Why did the Royal Navy name identical ships different classes?

[Tryc]

Hi everyone,
Sorry, this seems like a bit of a silly question, but I am curious why the RN seemed to name identical destroyers as different classes: Chiefly I am talking about the 'J, K, N' class 'G and H' class, 'O and P' classes of destroyers. Perhaps I'm missing something but in each 'set of classes here the ships themselves seem to be identical, so why did they decide to put them in different classes?
Thanks!
-tryc

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Because they are not the same. There are differences. Take the O and P classes as an example. They are based on the J class Destroyer, however, they were designed with more sheer to overcome the poor riding qualities of the J class. Additionally the O was armed with 4.7 inch guns. The P class used 4 inch guns instead of 4.7 inch guns, and had an extra set of torpedo tubes.

 

[pbehn]

Hi everyone,
Sorry, this seems like a bit of a silly question, but I am curious why the RN seemed to name identical destroyers as different classes: Chiefly I am talking about the 'J, K, N' class 'G and H' class, 'O and P' classes of destroyers. Perhaps I'm missing something but in each 'set of classes here the ships themselves seem to be identical, so why did they decide to put them in different classes?
Thanks!
-tryc

They were similar but not the same. From wiki "The G class were ordered as part of the 1933 Naval Construction Programme, the H class following in 1934. These ships were based on the preceding F class, but the elimination of cruising turbines and the development of more compact machinery allowed their dimensions and displacement to be slightly reduced. The H class were repeats of the G's with some minor differences. All of the destroyers were fitted with ASDIC (sonar) and the ability to use the Two-Speed Destroyer Sweep (TSDS) minesweeping gear.[1]" ……. Being able to tell immediately from a name how old and how a ship was equipped may have had advantages. My father served only on H class destroyers, mainly Highlander, when it was being refitted he was transferred to others which were identical.

 

[GreenKnight121]

Also, in the WW1 period, the RN's small warships such as destroyers were built to a "general specification" (number & size of guns & torpedo tubes, max speed, range, etc), with specific details of the design left to the shipyard.

That is why a single "class" (ships ordered to a single specification) has sub-classes named for the shipyard they were built in, such as the war emergency destroyers of the "S" type.
There were "Thornycroft S", "Yarrow S", and 11 different shipyard sub-types in the "Admiralty S" class.