The Basset class as an economical convoy defender

The Basset class occupied the treaty's unrestricted small-craft category. At roughly 529 tons and twelve-and-a-half knots, it was fast enough for the merchant traffic it protected without paying for destroyer performance. Its normal complement of about thirty-three sailors kept personnel demands low, although Royal Indian Navy examples carried more. The design joined minesweeping gear to an economical hull whose speed, size, and crew matched the convoy mission. The same inexpensive ship could still pose a serious threat to a U-boat.