Wiki says that HMS Enchantress was a Bitten class sloop and was intended for use as an Admiralty Yacht. What is an Admiralty Yacht? HMS Enchantress (L56) - Wikipedia Thanks
Short answer: A comfortably equipped vessel for the use of senior naval officers. Admirals etc. In the early 1930s three Bittern Class sloops were built more or less as prototypes for long range escort vessels. They were fairly advanced and therefor expensive, with stabilisers and steam turbine engines. Enchantress was used as an Admiralty yacht, for carrying senior officers etc in some comfort. Spark was a survey vessel, without armament. Bittern was completed as an escort with full armament. They were too complex to be built in quantiry but the Black Swan class of escorts was developed from them. Mike
This was the answer Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, gave to Parliament in 1912 in relation to a previous Admiralty yacht of the same name. Probably explains why the sloop was renamed before launch when selected. https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commo...8-bcdd-3e2124422451/AdmiraltyYachtEnchantress
