HMS Aberdeen was a sloop in the British Royal Navy. Built in Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, UK by Thornycroft (Southampton, UK), she was launched on 22 January 1936.
Construction and design
HMS Aberdeen was one of two s constructed under the 1934 construction programme for the Royal Navy. She was ordered from Devonport Dockyard on 1 March 1935. Two Grimsby-class sloops had been ordered under each of the 1931, 1932 and 1933 programmes, giving a total of eight Grimsby-class ships built for the Royal Navy. Four more were built for Australia and one for India. The Grimsby class, while based on the previous , was intended to be a more capable escort vessel than previous sloops, and carried a more powerful armament.
Aberdeen was long overall, with a beam of and a draught of at deep load. Displacement was standard, and full load. The ship was powered by two geared steam turbines driving two shafts, fed by two Admiralty 3-drum boilers. This machinery produced and could propel the ship to a speed of . The ship had a range of at .
While previous ships of the class had been built with a gun armament of 4.7-inch (120 mm) low-angle guns, designed for use against surface targets, by 1934 it was realised that attack from the air posed a significant risk to shipping, and it was decided to fit the sloops of the 1934 programme with an improved anti-aircraft armament. It was planned to equip Aberdeen with three 4-inch (102 mm) dual purpose (anti-aircraft and anti-surface) guns, but she was completed as a despatch vessel, with the aft 4-inch gun and minesweeping gear replaced by extra accommodation. Close-in anti-aircraft defence was provided by a single quadruple .50 in (12.7 mm) Vickers anti-aircraft machine gun mount.
Aberdeen was laid down on 14 June 1935, launched on 22 January 1936 and completed on 17 September 1936.
Modifications
Aberdeen was fitted with the originally planned third 4-inch gun in 1939, with four Oerlikon 20 mm cannon added during the war. The ship's depth charge loading increased from 15 to 60–90 during the war, while a Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar was fitted in 1942, replacing the forward 4-inch gun.