The HMS Cavalier was a British destroyer launched in 1944, belonging to the group CA of the C class. The destroyers of this class,
distributed in four groups of eight ships each, fulfilled an important role in the last years of the Second World War. The groups CH,
CO and CR had improved fire control director and remote control for the main armament. Those of the group CA were the last survivors
in the Royal Navy, for they remained for long time in the reserve. The destroyers of the C class were actually too small to carry an
adequate antiaircraft armament and a modern radar equipment, and because of this the subsequent British destroyers were considerably
larger.
The illustration shows the HMS Cavalier as she was in 1972, when she was decommissioned; note the Seacat antiaircraft missile launcher,
the Squid antisubmarine mortar and the remodeled superstructure astern. This ship is currently preserved as museum ship.
Class: C (32 units including: Caesar, Cambrian, Caprice, Carron, Carysfort, Cassandra, Cavalier and Cavendish (Group CA);
Chaplet, Charity, Chequers, Cheviot, Chevron, Chieftain, Childers and Chivalrous (Group CH);
Cockade, Comet, Comus, Concord, Consort, Constance, Contest and Cossack (Group CO);
Creole, Crescent, Crispin, Cromwell, Crown, Croziers, Crusader and Crystal (Group CR))
Type: Destroyer
Length: 110.6 meters
Beam: 10.9 meters
Draught: 5.2 meters
Displacement (standard): 2083 tonnes
Propulsion: 2 x shaft, 2 x steam turbine Parsons, 2 x boiler Admiralty, 40000 horsepower
Speed: 36 knots (66.7 kilometers/hour)
Range: 3930 nautical miles (7276 kilometers) at 20 knots
Fuel: 625 tonnes of petrol
Complement: 186
Armament (as built): 4 x 114-millimeter 45-caliber cannon, 4 x 40-millimeter cannon, 3 x 20-millimeter cannon,
8 x 533-millimeter torpedo tube, 96 x depth charge (two racks and four throwers)
Armament (in 1972): 3 x 114-millimeter 45-caliber cannon, 2 x 40-millimeter cannon, 1 x quadruple Seacat surface-to-air missile launcher,
2 x triple Squid antisubmarine mortar
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