Nelson-class battleship
Aerial view of Nelson before 1939
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Class overview | |
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Name | Nelson class |
Operators | Royal Navy |
Preceded by |
|
Succeeded by | King George V class |
Cost | £7,504,055–7,617,799 |
Built | 1922–1927 |
In service | 1927–1947 |
Completed | 2 |
Scrapped | 2 |
General characteristics (Nelson as built) | |
Type | Battleship |
Displacement | |
Length | 709 ft 10 in (216.4 m) o/a |
Beam | 106 ft (32.3 m) |
Draught | 30 ft 4 in (9.2 m) (mean standard) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 geared steam turbines |
Speed | 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) |
Range | 7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
Complement |
|
Armament |
|
Armour |
|
The Nelson class was a class of two battleships (Nelson and Rodney) of the British Royal Navy, built shortly after, and under the terms of, the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. They were the only British battleships built between the Revenge class (ordered in 1913) and the King George V class, ordered in 1936.
The ships were named after famous British
To comply with the limitations of the Washington Treaty, these ships were of an unusual design with many novel features. They are often referred to as the first treaty battleships. The Nelsons were unique in British battleship construction, being the only ships to carry a main armament of nine 16-inch (406 mm) guns. The most unusual feature however, and one that is immediately noticeable, is that these were all carried forward of the bridge.
Commissioned in 1927–29, the Nelsons served extensively in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian oceans during World War II. Rodney was made famous by her role in the sinking of the Bismarck in May 1941. At the climax of the battle Rodney, in conjunction with King George V, closed on Bismarck to bombard her at short range. Rodney's main guns were credited with an estimated 100 to 130 hits, contributing greatly to Bismarck's final destruction.
Nelson and Rodney participated in the bombardment of targets in northern France during and after
Both ships of the class survived the war, but were scrapped in 1948–1949 along with all other British battleships except the four remaining King George V-class battleships and Vanguard.
Background and design
The
]The next generation of British warships incorporated this lesson. After the
Development was abruptly curtailed by the
The limits of the treaty inevitably led to compromises in the design of two new ships, and the resulting Nelson class sacrificed installed power (and hence speed) in order that the ships be well-armed and defended. They were often referred to as the
The machinery was of necessity limited in weight, size and installed power, and there were only two shafts with quite large screws. All previous British battleships after HMS Dreadnought of 1906 had four screws as did all British battleship classes after Nelson. In order that fuel gasses be kept clear of the superstructure, the boiler rooms were moved behind the engine rooms, exhausting into a single funnel. This orientation also reduced the overall length of the armoured citadel. As a countermeasure to the limited power, the hull was of a very efficient hydrodynamic form, to attain the best possible speed.[4][page needed]
Description
The Nelsons had a
The ships were powered by two sets of
Armour
Armour weight was also reduced by using an internal, inclined armour belt sloped outward at 18 degrees from the vertical. The armour belt was 14 in (360 mm) thick over the main magazines and control positions to 13 in (330 mm) over the machinery and 6-inch gun magazines. The slope increased the relative thickness of the belt to a plunging projectile. Water-filled compartments, surrounded by air-filled ones, formed internal torpedo bulges which were fitted between the armour and the external hull of the ship, which was not armoured. The outer hull plating was meant to initiate detonation of shells which would then explode outside the armour. This innovation dispensed with external torpedo bulges which would otherwise have reduced the speed of the ships due to drag. Underwater protection for the Nelsons was provided by a
Superstructure
The large superstructure which was octagonal in plan, was known to its crew as the "Octopoidal"[10][page needed] and was sometimes referred to as "Queen Anne's Mansions"[3] due to its similarity to a 14-storey brick residential development opposite St James's Park tube station in London. The superstructure provided spacious, weatherproof working spaces for the navigating officers and any flag officers embarked. This innovative bridge design was subsequently copied by the French in the Dunkerque-class battleships, as was the all-forward main armament orientation, both features which were repeated in the Richelieu-class designs.[11][page needed] Except for the emergency conning tower at its base, and the trunking for the main gun directors mounted on top, the superstructure was lightly armoured against splinters only, to save weight. Additional weight-saving design measures included the use of light materials such as aluminium for fittings, and fir instead of teak for deck planking, although subsequently, teak decks were fitted in the late 1920s, following concerns that the ships could not fire a full broadside without causing structural damage to the decks.[3][page needed]
The Nelson class was a revolutionary but compromised design, and unsurprisingly there were shortcomings. The location of the superstructure towards the stern caused manoeuvrability problems in high winds, especially when steaming at low speeds, where the superstructure acted somewhat like a
Armament
Their main armament of nine 16-inch (406 mm) guns were mounted in triple turrets, the only RN battleships designed in this manner. The guns themselves deviated from standard British designs. Where previous RN weapons fired heavy shells at a moderate velocity, the Nelson's weapons followed the German practice of a lighter shell at a higher velocity. This change in Director of Naval Ordnance policy was due to British testing of surrendered German equipment after World War I, although much later, subsequent testing proved contradictory. Two different rifling rates were tried, and for some time there was a mixture of barrel types in different turrets, even sometimes within the same turret. The guns suffered considerable barrel wear and had a fairly large dispersion pattern, due mainly to the different riflings that each barrel had as they were refurbished over their lifespan. To compensate for barrel wear, muzzle velocities were reduced and a heavier (longer) shell was tried to offset this; but the cost of producing new shells, modifying shell handling and storage equipment came at a time when RN funding had been heavily reduced. Nevertheless, these weapons were not generally considered by the RN to be as successful as the previous
Firing trials revealed that the blast of 'A' and 'B' turrets on forward bearings caused damage to many weather-deck fittings and conditions on the mess-decks became very uncomfortable. There was a longstanding rumour that the ships could not fire a full broadside without risk of structural damage.[3][citation needed] This was disproved during the action against the German battleship Bismarck, where Rodney fired upwards of 40 broadsides (380 shells) without major structural damage except to deck planking and upper deck fittings,[11][citation needed] although damage to sickbay fittings, partition bulkheads, toilet bowls and plumbing in the forecastle was extensive. Virtually every light bulb in the forward section was shattered also.[9][citation needed]
When 'X' turret was fired 30 degrees abaft the beam and elevation of 40 degrees, considerable damage occurred to the two vertically stacked rows of bridge windows.[13] As a result, the guns of "X" turret were usually prohibited from firing abaft of the beam at high elevations during peacetime practice firing. Fitting tempered glass in the bridge windows was tried, but gun blast still shattered some of them and filled the bridge with flying debris. The design of the Captain's bridge was altered on Nelson circa 1930-33 to reduce the window area and enclose the upper portion of the previous two rows of glass. A great deal of effort was expended in correcting this problem, and fitting of protective ledges below the new smaller windows proved successful. A new enclosed Admiral's bridge with its requisite reduced windows was built on top of the Captain's bridge and the forward signalling lamps were moved up one level and towards the aft of the bridge. The Admiral's bridge on Rodney remained stepped back somewhat from the forward edge of the tower, but the Captain's bridge had the same reduced area of glass that Nelson now had, with larger ledges.[3] Blast was also a problem elsewhere; D.K. Brown tells of a test firing that was suspended when DNC observer H.S. Pengelly, who was beneath the foredeck, reported a bright red flash after firing all guns in "A" turret. This was later discovered to be caused by concussion of the observers' eyeballs.[4][page needed]
In the final phase of the action against Bismarck, Rodney fired a pair of 24.5-inch torpedoes from her port-side tube and claimed one hit.[14][15][16][17] According to Ludovic Kennedy, "if true, [this is] the only instance in history of one battleship torpedoing another".[18][page needed] Earlier in this same action the starboard side tube had its sluice door jammed as the result of a near miss from one of Bismarck's early salvos. On 27 September 1941, Nelson's port torpedo station almost proved to be a liability when an Italian air-launched 18-inch torpedo holed the compartment behind the torpedo body room, allowing 3,750 tons of water to enter the ship. Following this, Nelson's torpedo tubes may have been removed[19] although another source suggests the torpedo tubes were retained in both ships into 1945.[20]
Summary
Because of their unusual silhouette, HMS Nelson and her sister Rodney were nicknamed Nelsol and Rodnol by Royal Navy sailors as their single-funnelled silhouettes reminded Navy men of a series of fleet oilers (oil tankers) that had been built during the First World War bearing names ending in "ol".[21]
Despite the derisive criticism directed at this class of battleship by some of the media and some sailors upon their debut, naval historian Antony Preston considered that "they were soundly conceived ships reflecting all the hard-won experience of World War One" and that "they proved to be very well-protected and well-designed ships".[2][page needed]
Ships in class
Name | Namesake | Builder | Ordered | Laid down
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Launched | Commissioned | Fate |
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Nelson | Vice-admiral Horatio Nelson | Armstrong Whitworth, Walker | 11 December 1922 | 28 December 1922 | 3 September 1925 | 15 August 1927 | Sold for scrap, 5 January 1949 |
Rodney | Admiral George Rodney | Cammell Laird, Birkenhead | 17 December 1925 | 7 December 1927 | Sold for scrap, 19 March 1948 |
Construction and career
By the end of the war, Rodney had seen hard use without any significant refit or repair and was worn out, especially her machinery.[10][page needed] Nelson had been refitted in the United States at the end of 1944 and was in sufficiently good condition to serve in the postwar fleet including a short period as flagship of the Home Fleet at the end of 1945. Rodney was scrapped in 1948 at Inverkeithing, not long after the Revenge-class battleships and Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, and Nelson in 1949 following its use as a target for bombing trials. "According to Winston Churchill's memoirs, a major modernisation was discussed to enable Nelson to serve for several years in the postwar fleet, but no other details have survived. In any case Nelson was too slow for the modern fleet which had no front-line role for battleships any more".[22]
Notes
- ISBN 9781846033896..
- ^ a b c d e Preston 1981
- ^ a b c d e f g h Burt, p.
- ^ a b c d Brown 1999, p.
- ^ Burt, pp. 348–349
- ^ Raven & Roberts, pp. 126–127
- ^ Burt, pp. 350, 357–359
- ^ Raven & Roberts, pp. 114, 124–125
- OCLC 2765218.
- ^ ISBN 978 1 84415 406 7
- ISBN 978 1 84832 034 5
- ISBN 0 949756 02 4
- ^ Raven & Roberts, p. 118
- ISBN 0 949756 02 4, pg.140
- ^ On His Majesty's Service, 1940-41, Joseph H. Wellings, http://www.ibiblio.org/anrs/docs/D/D7/1002wellings_onhismajestysservice.pdf
- ^ Ballantyne, p. 142
- ISBN 978 1 84415 983 3, pp. 258–260.
- ISBN 0 00 211739 8
- ISBN 0-8317-0303-2.
- ^ Burt, p. 377
- ^ Preston 1981 p 123
- ISBN 978 1 844860 685, p. 135
References
- ISBN 1-55750-315-X.
- ISBN 1-55750-492-X.
- Burt, R. A. (2012). British Battleships, 1919–1939 (2nd ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-052-8.
- Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
- Campbell, N.J.M. (1980). "Great Britain". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. New York: Mayflower Books. pp. 2–85. ISBN 0-8317-0303-2.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-225-7.
- Rear Admiral G.G.O Gatacre, Reports of Proceedings 1921–1964 (Nautical Press & Publications, Manly, NSW, Australia, 1982) ISBN 0 949756 02 4
- Jordan, John (2020). "Warship Notes: The 6in Turrets of Nelson and Rodney". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2020. Oxford, UK: Osprey. pp. 184–188. ISBN 978-1-4728-4071-4.
- ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
- ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
- ISBN 0861242599.
- Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1976). British Battleships of World War Two: The Development and Technical History of the Royal Navy's Battleship and Battlecruisers from 1911 to 1946. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-817-4.
- Stern, Robert C. (2017). The Battleship Holiday: The Naval Treaties and Capital Ship Design. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-344-5.
External links
- "Sallying Ship Helps Float Pride of British Navy" Popular Mechanics, October 1934 pg.524 article left-bottom
- Tony DiGiulian, British 16"/45 (40.6cm) Mark I