Jindo-class destroyer

File:DD Jindo.png The Jindo as commissioned, with colors of the Federative Republic of Menghe.
Class overview
Name:	Jindo-class destroyer
Operators:	Greater Menghean Empire
Preceded by:	Muan-class destroyer
Succeeded by:	Daejŏng-class destroyer
Built:	1923-1928
In service:	1924-1945
Planned:	24
Completed:	20
Cancelled:	4
Lost:	16
Retired:	4
General characteristics Jindo, 1924
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	1,173 tonnes standard 1,430 tonnes full load
Length:	102.3 m at waterline 104.7 m overall
Beam:	8.8 m
Draught:	3.05 m (normal) 3.24 m (full load)
Propulsion:	2 steam turbines, 38,000 shp total 4 oil-fueled boilers 2 shafts
Speed:	37 knots
Range:	2,000 nm (3,700 km) at 14 knots
Complement:	122
Armament:	3 × 100mm L/45 Type 10 naval gun 3 × 12.5mm machine gun 2 × 2 550mm trainable torpedo tube

The Jindo-class destroyers (Menghean: 진도급 구축함/ 鎭島級驅逐艦, Jindo-gŭb Guchugham) were a group of 20 destroyers built in Menghe during the 1920s. Adequate for their time, they were obsolete by the beginning of the Pan-Septentrion War, and after 1938 they were mainly relegated to secondary roles. They were known to the Allies as the Chin To class.

Background

The War of the Sylvan Succession left Menghe with an increased need for new destroyers and a more limited foreign market for shipbuilding. In 1921, Menghe imported twenty-one surplus Admiralty M-class destroyers from New Tyran, but these were obsolete models scheduled for scrapping prior to the sale. The Jindo destroyer class was Menghe's attempt to build a modern seagoing destroyer fit for both patrol, scouting, and anti-shipping missions. Unlike previous classes, it was primarily of domestic design, though Menghean shipbuilders consulted with Tyrannian naval architects throughout the development process.

Compared with the preceding Muan (Admiralty M) and Hamyŏl destroyer classes, the Jindo design was meant to be faster, more stable, and similarly armed. The design was heavily influenced by the imported Admiralty M class, but the arrangement of the guns and torpedo tubes was modified to improve firing arcs on both. The ships also carried more boilers and heavier turbines, which came at the cost of a 200-tonne increase in displacement.

Design

The Jindo-class destroyers were built with a main armament of three single 10cm/45 Type 10 breech-loading guns, the same type used on previous Menghean destroyer classes. In contrast to those previous classes, however, the #2 mount was placed far back and elevated, giving it a good field of fire to either side of the funnels ahead. The guns were manually elevated and traversed, and could not elevate past 40 degrees, making them ineffective as anti-aircraft weapons. They also lacked shields as built, leaving the gun crews exposed to spray and shrapnel. Magazine capacity numbered 100 rounds per gun.

Torpedo armament consisted of four 55cm torpedoes in two centerline tube pairs, just fore and aft of the second funnel. Four torpedo reloads could be carried in boxes flanking the funnels, but these were left empty on peacetime patrols to improve stability. The traverse cranks on either side of each torpedo pair had light splinter-proof shields, but they were not fully enclosed.

Initial anti-aircraft armament consisted of three 12.5mm water-cooled machine guns, one on the quarterdeck and one on either side of the aft funnel. This was a fairly heavy destroyer anti-aircraft armament for 1923, but by the time the Pan-Septentrion War began, it would soon prove entirely inadequate. Major refit options applied to some ships in the mid-war period brought significant improvements in anti-aircraft armament, but only at the cost of removing the low-angle 10cm guns.

For propulsion, the Jindo-class destroyers relied on two 18,000-shp steam turbines driven by four oil-fired boilers. The Jindo reached a speed of 37.2 knots on trials, using a light fuel and weapon load; in service, top speed was reportedly closer to 36 knots. Due to the low freeboard along the aft deck, the ships were easily swamped in heavy seas.

Operational service

<imgur thumb="yes" w="300" comment="The destroyer Anpa as she looked at the Battle of the Portcullia Strait. Note the added gun shields.">EXMtLJw.png</imgur> By the middle of the 1930s, the Jindo-class were already nearing obsolescence. In both guns and torpedoes, they were lightly armed, and they lacked the dual-purpose anti-aircraft mounts already appearing on destroyers at this time. In the war against Sylva, Menghe used its Jindo-class destroyers as a forward screen for heavier ships, but even in the absence of major naval confrontations the small destroyers proved less than ideal. In the cruiser engagement at the Battle of the Portcullia Strait, two Jindo-class destroyers were sunk and two more heavily damaged in the opening minutes of the fighting, which convinced the Menghean Navy that there were serious flaws in the design.

As the small destroyers were no longer effective as surface combatants, the Imperial Menghean Navy began looking for other ways to use these ships. With minimal modifications, they could be used as minelayers, target tugs, coastal patrol vessels, and radio relay stations. Their high speed and low profile also made them surprisingly effective as light transports, able to run a small cargo load or complement of personnel from one location to another. After the Menghean landings on Khalistan and Portcullia, some Jindo-class destroyers were used to shuttle supplies to the troops, or to insert advance battalions behind enemy lines. <imgur thumb="yes" w="300" comment="Yŏnmu showing the ASW configuration applied to some ships in 1943.">2F4FvJy.png</imgur> By the time of the Menghean landings on the Acheron Islands, six surviving Jindo-class destroyers had been specially converted for transport duties. This involved removing the torpedo launchers and building a "barracks-style" deckhouse in their place. The new enclosed space could be used to carry supplies, or bunk beds for 200 soldiers and their equipment. In the troop transport role, the ships could also carry rubber rafts along the outsides of the deckhouses, and two motorboats on the quarterdeck. The #2 gun was also removed, and replaced with two 37mm AA mounts, with two more flanking the second funnel.

Later in the war, other Jindo-class destroyers were converted for anti-submarine duties. This involved installing a simple sonar system under the bow, with the operator's room in what was once the forward gun magazine. As part of this conversion, the three 10cm guns were replaced with twin 37mm anti-aircraft autocannons, with additional 20mm autocannons mounted around the ship. The aft torpedo tubes were removed to make space for additional anti-aircraft gun mounts.

List of ships

Name	Mengja	Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Jindo	鎭島	1923	1924	Converted to a torpedo training vessel in 1940. Lost in an accident in 1943.
Gampo	甘浦	1923	1924	Torpedoed by a submarine in 1944.
Yechŏn	醴泉	1923	1924	Sunk at the Battle of the Portcullia Strait on 15 June 1938.
Gŏchang	居昌	1924	1925	Torpedoed by a submarine in 1942.
Bingang	彬江	1924	1925	Converted to a fast transport in 1939. Surrendered at the end of the war and scrapped in 1946.
Pungsan	豊山	1924	1925	Converted to a fast transport in 1940. Surrendered at the end of the war and scrapped in 1946.
Anpa	安波	1925	1926	Sunk at the Battle of the Portcullia Strait on 15 June 1938.
Josu	潮水	1925	1926	Converted to a fast transport in 1939. Torpedoed by a submarine in 1943.
Bagu	泊于	1925	1926	Surrendered at the end of the war and scrapped in 1947.
Juta	朱沱	1925	1926	Converted to an ASW patrol vessel in 1943. Torpedoed by a submarine in 1944.
Gunwi	軍威	1926	1927	Struck a mine while patrolling during the Battle of Williamstown in 1940. Scuttled during the Menghean withdrawal.
Manbŏk	萬福	1926	1927	Torpedoed by a submarine in 1945.
Samrye	參禮	1926	1927	Converted to a fast transport in 1939. Sunk by Tyrannian dive bombers in 1941.
Sohŭl	蘇屹	1926	1927	Converted to an ASW patrol vessel in 1942. Torpedoed by a Columbian submarine in 1944.
Yŏnmu	鍊武	1926	1927	Converted to an ASW patrol vessel in 1943. Surrendered at the end of the war and scrapped in 1946.
Iri	裡里	1927	1928	Converted to a fast transport in 1939. Torpedoed by a Tyrannian submarine in 1941.
Yŏngwŏl	寧越	1927	1928	Converted to an ASW patrol vessel in 1943. Surrendered at the end of the war and scrapped in 1946.
Gwangchŏn	廣川	1927	1928	Sunk by Tyrannian land-based bombers in 1939 while off the coast of Khalistan.
Wangjo	王助	1927	1928	Converted to a fast transport in 1940. Torpedoed by a Tyrannian submarine in 1941.

See also

• Gijang-class cruiser
• Songrimsŏng-class battleship