HMS Orion (1910)

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The Orion during World War
The Orion during World War
Overview
Type Battleship
Shipyard

Portsmouth Dockyard , Portsmouth

Keel laying November 29, 1909
Launch August 20, 1910
Commissioning January 2, 1912
Whereabouts December 19, 1922 Sale for demolition
Technical specifications
displacement

22,000  ts
maximum: 26,290 ts

length

o.a. 177.0 m (581 ft)

width

26.9 m (88.5 ft)

Draft

8.2 m (27 ft)

crew

Peace: 750 men
War: 1,100 men

drive
speed

21 kn

Range

6730 nm at 10 kn
4110 nm at 19 kn

Armament
Fuel supply

up to 3,300 tons of coal, 900 tons of oil

Armor
belt armor


up to 300 mm (12 'in' )

The HMS Orion was a British battleship and lead ship of the Orion- class . The four ships of the class were also referred to as super dreadnoughts in England. For the first time in a British dreadnought battleship, all heavy artillery was on the midship line. In addition, the Orion introduced a heavier caliber with the 13.5-inch guns.
In 1922, the HMS Orion was decommissioned and canceled due to the Washington Fleet Agreement .

development

After the Imperial Navy had switched to the 30.5 cm caliber with the Helgoland class , the Royal Navy increased the heavy artillery caliber of the Orion class to 343 mm, heralding the age of the “super dreadnoughts ”. In addition, for the first time on a battleship of the Royal Navy, all towers of the heavy artillery were erected in the midship line with her, with two towers being too high. This configuration was originally developed by the US Navy for South Carolina-class ships .

Mission history

The keel of the Orion was laid on November 29, 1909 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard , and was the first ship of the class to be launched on August 20, 1910. Its acceptance tests began in September 1911, and it entered service on January 2, 1912. She replaced the ship of the line Hibernia as the 2nd flagship of the 2nd Division of the Home Fleet . She was already damaged by the old Revenge on January 7, 1912 , when it broke the anchor chain and drove it against the new ship.

In the world war

During the First World War , the HMS Orion belonged to the 2nd battleship squadron of the Grand Fleet , which was stationed in Scapa Flow . In the Battle of the Skagerrak on May 31, 1916, she was the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Arthur Leveson , Commander of the 2nd Division of the 2nd & nbsp Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet. In the evening battle of the battle fleets, she scored no hits, but was not hit either. During the night she is said to have scored four hits on the German battle cruiser Lützow , which she shot at together with the sister ship Monarch . The Lützow was abandoned on the march back, so that confirmation was not possible. In total, the Orion fired 51 rounds during the battle.
The Orion stayed with the "Grand Fleet", whose battleships did not come into battle until the end of the war.

After the war

On October 3, 1919, the Orion became the flagship of the reserve fleet in Portsmouth . In June 1921 she became a seagoing artillery training ship in Portland .
On April 12, 1922, she was decommissioned due to the Washington Naval Agreement and sold on December 19 to the demolition company Cox & Danks, which dismantled and scrapped the battleship from February 1923 in Upnor together with the HMS Erin .

literature

  • Geoffrey Bennett: The Skagerrak Battle. The greatest sea battle in history. (= Heyne books. 5255). Wilhelm Heyne, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-453-00618-6 .
  • Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers. 1905-1970. License issue. Pawlak, Herrsching 1970, ISBN 3-88199-474-2 .
  • Raymond A. Burt: British Battleships 1889-1904. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 1988, ISBN 0-87021-061-0 .
  • Randolph Pears: British Battleships. 1892-1957. The Great Days of the Fleets. Facsimile edition. G. Cave Associates, London 1979, ISBN 0-906223-14-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Burt, p. 146