HMS Hardy (1935)

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The A-I leaders were bigger than the A-I ships they were to lead as it was necessary to have the extra accomodation required by Captain 'D' and his servants. This could entail anything from 20 to 35 extra bodies on board ship.To allow for this beside being bigger the ships also had extra superstructure amidships to take the overflow. Various different armaments and layouts made the group only share length and breadth and some standard features internally. One of the main problems with larger leaders to smaller destroyers was the difference in handling characteristics made for some interesting maneuvers when the ships were training together.

Some of the early ships had 5 x 4.7" when completed and these were replaced with 4x4" in singles with a quad pom pom between the funnels to replace the 5th 4.7". Later versions (as Hardy above) had 3 x twin 4" which allowed for extra depth charges to be fitted aft. The war altered many things from armament to RADAR and ASDIC, HuffDuff and a lot of other equipment was fitted. The ships having to have various bits and pieces removed to lessen topwieght.

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