Warships and their story

by R. A. Fletcher

H.M.S. “DREADNOUGHT.”

Photograph by Stephen Cribb, Southsea.

A Parliamentary Paper issued at the time described the arrangement of her guns as follows:—

“In arranging for a uniform armament of 12-inch guns it became at once apparent that a limitation to the number of guns that could be usefully carried was imposed by considerations of the blast effect of the guns on the crews of those guns adjacent to them. It is obviously uneconomical to place the guns in such relative positions that the blast of any single gun on any permissible training should very seriously hamper the use of one or more of the remaining guns. While it is recognised that broadside fire is held to be the most important in a battleship, all-round fire is also considered of great importance, since it lies in the power of an enemy to force an opponent who is anxious to engage to fight an end-on action. In the arrangement of armament adopted six of the guns are mounted in pairs on the centre line of the ship; the remaining four guns are mounted in pairs on the broadside. These eight 12-inch guns—80 per cent. of the main armament—can be fired on either broadside, and four or possibly six 12-inch guns—or 60 per cent. of the main armament—can be fired simultaneously ahead or astern.

“In view of the mobility of modern torpedo craft, and considering the special chances of torpedo attack toward the end of the action, it was considered necessary to separate the anti-torpedo boat guns as widely as possible from one another, so that the whole of them should not be disabled by one or two heavy shells. This consideration led the committee to recommend the numerous and yet widely distributed armament of 12-pounder quick-firing guns of a new design and greater power than those hitherto carried for use against torpedo craft. In order to give the ship sea-going qualities and to increase the command of her forward guns a forecastle is provided giving the ship a freeboard forward of 28 feet, a higher freeboard than has been given to any modern battleship. The main armoured belt has a maximum thickness of 11 inches, tapering to 6 inches at the forward and 4 inches at the after extremity of the vessel; the redoubt armour varies in thickness from 11 inches to 8 inches; the turrets and fore conning tower are 11 inches thick, and the after conning tower is 8 inches thick. The protective deck varies from 1¾ inches to 2¾ inches in thickness. Special attention has been given to safeguarding the ship from destruction by under-water explosion. All the main transverse bulkheads below the main deck—which will be 9 feet above the water-line—are unpierced except for the purpose of leading pipes or wires conveying power. Lifts and other special arrangements are provided and give access to various compartments. Mobility of force is of prime necessity in war. The greater the mobility the greater the chance of obtaining a strategic advantage. This mobility is represented by speed and fuel endurance. Superior speed also gives the power of choosing the range. To gain this advantage the speed designed for the Dreadnought is twenty-one knots.”

Turbines were decided upon because it was held that their adoption conferred certain advantages which more than counterbalanced their disadvantages. Compared with reciprocating engines, they were said to be lighter, to have a less number of working parts, to work more smoothly and be more easily manipulated, and to be less liable to breakdown. They were claimed also to show a saving in coal consumption at high powers, and to require less boiler-room space and a smaller number of engineers to look after them. Another important consideration was that turbines could be placed lower in the ship. The point which chiefly occupied the committee was the question of providing sufficient stopping and turning power for quick and easy manœuvring. A series of experiments with pairs of sister ships, fitted respectively with reciprocating and turbine engines, and also at the Admiralty experimental works at Haslar, influenced the Admiralty in their decision in favour of turbines. The Dreadnought’s bunker capacity is 2,700 tons, with which she could steam 5,800 sea miles at economical speed, or 3,500 sea miles at 18½ knots, due allowance being made for extra consumption in bad weather, and for a small quantity being left in the bunkers. Oil fuel was not taken into account in estimating the ship’s radius of action, but a considerable quantity was arranged for and would, of course, greatly increase her effectiveness in this respect.

Another innovation in this remarkable ship was in the rearrangement of the principal officers’ quarters. Hitherto they had been accommodated as far as possible from the conning tower, where their most important duties were performed, but in this ship the admiral’s and captain’s quarters are placed on the main deck forward, near the conning tower. The officers’ quarters also are placed forward, both on the main deck and on the upper deck. Ample accommodation for the remainder of the crew is available on the main and lower decks aft.

Space does not permit—and to attempt it would be out of place in a book of this character, which does not profess to do more than indicate the general lines upon which the world’s warships have developed—of a detailed account of all the ships which have followed the Dreadnought. Some idea of the wonderful progress that has been made may be obtained from a comparison of the Dreadnought herself and one of her latest successors, the battleship Orion, in the matter of armament. The Dreadnought could fire on the broadside eight guns of 12-inch calibre, throwing projectiles of 850 lb. weight, her weight of broadside being 6,800 lb. The Orion has ten guns on the broadside having a calibre of 13½ inches, and throwing projectiles of 1,250 lb. in weight, the weight of broadside being 12,500 lb. Now, if we take the ships intended to be able to take their place in the line of battle since 1906, we find the evidence of development to be equally startling. The dimensions of the Lord Nelson and Agamemnon have already been referred to, and are of exceptional interest in this connection as showing the type of vessel the Dreadnought superseded. This vessel herself was exceeded slightly in displacement by the Bellerophon, Temeraire, and Superb, which had sixteen anti-torpedo boat 4-inch guns, as against the twenty-seven 12-pounders of the Dreadnought. The St. Vincent, completed in 1909, and her sisters the Vanguard and Collingwood, completed in 1910, are 500 feet in length by 84 feet beam, and have a displacement of 19,250 tons, and engines of 25,400 h.p.; their armoured belt is 9¾ inches thick amidships, tapering fore and aft to 6½ inches, while the armour of the barbettes is 11 inches in thickness, and the protective deck is 2¾ inches. They have the same number of big guns and torpedo tubes, but the number of the 4-inch anti-torpedo guns was increased to twenty, and they also had six Maxims. In 1911 the Colossus, Hercules and Neptune were launched, and showed a very great advance on those immediately before them. Their length was increased to 510 feet, and they were 86 feet in the beam and of 20,250 tons displacement, and their engines developed 25,000 h.p. Their armour was more powerful, as their water-line belt amidships was 10 inches thick, tapering to 8 inches forward and 7 inches aft; their armament was the same. These three ships were given conning towers with 11-inch armour. There were also launched in 1911 the Orion, Thunderer, Monarch, and Conqueror, built respectively at Portsmouth, Blackwall, Elswick and Dalmuir. These four vessels are so much larger and heavier than preceding ships of the all-big-gun type that they have been claimed as inaugurating another class. They carry ten 13.5 inch guns, which include the famous “12-inch A,” in five barbettes, all of which are on the centre line of the ship. These four vessels are each 545 feet in length between perpendiculars, and 584 feet over all, and have a beam of 88 feet 6 inches. The weight of the Orion at launching was about 8,000 tons, and her estimated load displacement is 22,500 tons. Her engines, developing 27,000 shaft h.p., are Parsons turbines, driving four shafts and screws, each having a turbine for ahead and astern, the ship having a nominal speed of 21 knots, which is expected to be exceeded. She has eighteen water-tube boilers, and can carry, besides 2,700 tons of coal, 1,000 tons of oil in her double bottom tanks. Her armour varies from 12 inches to 4 inches. Under ordinary circumstances the arrangement adopted for the guns would restrict their direct ahead and astern fire very materially, and in order to overcome this difficulty and double the gun-fire ahead or astern, the second and fourth pairs of guns are raised to fire above the others. Besides increasing the effectiveness of the end-on fire, it will also add materially to the weight of the broadside fire, as, the guns being on a different level, there will be less of what is known as the interference of one pair of guns with another, and the air will become clear the sooner so that the gunners will be able to take a more accurate aim than would otherwise be possible. There are also sixteen anti-torpedo 4-inch guns.

H.M.S. “NEPTUNE.”