as a larger ship she also received a quadruple QF 2 pdr Mark VII mounting. Converted ships were cleared to the main deck level, leaving only the funnels and after shelter deckhouse. The armament was replaced with four QF 4 inch L/45 Mark XVI guns in two twin mountings HA/LA Mark XIX, shipped on the fore and aft main decks. The armament was controlled by a Mark II(W) rangefinder - director, fitted with Type 285 radar for target ranging as soon as it became available. A new tower bridge, reminiscent of the Hunt class, was built and the metric Radar Type 286 air warning was added at the foremast head, replaced by Type 291 radar as it became available. The armament was completed by a pair of quadruple 0.5 inch Vickers machine guns on a platform amidships, although sometimes single QF 2 pdr Mark VIII were carried in lieu. These guns were generally sided, but a number of ships had them arranged en echelon to allow cross-deck fire. These light weapons proved to be generally ineffective and were replaced by the 20 mm Oerlikon gun as it became available, although other ships took priority and the older weapons were carried well into 1942 in some cases. Two racks and throwers for depth charges were carried aft, principally for self-defence purposes, although Viceroy sank off the east coast of Scotland on 16 April 1945. Ships were allocated new L-series (escort) pennant numbers upon re-commissioning: Vanity (L38) Valentine (L69) Valorous (L00) Vega (L41) Verdun (L93) Vimiera (L29) Vivien (L33) Viceroy (L21) Westminster (L40) Whitley (L23) Winchester (L55) Wolfhound (L56) Wolsey (L02) Woolston (L49) Wryneck (L04) Short-range escort The remaining V and W class were not given either of the former conversions as they were either early war losses, had the valuable BL 4.7 inch main gun or had the modified boiler arrangements of the Thornycroft and Admiralty modified designs with the small room aft. This latter feature proved unsuitable for the long-range escort conversion. Thus, these ships were known as Short-range escorts. The conversion was generally limited to adding more role-specific armaments and new technology as it became available. Additions were made piecemeal, and ships were often lost with only some, or even none, of the following modifications. In common with most elderly destroyers allocated to escort duties in World War II, the after bank of torpedo tubes was removed early in