Town - class destroyer The " Town " - class destroyer s were warships transferred from the United States Navy to the Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy in exchange for military bases in the Bahamas and elsewhere , as outlined in the Destroyers for Bases Agreement between Britain and United States , signed on 2 September 1940 . They were known as " four - pipers " or " four - stackers " because they had four smokestacks ( funnels ) . Later classes of destroyers typically had one or two . Some went to the Royal Canadian Navy at the outset . Others went on to the Royal Norwegian Navy , the Royal Netherlands Navy , and the Soviet Navy after serving with the Royal Navy . Although given a set of names by the Commonwealth navies that suggested they were one class they actually came from three classes of destroyer : " Caldwell " , " Wickes " , and " Clemson " . " Town " class refers to the Admiralty renaming these ships after towns common to the United States and the British Commonwealth . Ships initially commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy , however , followed the Canadian practice of giving destroyers the names of Canadian rivers . The rivers selected for the " town " class were on the border between Canada and the United States , with the exception of the Nova Scotia river sharing the name of the United States Naval Academy location . One of the " Town " s achieved lasting fame : ( ex - ) . In the Commando raid Operation " Chariot " , " Campbeltown " , fitted with a large demolition charge , rammed the Normandie Lock at Saint - Nazaire , France . The charge detonated on 29 March 1942 , breaching the drydock and destroying " Campbeltown " , thus destroying the only drydock on the Atlantic coast capable of accepting the German battleship " Tirpitz " . This exploit was depicted in the 1950 Trevor Howard film " The Gift Horse " , which starred ( ex - ) after her return from service in Russia . Characteristics . Roughly contemporaneous to the British V and W class destroyer s they were not much liked by their new crews . They were uncomfortable and wet , working badly in a seaway . Their hull lines were rather narrow and ' herring - gutted ' which gave them a vicious roll . The officers didn ' t like the way they handled either , since they had been built with propellers that turned the same way ( 2 - screw ships normally have the shafts turning in opposite directions as the direction of rotation has effects on the rudder and the whole ship when manoeuvring , especially when coming alongside ) , so these were as awkward to handle as single - screw ships . Their turning circle was enormous , as big as most Royal Navy battleship s , making them difficult to use in a submarine hunt which demanded tight manoeuvres , compounded by unreliable " chain and cog " steering gear laid across the main deck . They also had fully enclosed bridges which caused problems with reflections in the glass at night . Despite their disadvantages they performed vital duties escorting convoys in the Atlantic at a time when the U - boat s , operating from newly acquired bases on the Atlantic coast of France were becoming an increasingly serious threat to British shipping . The original armament was four 4 inch ( 102 mm ) guns , one 3 - inch ( 76 mm ) anti - aircraft gun , and twelve torpedo tubes . On the " Wickes " class , the 4 - inch gun placement was one gun in a shield on the forecastle , one on the quarterdeck and one each side on a platform between the number 2 and number 3 funnels . The Admiralty promptly removed one of the 4 - inch guns and six torpedo tubes to improve stability . Twenty - three of the class had further armament reductions for anti - submarine escort of trade convoys . Two of the remaining 4 - inch guns and three of the remaining torpedo tubes were removed to allow increased depth charge stowage and installation of Hedgehog anti - submarine mortar system . Ships by World War II navy . Royal Canadian Navy Royal Navy Royal Netherlands Navy Royal Norwegian Navy Soviet Navy