HMS Lookout Destroyer

THE L-CLASS DESTROYERS
The L-class ships, laid down from 1938 onwards, were enlarged versions of the is, the first British destroyers to have longitudinal frames, the increase in size and displacement coming about as a result of the availability of a new, longer-barrelled, more powerful, version of the 4.7in (120mm) quick-firing gun, mounted as twins in weatherproof but unarmoured turrets and firing heavier shells. Lookout was the last-but-one of the eight Ls; built by Scotts, she was laid down in 1938 and launched on 4 November 1940. She served in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean during the Second World War, and survived, to be broken up in 1948. A further eight ships, the identical M class, were launched in 1941-42

ARMAMENT OF THE L-CLASS

The Mark Xl d.7in (120mm) gun had a barrel 50 calibres long (235in), and fired a 62 pound (28kg) shell, 12 pounds (5.45kg) heavier than that fired by the 45 calibre Mark XII gun which it replaced, and with greater range. The increase in size over earlier ships allowed them to retain twin banks of 21 in (533mm) torpedo tubes (though in quadruples, rather than quintuples, to save topside weight), but in most ships, including Lookout, one of those banks was later replaced by a single 4in (102mm) AA gun. Originally they mounted a single four-barrelled two-pounder porn-porn as their only AA armament, but by the end of the war, most had acquired ten 20mm Oerlikons.

TECHNICAL DATA

Type Destroyer
Machinery 2 shaft Parsons geared steam turbines producing 48 000shp
Dimensions (overall) Length 110 5m (362 5ft) beam 11 2m (36 75ft)
Displacement 1920t standard 2660t deep load
Draught 4.35m (14.25ft)
Complement: 190