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The Captains class frigate (note the plural Captain, however during the course of WWII it became the norm to refer to individual ships with the singular Captain) were a class of 78 frigates of the Royal Navy launched in 1942–1943. They served in World War II as convoy escorts and anti-submarine warfare vessels. The ships were built in the United States and delivered to the United Kingdom under the provisions of Lend-Lease. Originally belonging to two classes of destroyer escort, 32 from the Evarts class and 46 from the Buckley class. The Royal Navy named the ships after British captains of Napoleonic Wars.

In June 1941 Britain asked the USA to design, build and supply an escort vessel that was suitable for anti submarine warfare in deep open ocean situations. The United States Navy had been looking into the feasibility of such a vessel since 1939 and a Captain E.L. Cochrane of the Bureau of Shipping who during his visit to the United Kingdom in 1940 looked at Royal Navy Corvettes and Hunt Class Destroyers had come up with a design for such a vessel, so when Great Britain came along with their request the US Navy decided to put the plans into motion. Captain Cochrane had to make several alterations to his original design and method of production but in the end came up with the finished article at half the cost of a fleet destroyer. President Roosevelt authorised the construction of the new vessels in August 1941.

The Royal Nave placed orders for fifty units with four ship yards in November 1941 at Boston, Mare Island, Philadelphia and Puget Sound, the ships were initially designated by the USA as British Destroyer Escort (BDE) but this was reduced to Destroyer Escort (DE) when the United States entered the war and found they also required an Anti-Submarine warfare ship, the DE fitted their needs perfectly, which resulted in a system of rationing whereby out of every five DE's completed four would be allocated to the US Navy and one to the British Royal Navy. By the end of WWII the Royal Navy had received 32 Evarts and 46 Buckleys. At the end of WWII most of the surviving Captains class frigates were retuned to the US Navy as quickly as possible in order to reduce the amount payable under the provisions of Lend-Lease agreement.

The main design difference between the Royal Navy frigates the United States Navy destroyer escorts was that the British ships had the forward torpedo tubes removed along with the ice cream makers, the iced water fountains, the dishwashers, and laundries (in some ships). More depth charges were fitted on the upper deck each side of the ship (allowing for about 200 in total), and the steel work around the binnacle had to be replaced by non-ferrous materials. The American gyrocompasses were replaced with the Admiralty pattern ones and the MK IV elevating column Oerlikon mountings were replaced with the simpler MK V1A mountings.

Contents 1 Evarts class ships 2 Buckley class ships 3 See also 4 External links 5 References

Evarts-class ships were driven by diesel-electric power with four diesel engines mounted in tandem with electric drives.

• Bayntun (K310) ((B)DE-1)
• Bazeley (K311) ((B)DE-2)
• Berry (K312) ((B)DE-3)
• Blackwood (K313) ((B)DE-4)
• Burgess (K347) ((B)DE-12)
• Capel (K470) (DE-266)
• Cooke (K471) (DE-267)
• Dacers (K472) (DE-268)
• Domett (K473) (DE-269)
• Drury (K316) ((B)DE-46)
• Foley (K474) (DE-270)
• Gardiner (K478) (DE-274)
• Garlies (K475) (DE-271)
• Goodall (K479) (DE-275)
• Goodson (K480) (DE-276)
• Gore (K481) (DE-277)
• Gould (K476) (DE-272)
• Grindall (K477) (DE-273)
• Hoste (K566) (DE-521)
• Inglis (K570) (DE-525)
• Inman (K571) (DE-526)
• Keats (K482) (DE-278)
• Kempthorne (K483) (DE-279)
• Kingsmill (K484) (DE-280)
• Lawford (K514) (DE-516)
• Lawson (K516) (DE-518)
• Loring (K565) (DE-520)
• Louis (K515) (DE-517)
• Manners (K568) (DE-523)
• Moorsom (K567) (DE-522)
• Mounsey (K569) (DE-524)
• Pasley (K564) (DE-519)

Buckley class ships had steam turbo electric drive engines.

• Affleck (K462) (DE-71)
• Aylmer (K463) (DE-72)
• Balfour (K464) (DE-73)
• Bentinck (K314) (DE-52)
• Bentley (K465) (DE-74)
• Bickerton (K466) (DE-75)
• Bligh (K467) (DE-76)
• Braithwaite (K468) (DE-77)
• Bullen (K469) (DE-78)
• Byard (K315) (DE-55)
• Byron (K508) (DE-79)
• Calder (K349) (DE-58)
• Conn (K509) (DE-80)
• Cosby (K559) (DE-94)
• Cotton (K510) (DE-81)
• Cranstoun (K511) (DE-82)
• Cubitt (K512) (DE-83)
• Curzon (K513) (DE-84)
• Dakins (K550) (DE-85)
• Deane (K551) (DE-86)
• Duff (K352) (DE-64)
• Duckworth (K351) (DE-61)
• Ekins (K552) (DE-87)
• Essington (K353) (DE-67)
• Fitzroy (K553) (DE-88)
• Halstead (K556) (DE-91)
• Hargood (K582) (DE-573)
• Holmes (K581) (DE-572)
• Hotham (K583) (DE-574)
• Narborough (K578) (DE-569)
• Redmill (K554) (DE-89)
• Retalick (K555) (DE-90)
• Riou (K557) (DE-92)
• Rowley (K560) (DE-95)
• Rupert (K561) (DE-96)
• Rutherford (K558) (DE-93)
• Seymour (K563) (DE-98)
• Spragge (K572) (DE-563)
• Stayner (K573) (DE-564)
• Stockham (K562) (DE-97)
• Thornborough (K574) (DE-565)
• Torrington (K577) (DE-568)
• Trollope (K575) (DE-566)
• Tyler (K576) (DE-567)
• Waldegrave (K579) (DE-570)
• Whitaker (K580) (DE-571)

• List of destroyer escorts of the United States Navy
• List of frigates
  • List of frigate classes of the Royal Navy

• http://www.desausa.org/ Destroyer Escort Sailors Association (DESA).
• http://www.ussslater.org/ USS Slater, the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum.
• http://www.captainclassfrigates.co.uk/ the Captain Class Frigates Association.
• http://www.uboat.net/

• For an excellent book on the subject of a particular example of this type of ship in World War II, see The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War by Donald Collingwood. published by Leo Cooper (1998), ISBN 085052 615 9.

Captains-class frigate

Buckley class (turbo-electric type)

Affleck | Aylmer | Balfour | Bentinck | Bentley | Bickerton | Bligh | Braithwaite | Bullen | Byard | Byron | Calder | Conn | Cosby | Cotton | Cranstoun | Cubitt | Curzon | Dakins | Deane | Duff | Duckworth | Ekins | Essington | Fitzroy | Halstead | Hargood | Holmes | Hotham | Narborough | Redmill | Retalick | Riou | Rowley | Rupert | Rutherford | Seymour | Spragge | Stayner | Stockham | Thornborough | Torrington | Trollope | Tyler | Waldegrave | Whitaker

Evarts class (diesel-electric type)

Bayntun | Bazeley | Berry | Blackwood | Burgess | Capel | Cooke | Dacers | Domett | Drury | Foley | Gardiner | Garlies | Goodall | Goodson | Gore | Gould | Grindall | Hoste | Inglis | Inman | Keats | Kempthorne | Kingsmill | Lawford | Lawson | Loring | Louis | Manners | Moorsom | Mounsey | Pasley

List of frigate classes of the Royal Navy