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The Thornycroft type leader or Shakespeare class were a class of five destroyer leaders designed by John I. Thornycroft & Company and built by them at Woolston, Southampton for the Royal Navy towards the end of World War I. They were named after historical naval leaders. Only Shakespeare and Spenser were completed in time for wartime service. The other three were completed after the war, Broke and Keppel after being towed to Royal dockyards for completion, and two further ships - Saunders and Spragge - were cancelled. The function of a leader was to carry the flag staff of a destroyer flotilla, therefore they were enlarged to carry additional crew, offices and signalling equipment, allowing a fifth gun to be carried. These ships were very similar to the Admiralty type leader, but had Thornycroft design characteristics, the most noticeable being the broad, slab-sided funnels.
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (May 2012) |
 HMS Keppel | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | Thornycroft |
| Operators |  Royal Navy |
| Preceded by | Admiralty V-class leader |
| Succeeded by | Admiralty type leader |
| Built | 1916–1925 |
| In commission | 1917–1945 |
| Planned | 7 |
| Completed | 5 |
| Cancelled | 2 |
| Lost | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Destroyer leader |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 329 ft (100 m) o/a |
| Beam | 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m) |
| Draught | 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range | 500 tons oil |
| Complement | 164 |
| Armament |
|
The design was used as the basis for several ships built for foreign navies in the 1920s.
The first two ships to this design were ordered under the War Emergency Programme, in April 1916:
A third was ordered in April 1917:
Four more were ordered from Thornycroft in April 1918, but with the end of the War the first pair were completed by HM Dockyards and the second pair were cancelled; the second ship was initially named Rooke, but was renamed Broke in April 1921:
Two more vessels were ordered at the same time, to be built to this design by Cammell Laird, but it was subsequently decided to build these instead to the Admiralty type flotilla leader design and in the event both were subsequently cancelled:
Media related to Shakespeare class flotilla leader at Wikimedia Commons
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