The Lemurian Navy had been using its own version of the 4.5" gun in single mountings on its post World War One destroyers. The introduction of guns 5" and over in potentially enemy ships led the Navy to look to the 5.5" gun, still in service, on capital ships. There were 15 single mountings from the King Ralambo class in storage that could be used for 3 new destroyers while more could be manufactured for follow on ships/classes. The mounting had originally been designed for smallish light cruisers so being used on large destroyers should not be a problem. Having a larger hull meant more horsepower could be fitted for a two to three knot increase in speed over the earlier classes. Being bigger than the earlier destroyers led to these ships being used as destroyer leaders. (I have run out of names for Lemuria so I will be using fill ins as appropriate)
The guns mounted on these three ships had 30 degree elevation and fired 19,000 yards. The newly manufactured guns for the next class had 40 degree elevation for 23,000 yards. While still 'low angle' the guns were made for ship to ship action, they were not any good as AA weapons. In fact no shells that could be used for AA purposes were ever made for them. A further two 20mm singles replaced the searchlights on the afterbridge. That was it for pre-war additions. During the early part of the war, the single Hispano cannons were replaced with single and twin 20mm Oerlikons. Then the remaining ship(s) of the classes were to be refitted with 40mm weapons, but the Admiralty decided these ships would not have a part to play post-war so those refits were dismissed and the ships fought on as they were.
The ships were often looked at to improve their AA value. Removing a set of torpedoes and replacing it with a 3" or 4" AA gun. Removing Q 5.5" and replacing it with a twin 4". Removing all five single 5.5" and replacing them with twin 4" mountings. Doing this work would take the ships out of service when they were most required. Their most common usage was a convoy commander of escorts. Their command and control facilities made them very useful in this role. Three of the class were lost on North Atlantic convoys, two sunk by U-boats, and the third bombed by FW200 Condors. A fourth was lost in the Arctic after being hit by an HS-293 guided bomb. Two more were lost in the Pacific, one being torpedoed by submarine the other by 24" Long Lance during a battle around the Solomon Islands. The final pair were in the Eastern Mediterannean and were leaders of flotillas for the main Fleet.
The last pair were sold in 1946 to Brazil who was looking for leaders for its destroyers. The pair were joined by the Amoron'i in 1950.
