600 ton Minesweepers/Escorts/Tenders
 

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One of the clauses that interested the Admiralty from the treaties was the one where ships under 600 tons had no limit. Many countries tried to build useful units to that level but none were really good enough for those countries to want to mass produce any of them. (Real life French La Melpomene, UK Kingfisher corvettes). In my AU the RN sacrifices speed for sturdier building practices and using a common hull with two different sized diesel engine layouts for the different uses. The two types were both regarded as coastal units but during the war the Escort types ended up serving all over the world from duelling with E-Boats in the Channel to fighting U-Boats and aircraft on the Arctic Convoys. The three types were perfect for mass production and hundreds were produced all over the Commonwealth, with Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa all producing units of this type. The basic M/s hull and equipment came in at 590 tons while the Escort version came in at 600 tons. The M/s and Tender units had 2,000bhp diesels for 16 knots while the Escorts had 2,750bhp diesels for 20 knots.
 

 

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