HMS Auckland in January 1939
Class overview
Name	Egret class
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Bittern class
Succeeded by	Black Swan class
In commission	1938–1958
Completed	3
Lost	2
Scrapped	1
General characteristics
Type	Sloop-of-war
Displacement	1,200 tons
Length	276 ft (84 m)
Propulsion	Geared steam turbines on two shafts 3,600 shp
Speed	19.25 knots (35.65 km/h; 22.15 mph)
Complement	188
Armament	8 × 4-inch (102 mm) (4 × 2) 4 × 0.5-inch (13 mm) (1 × 4)

The Egret-class sloops were a three ship class of a long-range escort vessels used in the Second World War by the Royal Navy. They were an enlarged version of the Bittern class with an extra twin 4-inch gun mounting. They were fitted with Denny Brown stabilisers and the Fuze Keeping Clock anti-aircraft fire control system.

Ships

Service history

Three ships were built; HMS Auckland, HMS Pelican and HMS Egret. Auckland was lost on 24 June 1941, to 48 Junkers 87 aircraft dive-bombing both her and HMAS Parramatta, off the coast of Tobruk. Pelican was an effective convoy escort, and was credited with the destruction of four U-boats. She survived until the end of the war, and was broken up in 1958. Egret was lost to a guided missile. While patrolling in the Bay of Biscay, she was attacked by 18 Do 217 aircraft, one of which carried the Henschel Hs 293 guided bomb.^[1]