Duncan-class battleship

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HMS Albemarle
Class overview
NameDuncan class
Builders
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byLondon class
Succeeded byKing Edward VII class
Built1900–1903
In commission1903–1917
Completed6
Lost3
Retired3
General characteristics
TypePre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement
Length432 ft (132 m)
Beam75 ft 6 in (23.01 m)
Draught25 ft 9 in (7.85 m)
Installed power
  • 18,000 ihp (13,000 kW)
  • 24 ×
    water-tube boilers
Propulsion
Speed19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range6,070 nmi (11,240 km; 6,990 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement720
Armament
Armour
  • Belt: 7 in (178 mm)
  • Bulkheads: 11–7 in (279–178 mm)
  • Decks: 2–1 in (51–25 mm)
  • Turrets: 10–8 in (254–203 mm)
  • Barbettes
    : 11–4 in (279–102 mm)
  • Casemates
    : 6 in (152 mm)
  • Conning tower: 12 in (305 mm)

The Duncan class was a

pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the early 1900s. The six ships—HMS Duncan, HMS Albemarle, HMS Cornwallis, HMS Exmouth, HMS Montagu, and HMS Russell—were ordered in response to Russian naval building, specifically the fast second-class battleships of the Peresvet class, which they were specifically to counter. The foremost design consideration was a high top speed to match the rumoured (and incorrect) top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) of the Russian ships while maintaining the same battery of 12-inch (300 mm) guns and keeping displacement from growing. This forced significant compromises in armour protection, though the ships adopted a revised system of protection for the bow, which was copied in other designs like the London class
.

All members of the class served in the

First World War in August 1914, the ships were sent to reinforce the Grand Fleet, where they were used on the Northern Patrol to help blockade Germany. In November, Russell and Exmouth bombarded Zeebrugge
, but otherwise the Duncans saw no action in the first months of the war.

Cornwallis participated in the

broken up
in 1920.

Design

Peresvet, the Russian battleship the Duncans were ordered to counter

The six ships of the Duncan class were ordered in response to Russian

armoured belt in favour of continuing the side armour all the way to the stem, albeit at reduced thickness; these became the five London-class battleships. White then returned to working on the design for the response to Peresvet, completing a revised version on 14 June 1898.[1]

To achieve the desired speed of 19 knots while keeping

12-inch (305 mm) guns carried by earlier British battleships, White was forced to make significant reductions, particularly in terms of armour protection. As such, they represented an evolution of the smaller Canopus class, rather than a direct development of the Formidable or London types. The Duncan class was about a thousand tons heavier than the Canopus class, and with that increase in displacement, they acquired more powerful guns, heavier armour, and an improvement in top speed by one to two knots. Despite these improvements, the Duncans proved to be disappointments in service, owing to their reduced defensive characteristics, which rendered them inferior to the true first class battleships to which they were inevitably compared. Nevertheless, they were still markedly superior to the Peresvets they had been built to counter, and they were some of the fastest battleships in service at the time they were built.[2]

Minor revisions to the dimensions were made between June and September, when the finalised design was approved, with tenders for shipyard contracts being sent out the following month. Public pressure over the 1898 programme—the first three Londons that were supposedly slower than the Peresvets—led to the passage of a Special Supplementary Programme that allocated funding for the first four Duncans, all of which were laid down in 1899. Two more were added under the 1899 programme.[3]

General characteristics and machinery

Right elevation and deck plan as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1915

The Duncan-class ships were 432 feet (132 m)

fighting tops; each top carried a searchlight, and four additional searchlights were mounted on the forward and aft bridges.[4] The ships' hulls were divided with longitudinal bulkheads that should have allowed for counter-flooding to offset underwater damage, but the equipment necessary to quickly flood a compartment was insufficient, as was typical in many British pre-dreadnought designs. The decision to adopt longitudinal bulkheads was made in large part to keep reserve stability low, since that made the ships more stable gun platforms.[5]

Their crew numbered 720 officers and

gigs, dinghies, and rafts.[4][6]

The Duncan-class ships were powered by a pair of 4-cylinder

amidships. The Duncan-class ships had a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) from 18,000 indicated horsepower (13,000 kW), though on speed trials their maximum speed ranged from 18.6 to 19.4 knots (34.4 to 35.9 km/h; 21.4 to 22.3 mph), with power slightly exceeding the design figure.[4][5] At a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), the ship could steam for 6,070 nautical miles (11,240 km; 6,990 mi).[7]

Armament

The two turrets for Cornwallis under construction

The Duncans had four 12-inch 40-calibre guns mounted in twin-gun turrets fore and aft. These were the same guns and mountings carried aboard the Formidable and London classes, although their barbettes were reduced in diameter as a weight-saving measure. To account for the slightly narrower barbettes, the gun houses also had to be reduced in size, though the guns were carried in the same BVI-type mountings.[8] The mounts had a range of elevation from -5 degrees to of 13.5 degrees, and required the guns to return to 4.5 degrees to be loaded. The guns had a muzzle velocity of 2,562 to 2,573 feet per second (781 to 784 m/s), and they were capable of penetrating 12 inches of Krupp armour at a range of 4,800 yards (4,400 m). At their maximum elevation, the guns had a range of 15,300 yards (14,000 m).[9]

The ships also mounted a

18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes submerged in the hull.[4]

In 1915, the five surviving ships received two 3-inch (76 mm)

anti-aircraft guns. Albemarle, Duncan, and probably Exmouth had theirs installed on their aft superstructure, while Russell had hers mounted on her quarterdeck and Cornwallis had her guns placed atop their forwardmost casemates. Between 1916 and 1917, Albemarle had her casemate guns removed, with four of the 6-inch guns being relocated to the 12-pounder battery and two of those guns being removed to make room. The 6-inch guns were placed in shielded pivot mounts. In 1917–1918, Albemarle had the rest of her 12-pounders removed altogether.[12]

Armour

The Duncan class adopted the basic armour layout of the Formidable class, but with significant revision to the forward armour scheme and with significantly thinner levels of protection. Earlier battleship designs had employed a partial armoured belt that terminated abreast of both of the main battery turrets; the ends of the belt were connected by way of transverse bulkheads to create a central citadel that protected the ships' magazines and propulsion machinery spaces. This arrangement left the bow and stern unprotected, and thus highly vulnerable to enemy fire. White was concerned that the unprotected bow could be flooded by even light gunfire, which would reduce speed and maneuverability. Since the Duncans were intended to serve as fast battleships, White decided to reduce the risk of this kind of damage by discarding the forward transverse bulkhead in favor of a complete belt. The main portion of the belt was 7 inches (178 mm) thick and extended to just forward of the fore turret, thereafter being gradually reduced to 5 in (127 mm), then 4 in (102 mm), then to 3 in (76 mm), and finally to 2 in (51 mm) close to the stem. The aft end of the ship retained the traditional transverse bulkhead, which was also 7 in thick. Abaft of the bulkhead, the hull was protected by a strake of 1-inch (25 mm) thick side armour.[13]

Horizontal protection consisted of a pair of armoured decks that covered the ships' vitals. The main deck ran from the stem to the aft bulkhead and was connected to the top of the belt; it was 1 to 2 in thick, with the thicker armour over the central portion of the ship and the thinner steel over the bow. The second deck, at middle deck level, was 1 in thick and covered just the central citadel, sloping down on the sides to the belt. The voids created between the decks and behind the belt were used to store coal, which had the added benefit of increasing the strength of the side protection layout. The bow and stern had a curved armour deck below the waterline that extended from the barbettes to either end of the hull, which was 1 to 2 in thick. The ships' main battery turrets faces and sides were 8 in (203 mm) thick, with 10 in (254 mm) rears and 2–3 in roofs. The turrets sat atop barbettes that were 11 in (279 mm) on the outer face above the belt and 7 in thick behind the belt; their inner faces were reduced to 10 and 4 inches thick, respectively. The casemate battery was protected with 6 in (152 mm) of armour plate, and their ammunition hoists received 2 in of armour protection. The ships' forward conning towers had 10–12 in sides and their aft conning towers had 3 in sides.[14]

Ships

Launch of Cornwallis, 17 July 1901
Construction data
Name Builder[4]
Laid down[4]
 Launched[4] Completed[4]
Albemarle Chatham Dockyard 8 January 1900 5 March 1901 November 1903
Cornwallis Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company 19 July 1899 13 July 1901 February 1904
Duncan Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company 10 July 1899 21 March 1901 October 1903
Exmouth
Laird Brothers
 10 August 1899 31 August 1901 May 1903
Montagu Devonport Dockyard 23 November 1899 5 March 1901 October 1903
Russell Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company 11 March 1899 19 February 1901 February 1903

Service history

Montagu after having run aground in 1906

From their commissioning in 1903–1904, all six ships served with the

Atlantic Fleet in 1907, though Duncan and Exmouth left for another tour with the Mediterranean Fleet in 1908.[15] Cornwallis and Russell joined them there the following year. In July 1908, Russell, Albemarle, Duncan, and Exmouth visited Canada during the Quebec Tercentenary.[16] Albemarle remained in the Atlantic until 1910, when she was reassigned to the Home Fleet. The other four ships joined her there in 1912, and together they formed first the 4th Battle Squadron and later the 6th Battle Squadron. They remained in the 6th Squadron until the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.[15]

Cornwallis firing during operations off the Dardanelles

With the onset of hostilities, Admiral John Jellicoe, the commander of the Grand Fleet, requested that the 6th Squadron ships be sent to strengthen the main British fleet in accordance with pre-war plans. The five Duncans were used to reinforce the cruisers on the Northern Patrol, maintaining the distant blockade of Germany. While serving with the Grand Fleet, the ships were assigned to the 3rd Battle Squadron[17][18][19] On 2 November, they were transferred to the Channel Fleet owing to increased German naval activity in the southern North Sea; there, they reconstituted the 6th Squadron on 14 November. Russell and Exmouth bombarded German-occupied Zeebrugge, which was being used as an advance naval base for U-boats, in late November, though they inflicted little damage and the Germans quickly resumed operations there.[20] The ships were used to guard the southern British coast against German attacks through the end of the year, and in the first half of 1915, the 6th Squadron was gradually dispersed.[15]

Cornwallis was the first to leave, in January 1915, when she was sent to join the

Adriatic, where she saw little activity. Russell was transferred to the Dardanelles campaign in November 1915; Albemarle was to have gone at the same time, but she was badly damaged in a storm and was unable to make the voyage. Russell saw little activity there, apart from supporting the evacuation of Cape Helles in January 1916.[22][23][24]

Albemarle remained with the Grand Fleet through January 1916, when she was assigned as a

Salonika, Greece, during the Allied intervention in the Noemvriana coup in 1916. Both ships sent men ashore as part of the intervention.[22][26] Albemarle returned to Britain in September 1916 and was laid up for the rest of her existence. She, Exmouth, and Duncan survived the war and all three were eventually broken up for scrap in 1920.[22]

Notes

  1. ^ Burt, p. 227.
  2. ^ Burt, pp. 227–229.
  3. ^ Burt, pp. 227–228.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lyon & Roberts, p. 37.
  5. ^ a b Burt, p. 236.
  6. ^ Burt, pp. 232–233.
  7. ^ Burt, p. 232.
  8. ^ Burt, pp. 229, 231.
  9. ^ Friedman, pp. 57–58.
  10. ^ Burt, pp. 231, 233.
  11. ^ Friedman, pp. 79–81.
  12. ^ Burt, p. 242.
  13. ^ Burt, pp. 234–235.
  14. ^ Burt, pp. 235–236.
  15. ^ a b c Burt, pp. 242–247.
  16. ^ "The Tercentenary Celebrations", p. 445.
  17. ^ Burt, p. 245.
  18. ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 39–40, 75, 214, 254.
  19. ^ Jellicoe, p. 93.
  20. ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 9–10, 12–13, 19.
  21. ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 144–377.
  22. ^ a b c Burt, pp. 243–247.
  23. ^ Preston, p. 9.
  24. ^ Corbett 1923, pp. 24, 37, 248–252, 260.
  25. ^ Burt, p. 246.
  26. ^ Preston, p. 383.

References

Further reading
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