Gun mounts and the real depth-charge load

The original ships carried six 4-inch guns in three twin mounts, a layout comparable to the L-class destroyers, and were officially credited with forty depth charges. Modified ships were credited with 110 depth charges despite being only about thirty centimetres broader and one hundred tons heavier while also carrying twelve 20 mm Oerlikons and twelve more crew. That makes the published difference in depth-charge capacity difficult to explain through hull dimensions alone. The discrepancy separates allocated storage from the practical wartime habit of finding extra stowage for critical weapons. An Atlantic escort could not afford to exhaust its main means of attacking a submerged U-boat halfway through a crossing.