Colossus-class battleship (1910)
![]() Colossus at anchor, shortly after completion
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Class overview | |
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Name | Colossus-class battleship |
Builders |
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Operators | ![]() |
Preceded by | HMS Neptune |
Succeeded by | Orion class |
Built | 1909–1911 |
In commission | 1911–1921 |
Completed | 2 |
Scrapped | 2 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Type | Dreadnought battleship |
Displacement | 20,030 long tons (20,350 t) (normal) |
Length | 545 ft 9 in (166.3 m) (o/a) |
Beam | 85 feet 2 inches (26.0 m) or 86 feet 8 inches (26.4 m) |
Draught | 27 ft (8.2 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 4 × shafts; 2 × steam turbine sets |
Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
Range | 6,680 nmi (12,370 km; 7,690 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 751–791 (1916) |
Armament |
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Armour |
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The Colossus-class battleships were a pair of
The Colossus class were deemed obsolete by the end of the war in 1918 and were reduced to reserve the following year. Hercules was sold for scrap in 1921, although Colossus was briefly used as a training ship. She was hulked in 1923 and sold for scrap five years later.
Background and design
The initial 1909–1910 Naval Programme included two dreadnoughts and a
The DNC objected to the loss of the mainmast as he believed that it was needed to support a boat-handling

All eight capital ships of the 1909–1910 Naval Programme had the same arrangement of masts and funnels; only the two battlecruisers had their foremast and forward funnel positions exchanged at considerable expense.
Like Neptune, the wing turrets of the Colossus-class ships were staggered "
Description
The Colossus-class ships had an
The ships were powered by two sets of
Armament and armour

The Colossus class was equipped with ten 50-
Their
The Colossus class had a
The three armoured decks ranged in thickness from 1.5 to 4 inches (38 to 102 mm) with the greater thicknesses outside the central armoured citadel. The front and sides of the conning tower were protected by 11-inch plates, although the roof was 3 inches thick. The spotting tower behind and above the conning tower had 6-inch (152 mm) sides and the torpedo-control tower aft had 3-inch sides and a 2-inch roof. In the interests of saving weight, the Colossus-class ships eliminated the anti-torpedo bulkheads that protected the engine and boiler rooms, reverting to the scheme in the older dreadnoughts that placed them only outboard of the magazines with the same thickness from 1 to 3 inches (25 to 76 mm). They did retain the 1-inch armour plates protecting the boiler uptakes.[13]
Fire control

The control position for the main armament were located in the spotting tops at the head of the foremast. Data from a nine-foot (2.7 m) Barr and Stroud coincidence rangefinder located there was input into a Dumaresq mechanical computer and electrically transmitted to Vickers range clocks located in the transmitting station located beneath each position on the main deck, where it was converted into range and deflection data for use by the guns. The target's data was also graphically recorded on a plotting table to assist the gunnery officer in predicting the movement of the target. The turrets, transmitting stations, and control positions could be connected in almost any combination.[14] By 1912, another nine-foot rangefinder was added at the forward side of the compass platform.[15] In late 1914, more nine-foot rangefinders, protected by armoured hoods, were installed on the turret roofs.[16]
Fire-control technology advanced quickly during the years between the Colossus-class ships' commissioning and the start of World War I, and the most important development was the director firing system. This consisted of a fire-control director mounted high in the ship which electrically provided data to the turrets via pointers, which the turret crew were to follow. The director layer fired the guns simultaneously which aided in spotting the shell splashes and minimised the effects of the roll on the dispersion of the shells.[17] While the exact dates of installation are unknown, both ships were equipped with a director by December 1915.[18]
Another development was the Dreyer Fire-control Table that combined the functions of the Dumaresq and the range clock in the transmission stations. Hercules was probably fitted with a prototype table when its inventor, Commander Frederic Dreyer, was assigned to the ship at the end of 1911. The ship retained that instrument at least until February 1916, although it had been replaced by a Mark I table by 1918. Colossus received her Mark I table by early 1916.[19]
Modifications

In 1913–1914, a small rangefinder was added to the roof of 'X' turret and
Ships
Ship | Builder[23] | Laid down[23]
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Launched[23] | Commissioned[24] | Cost (including armament)[9] |
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Colossus | Scotts Shipbuilding, Greenock | 8 July 1909 | 9 April 1910 | 8 August 1911 | £1,672,102 |
Hercules | Palmers Shipbuilding, Jarrow | 30 July 1909 | 10 May 1910 | 31 July 1911 | £1,661,240 |
Careers
Upon commissioning, both ships were assigned to the 2nd

Between 17 and 20 July 1914, the sisters took part in a test
Battle of Jutland

In an attempt to lure out and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, the German
Once Jellicoe's ships had rendezvoused with the 2nd BS, coming from
Subsequent activity

After the battle, the sisters were transferred to the 4th BS; Hercules became the flagship of the commander, while Colossus became the flagship of the
On 3 December, Hercules was detached to take the Allied Naval Armistice Commission to Kiel, Germany, returning to Rosyth on 20 December. Colossus briefly became flagship of the Reserve Fleet in 1919 and Hercules joined her in the reserves a month later. The sisters were listed for disposal in 1921 and Hercules was sold later in the year and broken up in 1922. Colossus, however, was reprieved to serve as a boys' training ship, and refitted to suit her new role. It did not last long as the school closed in 1922 and she was again listed for disposal. Colossus was withdrawn from the disposal list in 1923 and hulked for the use of the training establishment HMS Impregnable. The ship withdrawn from that duty in 1927 and sold for scrap the following year.[32]
Citations
- ^ Brooks 1995, pp. 42–44; Friedman 2015, pp. 111–12, 114
- ^ Friedman 2015, p.112; Burt, p. 126
- ^ Brooks 1995, pp. 44–46
- ^ Brown, pp. 41–42
- ^ Brooks 1995, p. 44; Brown, pp. 38–40
- ^ a b c d Burt, p. 121
- ^ Burt, pp. 31, 64, 121, 124
- ^ Friedman 2011, pp. 62–63
- ^ a b Parkes, p. 519
- ^ Friedman 2011, pp. 97–98
- ^ Friedman 2015, p. 112
- ^ Burt, p. 122
- ^ Burt, p. 124
- ^ Brooks 1995, pp. 40–41
- ^ Friedman 2015, p. 115
- ^ "Colossus Class Battleship (1910)". The Dreadnought Project. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ Brooks 2005, p. 48
- ^ Brooks 1996, p. 168
- ^ Brooks 2005, pp. 157–59, 175, 182
- ^ Burt, pp. 126–27
- ^ Brooks 1996, p. 168; Burt, p. 128
- ^ Burt, pp. 127–28
- ^ a b c Preston, p. 26
- ^ a b c d Burt, pp. 128–29
- ^ Massie, pp. 19, 69
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 54–55, 57–58
- ^ Corbett, p. 431 and frontispiece map
- ^ Campbell, pp. 156–58, 204–05, 207–08, 210, 212, 214, 218, 226–29, 296, 346, 349, 358
- ^ "Fourth Battle Squadron (Royal Navy)". The Dreadnought Project. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 330–32
- ^ Massie, p. 748
- ^ a b Burt, pp. 129–30
Bibliography
- Brooks, John (2005). Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland: The Question of Fire Control. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-40788-5.
- Brooks, John (1995). "The Mast and Funnel Question: Fire-control Positions in British Dreadnoughts". In Roberts, John (ed.). Warship 1995. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 40–60. ISBN 0-85177-654-X.
- Brooks, John (1996). "Percy Scott and the Director". In McLean, David; Preston, Antony (eds.). Warship 1996. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 150–170. ISBN 0-85177-685-X.
- ISBN 1-55750-315-X.
- Burt, R. A. (1986). British Battleships of World War One. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-863-8.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1986). Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-324-5.
- ISBN 1-870423-50-X.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-225-7.
- Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- ISBN 1-55750-352-4.
- OCLC 13614571.
- ISBN 0-679-45671-6.
- ISBN 0-89839-255-1.
- ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
- ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Tarrant, V. E. (1999) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective: A New View of the Great Battle, 31 May 1916. London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN 1-86019-917-8.
External links
- Dreadnought Project Technical material on the weaponry and fire control for the ships