five transferred ships made up a group that became famous as the Scrap Iron Flotilla. Vampire (Admiralty V class leader) Vendetta (Admiralty V class) Voyager (Admiralty W class) Waterhen (Admiralty W class) Conversions for the Second World War From 1937 the disposal of elderly V and W class vessels ceased, and most survivors were converted to fast escort vessels. The onset of the Second World War put a stop to lengthy conversions, but many ships were converted for convoy escort duty. Long-range escort The V and W class were designed to support the Grand Fleet in its actions in the North Sea, for which they were required to make fairly short, high speed dashes. Thus, they were unsuitable for the Mid-Ocean Escort Force role to which they found themselves allocated in the Second World War, where speeds over 20 knots were of limited value (as ASDIC rapidly lost efficiency) and endurance was desirable over firepower. To remedy such shortcomings, a number of V and W class were modified into long-range escorts to suit them to this sort of warfare. The small, single-unit boiler room was struck and the resulting space divided into fuel tanks (lower) and accommodation (upper). Not only did this both lower fuel consumption and increase bunkerage, but it provided much needed space for ballooning wartime crews. 'A' and 'Y' guns were landed and replaced with a Hedgehog ahead-throwing weapon and depth charge stowage and launchers, respectively. The torpedo tubes were replaced with a QF 12 pdr anti-aircraft gun and platforms for a pair of 20 mm Oerlikon guns amidships, with a further pair in the bridge wings. Type 271 target indication radar was added in its distinctive "lantern" dome on the bridge and Type 291 air warning radar was added at the masthead, with High Frequency Direction Finding (HF/DF) fitted in some ships. The maximum speed of the conversions was around . Converted long-range escorts were: Vanessa Vanoc Vanquisher Velox Vesper Versatile Vidette Vimy Vivacious Viscount Walker Warwick Watchman Westcott Winchelsea Wrestler Vansittart Verity Volunteer Wanderer Whitehall WAIR The WAIR type conversion supplemented the construction of and -class escorts with their emphasis on anti-aircraft capabilities for east coast service (the exact meaning of 'WAIR' has fallen into obscurity; it is often capitalised suggesting an abbreviation or acronym, but it is most likely derived from W-class anti-AIRcraft). The Thornycroft type leader was also given a WAIR conversion, but