Traces the development of destroyers, sloops, frigates and corvettes, beginning from the mid 1930s and continuing through the post-war era. Since the Second World War the old categories of destroyer and frigate have tended to merge, a process that this book traces back to the radically different 'Tribal' class destroyers of 1936. It deals with the development of all the modern destroyer classes that fought the war, looks at the emergency programs that produced vast numbers of trade protection vessels - sloops, corvettes and frigates - then analyses the pressures that shaped the post-war fleet, and continued to dominate design down to recent years.

Originally published: London : Chatham, 2006.

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Beginning the Slide Towards War --Chapter 3. What Sort of Destroyer? -- Chapter 4. Defending Trade -- Chapter 5. The War Emergency Destroyers -- Chapter 6. New Destroyer Classes -- Chapter 7. Wartime Ocean Escorts -- Chapter 8. The Post-war Destroyer -- Chapter 9. The Missile Destroyer -- Chapter 10. The 1945 Frigate and Her Successors -- Chapter 11. The Search for Numbers -- Chapter 12. The General Purpose Frigate -- Chapter 13. The Second Post-war Generation -- Chapter 14. The Post-Carrier Generation -- Chapter 15. The Future.