Weapon - class destroyer The Weapon class was a class of destroyer s built for the British Royal Navy towards the end of World War II . They were the smaller counterpart to the Battle class ( which followed them ) and were the first new destroyer designs for the Royal Navy since the Second World War " Emergency Programme " . 20 ships were planned , of which only 13 were laid down and 7 were launched , but the cessation of hostilities resulted in only 4 being completed for service . Two of the ships had been previously ordered ( as " Celt " and " Centaur " ) as part of the planned C class , or 15th Emergency flotilla , of 1944 , but the orders were changed to the new design . Design . The Weapon - class were an intermediate size built to take advantage of slipways that were too small to be used to build Battle - class destroyer s . The hull length was not much increased over the " War Emergency Programme " design , but beam and draught were increased to allow for a displacement increase , as the latter design was grossly overweight with the addition of wartime technology to a relatively small hull . Two full sets of torpedo tubes were carried , a somewhat retrospective feature in a late - war design . A criticism of the older designs was the use of adjacent boiler rooms . This had been adopted to allow for a single funnel , to lower the silhouette and increase the deck space of the relatively small hull . However , this made the ship vulnerable to being disabled by a single hit amidships . To remedy this , the Weapon class adopted the " unit " system , of side - by - side boiler and engine rooms with alternate port / starboard arrangement . This was standard practice in United States Navy ships , but these were generally far larger than their Royal Navy counterparts . The unit arrangement meant that 2 funnels were needed . The forward funnel was trunked up through the foremast and there was a small stump funnel between the torpedo tubes . This led to an unusual and rather unbalanced appearance , similar to that of the " Daring " class , and the Weapons were not the most attractive of ships . The main improvement over earlier ships was to remedy the woefully inadequate arrangements for anti - aircraft defence . To this end , three twin 4 - inch Mark XIV mountings were carried , remotely controlled by a Type 275 Radar equipped Mark VI ( M ) director , allowing full blind - fire against aircraft targets . The light battery consisted of 2 of the new STAAG ( Stabilised Tachymetric Anti - Aircraft Gun ) mounts for twin Bofors 40 mm gun s and two single weapons on Mk . II mounts in the bridge wings . The STAAGs were carried on either side aft , and each had its own Type 262 Radar and predictive fire control computer , allowing for automatic blind - fire engagement of targets . The STAAGs were excellent weapons on paper and the firing range , but when exposed to the vibration of a naval gun mounting and the rigour of the elements they were less than reliable . Coupled with a mounting weight of 17 tons , they were something of a disappointment and their post - war service was limited . Type 293 Radar was carried on the lattice foremast for target indication . To increase the anti - submarine capability of the class , it was decided to reduce the number of 4 - inch mounts to 2 , and to instead carry 2 " Squid " anti - submarine mortars . In " Battleaxe " and " Broadsword " , these replaced ' B ' gun , in the others it was ' X ' that was lost . The latter arrangement was in fact preferable for the location of the " squid " , but less so for gunnery , as it meant that the main weapons were unable to fire aft , which was a criticism also levelled at the Battle class . All four ships were plagued by their machinery , as the steam turbines had numerous design flaws . The problems were remedied by removing the steam feed to the lower half of the reversing turbine , but this halved reversing power , and as a consequence these ships were slow to decelerate and handled rather sluggishly . This problem proved fatal for " Battleaxe " , when she was unable to manoeuvre quickly enough to prevent herself being rammed by the frigate HMS " Ursa " in the Clyde in 1962 . The damage was so catastrophic that it was beyond economical repair and she was written off as a total loss and scrapped . The Weapons were never an entirely satisfactory design , and were criticised for their light gun armament and overly heavy torpedo outfit . Perhaps best thought of as fast fleet frigates , they undoubtedly possessed a quantum increase in fighting efficiency over the wartime emergency ships , and were more than capable of facing the increased threat of the enemy submarine and aircraft . It is possible that the mysterious G or " Gael " class design , which possessed 2 twin semi - automatic Mark . VI guns was an attempt to remedy some of the deficiencies of the Weapons . Orders and construction . The two ships authorised under the 1942 Programme as the " Centaur " and " Celt " of the " CE " class were ordered from Whites of Cowes on 3 February 1942 ; they were renamed " Tomahawk " and " Sword " when the order was altered to the new " Intermediate " design . The 1943 Programme authorised 17 ships to this design . The first six were ordered on 2 April 1943 - " Battleaxe " and " Broadsword " ( from Yarrow ) ; " Carronade " and " Claymore " ( from Scotts ) ; and " Crossbow " and " Culverin " ( from Thornycroft ) . The next seven were ordered on 24 April - " Cutlass " and " Dagger " ( from Yarrow ) ; " Dirk " , " Grenade " and " Halberd " ( from Scotts ) ; " Howitzer " ( from Thornycroft ) ; and " Musket " ( from White ) . A final four were ordered on 27 May - " Longbow " ( from Thornycroft ) ; " Poniard " ( from Scotts ) ; and " Rifle " and " Spear " ( from Denny ) . Three ships were cancelled on 22 November 1944 - " Grenade " , " Halberd " and " Poniard " . Eight more were cancelled on 15 October 1945 - " Sword " , " Claymore " , " Dagger " , " Dirk " , " Howitzer " , " Longbow " , " Musket " and " Spear " . Another four were cancelled on 23 December 1945 - " Carronade " , " Culverin " , " Cutlass " and " Rifle " . Modification . The class were something of an oddity in the post - war Royal Navy , and did not figure in any of the plans for the fleet of the future . They were laid up by 1956 , but there emerged a need for fast fleet Aircraft Direction ( A / D ) ships to accompany the carrier strike force and act as radar pickets , directing fighter cover . The Battle class were being modified for this role , but as a stop - gap , the Weapons were given a more limited conversion . This involved adding a large mainmast amidships for the Radar Type 965 with an AKE - 1 " single bedstead " antenna array , with the torpedo tubes replaced by radar offices . The director was replaced with a lighter MRS - 8 pattern , possibly to lower topweight associated with the new radar , and all ships had the squids mounted aft and the guns mounted forward . They lacked specialised height finding and aircraft direction radar sets that the Battles possessed , and so were rapidly superseded and returned to reserve .