Loch-class frigates and Squid anti-submarine firepower

The Loch class aimed to produce an escort that was slightly lighter, longer, faster, and more capable without abandoning a practical wartime design. Only 28 were built, and each carried two triple-barrelled Squid anti-submarine mortars. That battery matched the kind of anti-submarine firepower later associated with postwar Daring- and Battle-class destroyers. Frigates, sloops, and destroyers were converging as increasingly potent submarine hunters even while their labels and other roles remained distinct.