Full Size printed plan Scale 1/72 ABERDARE CLASS MINESWEEPERS H.M.S. SALTASH

Full Size Printed Plans with Article

H.M.S. SALTASH

ABERDARE CLASS MINESWEEPERS

For Experienced Builder

One Full Size Printed on a sheet 42” x 24” Plans are Black and White

Article description and a few building notes Two pages

Scale 1/72

length 38 1/2”

Power Electric

Suitable for Radio Control

BY'R.M.'

THE 89 minesweepers of the Aberdare class werelaunched in 1918 and 1919. A few were in service before the Armistice in November 1918, the remaining ships commissioning in 1919. These minesweepers were of simple design, enabling many firms which did not normally construct warships to build them. Some improvements embodied in the class, based on war experience, were reasonable speed, twin screws to facilitate station keeping when carrying out multi-sweeper operations, and a comparatively shallow draught.

The appearance of the Aberdare class was neat and workman like. Some had oval funnels and some had circular ones, but there did not seem to be any particular reason for this. They were sometimes referred to as Smoky Joes', possibly due to their having to burn coal other than Welsh steam coal, which was needed more

for the larger coal-burners of the Grand Fleet. At the end of World War 1, a further batch of Aberdares

was on order (about 43) but these were cancelled. Between the two world wars some of the existing sweepers were converted to other uses, such as surveying vessels; this entailed making extra space for surveying officers' chart work, extra boats for surveying officers away on sounding work, etc. These converted sweepers had their names changed from those of towns to those of well known navigators such as Beaufort, Fitzroy,

Thank you for looking Rose