High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Type 82 or Bristol-class destroyer was to be a class of four Royal Navy warships intended as area air-defence destroyers to replace the County-class destroyers, and to serve as escorts to the planned CVA-01 aircraft carriers. Eventually only a single ship, HMS Bristol was built and served as a testbed for much of the modern technology and armaments seen in later classes of Royal Navy warships. Sometimes described as a "light cruiser", she was officially classified as a destroyer.