 BL Mk I, 1 x 1 - 76/45 20cwt QF Mk II, 2 x 1 - 40/39 2pdr QF Mk II, 2 x 3 - 533 TT, 2 DCT, 1 DCR (25) |
|
Complement |
183 |
Project history: While the DNC was working on the design of the 'V' class leader Thornycroft submitted their own series of designs for a leader. As it happened the DNC had been instructed to work out designs for a larger type of leader to match rumoured new German destroyers armed with 127mm guns, and he reported that the addition of 127mm guns to the Thornycroft design would fit the new requirement very well. As there was no 127mm gun in the Navy's inventory design of a new gun would lake too long, and it was suggested that the Army's 120mm field gun should be adopted instead. This was done, and as a result the new leaders carried five 120mm, superimposed forward and aft, as in the 'V' leaders, and a fifth gun on a 'bandstand' between the funnels. With their two sets of triple 533mm TT, this made the new leaders the most heavily armed destroyers in the world, and the addition of a 2.7m rangefinder as well as torpedo sights on the bridge marked a vast improvement in fighting efficiency. With their massive flat-sided funnels and heavy armament the Shakespeare class made a great impression, particularly among other navies. The first two, Shakespeare and Spencer, were ordered in April 1916, followed by Wallace in April 1917 and the remainder in April 1918. Two were cancelled, and Rooke and Keppel were slowed down after the Armistice. Two more, Barrington and Hughes, were to be built by Cammell Laird because Thornycroft's Woolston yard was full to capacity in the spring of 1918, but the DNC decided that Cammell Laird would be unable to match the weight-saving techniques, and the orders were replaced by Scott class vessels with the same names.
Modernizations: 1920s, Shakespeare: + type 114 sonar
1920s, Spencer: + type 115 sonar
mid-1930s, all: - 2 x 1 - 40/39; + type 124 or type 127 sonar
(10/1938 - 6.1939), Wallace: - 5 x 1 - 120/45, 1 x 1 - 76/45, 2 x 3 - 533 TT; + 2 x 2 - 102/45 QF Mk XVI, 1 x 4 - 40/39 2pdr QF Mk VIII, 2 x 4 - 12.7/62, type 286 radar
late 1940, Broke, Keppel: - 1 x 1 - 120/45 ("Q"); + 2 x 1 - 40/39 2pdr QF Mk VIII, DCs stowage was 50 pcs.
1941, Broke, Keppel: - 1 x 1 - 120/45 ("Y"); + 2 DCT, 1 DCR (DCs stowage was 70 pcs)
1941, Wallace: + type 271, type 285 radars
4/1942, Broke: 1 boiler was removed, fuel stowage rose up to 575t, full displacement was 2280t. Engine power has fallen up to 25 000hp and maximal speed up to 28kts. - 1 x 1 - 120/45 ("A"), type 124 or type 127 sonar; + 2 x 1 - 20/70 Oerlikon Mk II/IV, 1 x 24 - 178 Hedgehog ASWRL, 4 DCT (98 DC for 8 DCT and 2 DCR), type 271, type 286P radar, type 144 sonar
1942, Wallace: - 2 x 4 - 12.7/62; + 2 x 1 - 20/70 Oerlikon Mk II/IV
1942, Keppel: - 1 x 1 - 120/45 ("A"), type 124 or type 127 sonar; + 2 x 1 - 20/70 Oerlikon Mk II/IV, 1 x 24 - 178 Hedgehog ASWRL, type 286 radar, type 144 sonar
late 1942, Broke; 1943, Keppel: - 2 x 1 - 40/39; + 2 x 1 - 20/70 Oerlikon Mk II/IV, type 271 radar
3/1943, Keppel: 1 boiler was removed, fuel stowage rose up to 575t, full displacement was 2280t. Engine power was reduced to 25 000hp and maximal speed to 28kts. - 1 x 1 - 120/45 ("A"), type 286 radar, type 124 or type 127 sonar; + 1 x 1 - 20/70 Oerlikon Mk II/IV, 1 x 24 - 178 Hedgehog ASWRL, 4 DCT (140 DC for 8 DCT and 2 DCR), type 286M radar, type 144 sonar
to 1945 , Wallace: + 2 x 1 - 40/39 2pdr QF Mk VIII, 2 x 1 - 20/70 Oerlikon Mk II/IV, DCs stowage rose up to 30 pcs. Full displacement was 2145t, fuel stowage was 409t.
Naval service: Broke 9.11.1942 was badly damaged by French coastal batteries at Algiers. She sunk next day under tow in 90nm NE of Oran.
Broke 1925
© Ivan Gogin, 2008-14