Tribal-class destroyer (1936)

From 1926, all Royal Navy destroyers had descended from a common lineage based upon the prototypes and . During the interwar period, advances in armament and machinery meant that by the mid-1930s these "interwar standard" destroyers were being eclipsed by foreign designs, particularly from Japan, Italy, and Germany. To counteract this trend, the Admiralty decided on a new destroyer type, with an emphasis on gunnery over torpedo warfare. The destroyer was based on 'Design V', a design study for a small fleet cruiser (another variant of this design evolved into the ). This design envisioned a 1,850-ton ship with a speed of , an endurance of , and five twin 4.7 inch guns as main armament. Although the design was rejected for the fleet cruiser role, The ships were also armed with a quadruple bank of torpedo tubes. They were considered to be handsome ships, with a clipper bow that provided excellent seakeeping and two raked funnels and masts. They are still remembered with great affection. ==Construction==

The Royal Navy placed an order for seven Tribals on 10 March 1936, with a second group of nine Tribals ordered on 9 June for two flotillas' worth of ships. The Royal Australian Navy and Royal Canadian Navy both ordered a flotilla of Tribals. The eight Australian ships were to be built in Australian shipyards. Three were completed, two in 1942 and one in 1945, but the rest were cancelled. The Canadian order was for four ships from British yards in 1940 (completed in 1942 and 1943) and another four from Canadian yards at Halifax in 1942. The latter were not completed until after the war. Between 1937 and 1945, twenty-seven Tribals were built. Estimated cost per ship was around £340,000 excluding weaponry, and £520,000 overall. ==Modifications==

Wartime modifications The Royal Navy equipped the Tribal class with a comparatively heavy anti-aircraft armament; all eight 4.7in guns could engage aircraft with predicted fire using the FKC computer, and thus provide a powerful augmentation to the battle-fleet's AA defence. The close range AA armament of a quad 2pdr and two quad Vickers machine guns was a marked advance over previous destroyer classes and heavier than most other nations' close range destroyer armament in 1939. However, prewar, the Royal Navy assumed that destroyers would be acting mainly as escorts for the battle-fleet, and would not be the primary focus of aerial attack and would not require more than 40-degree elevation for the main armament. The mainmast was cut down and the rear funnel was lowered to improve the arcs of fire for the anti-aircraft weapons. As they became available, the more effective 20 mm Oerlikon guns were added, at first adding to and eventually replacing the .50 in./12.7 mm machine guns. Depth charge storage was also increased, from 30 to 46 charges. By 1944, the four surviving British Tribals were given a tall lattice foremast to carry a Type 293 radar target indication and Type 291 air warning, with Type 285 radar added to the rangefinder-director. The first two Canadian built Tribals, Micmac and Nootka, were armed with the then standard armament of three 4.7-inch twin mountings and a single twin 4-inch mount, with the 4.7-inch mounts being given improved A.A. fuze setters, while the last two Canadian-built Tribals were equipped with eight Mark XVI guns with R.P.C. and four to six Bofors 40 mm guns as standard, along with a Mk VI Director. a pair of Squid mortars for anti-submarine warfare, and a twin 3 inch/50 Mark 33 gun on the 'X' position as an anti-aircraft weapon. Sensors were also upgraded for their new roles. Refitted Canadian Tribals continued to serve until the 1960s. The aft-most gun mounting was removed, with the space modified to accommodate a Squid anti-submarine mortar. Financial restrictions meant that the third Australian Tribal, Bataan, was not modernised, and a combination of manpower shortages and rapid obsolescence saw all three ships decommissioned by the end of the 1950s. ==Ships==

Royal Navy Royal Canadian Navy Royal Australian Navy ==Service==

As some of the Royal Navy's most modern and powerful escorts, this was the last true naval boarding action for the Royal Navy. Gurkha was an early loss, being sunk by German bombers off Stavanger. Bedouin, Punjabi, Eskimo and Cossack took part in the Second Battle of Narvik, where Eskimo had her bow blown off. 1941 In May 1941, Somali, Bedouin, and Eskimo, along with the N-class destroyer , and Royal Navy cruisers , , and boarded the German weather ship München, retrieving vital Enigma cypher codebooks. In the same month, Zulu, Sikh, Cossack, Maori and Polish (N-class destroyer) were in action against the , with Mashona being sunk by German aircraft during these operations. In the Mediterranean Sea, Mohawk was lost as part of "Force K", torpedoed by the in April, while Cossack, Sikh, Zulu, and Maori took part in Operation Substance, a relief convoy heading to Malta. Cossack was torpedoed by in October while escorting Convoy HG 74 in the Atlantic Ocean, west of Gibraltar, sinking later under tow. Maori and Sikh were amongst the victors at the Battle of Cape Bon in December. 1942 In 1942, Matabele was torpedoed and sunk by in the Barents Sea and Maori was hit in the engine room by a bomb whilst lying in Grand Harbour, Valletta, in February, catching fire and later blowing up where she lay. Punjabi was accidentally rammed and sunk by the battleship in May, whilst performing close escort in thick weather. In June, Bedouin was disabled in action with Regia Marina's cruisers and during Operation Harpoon. Also that month, Somali was torpedoed by while covering the returning Russian Convoy QP 14. Although taken under tow by , she sank four days later after heavy weather broke her back. showing a Tribal-class destroyer The Canadian Tribals were also heavily engaged; Athabaskan was hit by German glide bombs while conducting operations in the Bay of Biscay and was put out of action for almost three months, while Haida and Huron escorted the various Arctic convoys. 1944 Eskimo, Ashanti, Athabaskan, Haida, Huron, Nubian, Tartar and later Iroquois saw extensive action in the English Channel before and after Operation Overlord, sinking or damaging a variety of enemy ships. In April, and engaged two s in the Channel. Athabaskan was sunk by a torpedo from T24, while Haida pursued and forced aground T27. Haida and Eskimo also sank the German U-boat with depth charges and close-in gunfire, rescuing 53 survivors. Afterwards Eskimo was involved in a collision with the destroyer HMS Javelin, which kept Eskimo out of action for five months. After the Normandy invasion, Nubian was sent to screen Royal Navy Home Fleet units engaged in the protection of the Russian Convoy JW 59, and carrier-based aerial attacks on the and elsewhere in Norway. Iroquois and Haida met up with the Free French cruiser which was sailing from Algiers to Cherbourg carrying members of the French Provisional Government. Iroquois then escorted the liner which was carrying the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the Second Quebec Conference. 1945 Eskimo, Nubian, and Tartar were given some minor tropicalisation refits and were sent east to join the British Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean as the Atlantic war wound down. There, Eskimo, Nubian, and Tartar engaged in escort of the Royal Navy major surface units and shore bombardment. Afterward, Nubian, and Tartar were waiting as backup for Battle of the Malacca Strait, where the Japanese cruiser was sunk. Eskimo and Nubian were then engaged in anti-shipping patrols, sinking a Japanese merchant ship and a submarine-chaser near Sumatra. This was the last Royal Navy surface action against shipping in World War II. In July, Nubian and Tartar prepared for Operation Zipper, the planned British landings in Malaya. During this period, the Canadian Tribals continued to be engaged; Haida, Huron and Iroquois escorted Russian convoys until May 1945, when Germany surrendered. The Canadian Tribals then engaged in the escort of British warships liberating Norway following the German surrender. Iroquois then joined the British cruisers and and destroyer at Copenhagen and headed to Wilhelmshaven, as escort for the surrendered German cruisers and . Following this the Canadian Tribals returned to Halifax harbour for tropicalisation refits, which were suspended when the Japanese surrendered; they were sent into reserve. ==Post-war==

Twenty-three Tribal-class destroyers were constructed before and during World War II; sixteen for the Royal Navy, four for the Royal Canadian Navy, and three for the Royal Australian Navy. Thirteen were lost during the war; six British Tribals to aircraft attack, four British and one Canadian Tribal to torpedo attacks, one British Tribal to shore batteries off Tobruk, and one British Tribal in a collision with a British battleship. The surviving four British destroyers were paid off and sold for scrap during 1948 and 1949, while the Australian and Canadian Tribals were refitted and modernised for post-war service. Four destroyers still under construction in Canada when World War II ended were completed and then modernised, while five ships under construction in Australia were cancelled. The Australian and Canadian ships, with the exception of Micmac, served during the Korean War, with Bataan at one point escorting a United States aircraft carrier with the same name. The Australian and Canadian Tribals continued in service until the late 1950s and early 1960s, when they were gradually decommissioned and sold for scrapping. Only one ship of the class has been preserved. was restored and is docked in Hamilton Harbour, Ontario, Canada as a museum ship. The bow of , sunk on 12 February 1942 by German aircraft, rests below sea level in Valletta's Marsamxett Harbour, Malta, and is a popular scuba diving site. ==In fiction==

The fictional Tribal-class destroyer Hakka is the setting for the 2001 Douglas Reeman novel For Valour. ==Notes==