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From: "Thomas Lynch" <>
Subject: Re: TheShipsList-D Digest V98 #189
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 1998 18:38:41 -0400


Dear Malcolm,

Your question on HMS TARTAR is as long as it is broad. TARTAR (G-43) was
built by Swan Hunter, completed in March, 1939 and was scrapped in December,
1948.

The TRIBALs (or AFRIDI Class) were the British answer to the rest of
Europe's rearmament scramble in the 1930s that saw an increasing escalation
in size, speed and armament, especially by the Germans, Italians, French,
etc. The early TRIBAL design originally called for 10 x 4.7" guns in five
twin mounts, but the design finally settled on 8 x 4.7" in four twin mounts,
two forward and two aft. All were built under Emergency Programs, so that
all sixteen ships of class were launched in 1937, with ten completed in 1938
and the remaining six were in service before the outbreak of war in 1939.

TRIBALs were the last British warship to use the established transverse
framing in their construction, and were the last of the "two-funnel"
destroyers built for the RN for years thereafter.

Two of class were lost in 1940, three in 1941, and seven in 1942, largely
due to their lack of effective AA defences. In ASHANTI, ESKIMO, NUBIAN and
TARTAR the full set of weapons were implemented, with the main armament
consisting of 3 x twin 4.7" dual-purpose; 1 x twin 4" high-angle AA mount; 1
x quadruple 2-pdr. pom-pom; 2 x single 40mm Bofors; 4 x twin 20mm Oerlikons;
1 x quadruple 21" torpedo tube mount; 2 x Mk. IV depth charge-throwers, plus
full "modern" radar and sonar suites.

Powerplants consisted of three Admiralty three-drum boilers, each sistuated
in its own boiler room, and working at 300 PSI. Immediately aft of the last
boiler room were two Parsons single reduction steam turbines, developing
44,000 shaft horsepower at 350 RPM and giving a nominal speed of 36 knots.
However, in operational use, 34 knots was rarely exceeded. Aft of the
turbines, their outputs were geared down in the gearing compartment to drive
the two propellers.

Fuel was slightly more than 500 tons and gave a radius of action of 5,700
miles at 15 knots. However, this dropped to 3,000 miles at 20 knots and
decreased sharply as speed increased.

TRIBALS served in all theatres of naval war in WW II. One of TARTAR's most
memorible first sea engagements was in the May 26/27, 1941 hunt for
BISMARCK, although not actively engaged in this, four other TRIBALs launched
torpedo attacks, and MASHONA who was accompanying TARTAR back to the UK on
the 28th was sunk by German bombers. TARTAR served in home waters, the Med,
finally finishing the war in Far East service along with ESKIMO and NUBIAN.

Of course the only surviving example in the world is HMCS HAIDA, which is
open to the public near the CNE grounds in Toronto, Ontario Canada.

displacement: 1960 tons
length: 14.91m (377') oa
beam: 11.12m (36'6")
draught: 3.96m. (13')

Tom Lynch in Nova Scotia, Canada.

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Date: Saturday, March 14, 1998 7:44 PM
Subject: TheShipsList-D Digest V98 #189

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