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List of classes of British ships of World War II facts for kids

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This is a list of all British ship classes that served in World War II. This list includes all British ship classes including those which did not serve with the Royal Navy or British military in general.

Aircraft carriers

Fleet carriers

HMS Illustrious (AWM 302415)
Illustrious in 1942 with a Fairey Swordfish on deck.
HMS Unicorn (I72) underway in the Atlantic 1943
HMS Unicorn in the Atlantic 1943
  • HMS Eagle (1918)
  • Courageous-class aircraft carrier
  • HMS Ark Royal (91)
  • Illustrious-class aircraft carrier
  • Implacable-class aircraft carrier

Light aircraft carriers

HMS Activity
HMS Activity in the Firth of Forth
  • HMS Argus (I49)
  • HMS Hermes (95)
  • HMS Unicorn (I72)
  • 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier

Escort carrier

  • HMS Pretoria Castle (F61)
  • HMS Audacity
  • HMS Archer (D78)
  • Avenger-class escort carrier
  • Attacker-class escort carrier
  • Ruler-class escort carrier
  • HMS Activity (D94)
  • Nairana-class escort carrier
Mv empire maccoll
Merchant aircraft carrier Empire MacColl sometime between 1943-1945

Merchant aircraft carriers

  • Merchant aircraft carriers (MAC) were grain ships or tankers with a flying deck mounted on top; they were operated by civilian crew with some naval personnel.

Seaplane carriers

Ark Royal NARA 45513193
Pegasus in 1918 when it was called Ark Royal; it was renamed before World War II
  • HMS Pegasus - used as training ship and aircraft transport
  • HMS Albatross - ex-RAN, converted to "Landing Ship (Engineering)" to be repair ship for invasion of France

Catapult equipped ships

  • Fighter catapult ship - convoy escorts fitted with a catapult to launch a fighter
  • CAM ship - civilian ships equipped with a catapult to launch a fighter

Battleships

HMS King George V in 1941
HMS King George V lead ship of class in 1941 and the most advanced British battleships of World War II
  • Queen Elizabeth-class battleship
  • Revenge-class battleship
  • Nelson-class battleship
  • King George V-class battleship

Battlecruisers

See also: List of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy
HMS Hood (51)
Hood was the only one of four planned Admiral-class battlecruisers built. The pride of the Royal Navy, it was sunk in the Battle of the Denmark Strait

Cruisers

See also: List of cruiser classes of the Royal Navy and List of cruisers of World War II
HMS Suffolk
HMS Suffolk (55) was one of the Kent subclass of the County-class heavy cruisers

Heavy cruisers were defined by international agreement pre-war for the purposes of arms limitation as those with guns greater than 6-inch (152 mm); ships of guns of 6-inch or less were light cruisers.

Heavy cruisers

HMS Phoebe alongside
HMS Phoebe, a Dido-class cruiser with Princess Elizabeth and King George VI on board at Belfast.
  • Hawkins-class cruiser
  • County-class cruiser
  • York-class cruiser

Light cruisers

  • C-class cruiser
  • Danae-class cruiser
  • Emerald-class cruiser
  • Leander-class cruiser
  • Arethusa-class cruiser
  • Town-class cruiser
  • Dido-class cruiser
  • Fiji-class cruiser
  • Minotaur-class cruiser

Armed merchant cruisers

JervisBayatDakar1940
The armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay in Dakar, Senegal in 1940

Armed merchant cruisers

Monitors

HMS Roberts (F40)
The Roberts-class monitor HMS Roberts.
  • Erebus-class monitor
  • Roberts-class monitor

Destroyers

HMS Mackay (D70) IWM FL 014978
HMS Mackay, one of the Admiralty type destroyer leaders, and saw action in the Channel Dash

Destroyer leaders

  • Thornycroft type destroyer leader
  • Admiralty type flotilla leader

Destroyers

The Royal Navy during the Second World War A24752
HMS Vanquisher one of the V-class destroyers which took part in evacuating troops from France in Operation Dynamo
HMS Griffin (H31) IWM FL 013646
G-class destroyer HMS Griffin saw most of its notable action in the Battle of Cape Matapan and Operation Vigorous which was mainly around Africa and in the Mediterranean.
  • R-class destroyer - HMS Skate only
  • V and W-class destroyer
  • S-class destroyer
  • HMS Ambuscade (D38)
  • HMS Amazon (D39)
  • A- and B-class destroyer
  • C and D-class destroyer
  • E and F-class destroyer
  • G and H-class destroyer
  • I-class destroyer
  • Tribal-class destroyer
  • J-, K- and N-class destroyer
  • L and M-class destroyer
  • Hunt-class destroyer
  • Town-class destroyer
  • O and P-class destroyer
  • Q and R-class destroyer
  • S and T-class destroyer
  • U and V-class destroyer
  • W and Z-class destroyer
  • C-class destroyer
  • Battle-class destroyer
  • Weapon-class destroyer

Frigates

Frigate river hmcs chebogue
The Canadian Chebogue was one of over 150 River-class frigates built
  • River-class frigate
  • Captain-class frigate
  • Colony-class frigate
  • Loch-class frigate
  • Bay-class frigate

Corvettes

HMS Mignonette FL5763
Flower-class Mignonette underway on the River Tyne
  • Flower-class corvette
  • Castle-class corvette

Sloops

The Royal Navy during the Second World War A15632
The Black Swan-class sloop HMS Erne arriving at Algiers as part of a troop convoy
  • 24-class sloop
  • Bridgewater-class sloop
  • Hastings-class sloop
  • Banff-class sloop
  • Shoreham-class sloop
  • Grimsby-class sloop
  • Kingfisher-class sloop
  • Bittern-class sloop
  • Egret-class sloop
  • Black Swan-class sloop

Minelayers

British Warships of the Second World War A6042
Abdiel-class minelayers Manxman and Welshman
  • HMS Adventure (M23) - minelaying cruiser
  • HMS Plover (M26)
  • Linnet-class minelayer
  • HMS Teviot Bank - auxiliary minelayer
  • HMS Agamemnon (M10) - auxiliary minelayer
  • HMS Menestheus - auxiliary minelayer
  • HMS Port Quebec - auxiliary minelayer
  • HMS Port Napier
  • HMS Southern Prince - auxiliary minelayer
  • Abdiel-class minelayer - also used as fast transports

Minesweepers

HMS Hound WWII IWM A 15138
The Algerine-class minesweeper Hound used reciprocating steam engines rather than turbines
  • Hunt-class minesweeper
  • Halcyon-class minesweeper
  • MMS-class minesweeper – MMS stands for motor minesweeper.
  • Bangor-class minesweeper
  • Algerine-class minesweeper
  • Auk-class minesweeper – known as Catherine class in British service
  • Cybele-class mine destructor vessel
  • BYMS-class minesweeper

Submarines

HM Submarine Sealion (Warships To-day, 1936)
Sealion a pre-war S-class submarine.
X-craft admiral boarding (IWM FL 021832)
Admiral Sir John Eccles, Commander in Chief Home Fleet, boarding the X-craft Minnow at Portland.
  • H-class submarine
  • L-class submarine
  • Odin-class submarine
  • Parthian-class submarine
  • Rainbow-class submarine
  • S-class submarine
  • River-class submarine (also known as the Thames class)
  • Grampus-class submarine minelaying submarines
  • T-class submarine (also known as the Triton class)
  • U-class submarine
  • P611-class submarine
  • V-class submarine
  • Amphion-class submarine

Midget submarines

See also: Midget submarine
  • X-class submarine
  • XE-class submarine

Naval trawlers

Trawler HMS Procher (T 281)
Isles-class trawler HMS Procher
See also: Naval trawler
  • Mersey-class trawler
  • Isles-class trawler
  • Tree-class trawler
  • Dance-class trawler
  • Shakespearian-class trawler
  • Round Table-class trawler

Small armed boats

  • Ml 117 FL8598
    Fairmile B motor launch ML 117 underway.
    Motor Launch
    • Fairmile A motor launch
    • Fairmile B motor launch
  • Harbour Defence Motor Launch
  • Motor torpedo boats
    • Vosper 73 ft motor torpedo boat
    • Fairmile D motor torpedo boat
  • Motor gun boats
    • Fairmile C motor gun boat
  • Steam Gun Boat
  • High-speed launch
  • High-speed launches type boats or HSL were operated only by the Royal Air Force Marine Branch to rescue downed RAF aircrew at sea
  • Type Two 63 ft HSL

Other

HMS Aphis at Alexandria WWII IWM FL 728
Insect-class gunboat HMS Aphis
  • Ocean boarding vessels

Gunboats

  • Insect-class gunboat
  • Dragonfly-class river gunboat

Salvage vessels

  • King Salvor-class salvage vessel

Repair and maintenance ships

  • Beachy Head-class repair ship

Boom defence

  • Bar-class boom defence vessel

Tugs

Tug 142
TID-class tug in Ostend, Belgium

Several classes of Admiralty tug were operated as well as other vessels obtained

  • Rescue tugs operated by His Majesty's Rescue Tug Service and civilians through Ministry of War Transport
    • Saint
    • Rollicker
    • Brigand
    • Assurance
    • Favourite
    • Bustler
    • Nimble
    • Envoy
    • Director
  • Harbour tugs, operated by Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service,
    • Robust
    • West
    • Alligator
  • TID-class tug

Auxiliary and merchant ships

General purpose ships

  • Empire ship
    • Empire F coaster
    • Channel Tanker (CHANT)
    • Heavy lift ships
    • "Ocean"-type tanker
    • Norwegian-type tanker
    • Wave-class oiler
    • Three Island type cargo ship
    • Malta type cargo ship
    • Tank landing ships
    • Ocean going tugs
    • Convoy rescue ship
    • Empire Maple-class tug
  • Ramped cargo lighter

Oilers and tankers

  • Dale-class oiler
  • Ranger-class tanker
  • Sprite-class tanker
  • Ol-class tanker
  • War-class oiler
  • Spa-class coastal water carriers
  • Fresh-class water tank vessels

Stores

  • Fort-class stores ship

Amphibious warfare vessels

A newly-completed LCA (assault landing craft) ready for launching, 1942. A9838
Newly made Landing Craft Assault (LCA) in 1942.
  • Landing ship, infantry
  • Landing Craft Assault
  • Fairmile H landing craft
  • LCPL
  • LCM 1
  • Landing Ship, Tank
    • Maracaibo-class tank landing ship
    • Boxer-class
Headquarters ships

Civilian ships

See also

  • List of ship classes of World War II
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