24-class sloop: Difference between revisions

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The '''24 class''' was a [[ship class|class]] of minesweeping [[sloop-of-war|sloops]]. They were derived from the preceding {{sclass2-|Flower|sloop|2}}, but designed to appear double-ended. Twenty-four ships to this design (hence the class name) were ordered between December 1916 and April 1917 under the [[Emergency War Programme]] for the [[Royal Navy]] in [[World War I]], although two of them were cancelled before launch. All were named after famous racehorses (winners of the [[Epsom Derby|The Derby]]), but they were not named ''Racehorse'' class as the [[Admiralty]] realised that this could easily be confused in communications with the {{sclass2-|Racecourse|minesweeper|4}} of paddle minesweepers, and they officially became the 24 class.

Like the Flower-class sloops, they were single-screw fleet sweeping sloops used almost entirely for minesweeping, although only ten were completed by the [[Armistice]] in 1918. However, they had identical deckhouses and gun shields at either end of the vessel, with straight stems and sterns. Furthermore, four of those completed had the single mast aft of the centrally-located funnel, and the rest had the mast forward of the funnel. The symmetrical design was completed with fake anchors at the stern to confuse enemy targeting.