The Hunts; A history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II
Cumbria, England: World Ship Society, 1987. First Edition, Presumed First Printing. Trade paperback. 108 pages. Includes illustrations, Dedication and publisher, Contents, Acknowledgments and Notes, and Genesis. Also includes Construction, Deployment, Analysis of Losses, Post War Service, Review of the Hunts, Ship Histories, List of Pendant Numbers, Endpiece, and Plan of a Type 1 Hunt, a large folding illustration of H. M.S. Cattistock at back cover. Cover has some wear and soiling. The Hunt class was a class of escort destroyer of the Royal Navy. The first vessels were ordered early in 1939, and the class saw extensive service in the Second World War, particularly on the British east coast and Mediterranean convoys. They were named after British fox hunts. The modern Hunt-class GRP hulled mine countermeasure vessels maintain the Hunt names lineage in the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy had identified the need for two types of destroyer: larger vessels with heavy gun and torpedo armaments for fleet work and another type for escort duties. The escort vessels forsook the heavy armament and some of the speed of the fleet type to reduce unit cost and better suit mass production and the conditions. This fast escort vessel" was later classified as an "escort destroyer". Eighty-six Hunts were completed, of which 72 were commissioned into the Royal Navy and the remaining 14 were transferred to allied navies; Bolebrooke, Border, Catterick, Hatherleigh, Modbury, Bramham and Hursley to the Greek Royal Hellenic Navy, Bedale, Oakley and Silverton to the Free Polish Navy, Glaisdale, Eskdale and Badsworth to the Royal Norwegian Navy and Haldon to the Free French Navy. More