King George V Class (1911)
King George V (1911) class | |
---|---|
HMS Audacious |
|
Overview | |
Type | Battleship |
units | 4th |
Shipyard |
various |
Order | 1911 |
Keel laying | 1911 |
Launch | 1912-1913 |
Technical specifications | |
displacement |
23,400 ts standard |
length |
182 m |
width |
27 m |
Draft |
8.5 m |
drive | |
Armament |
|
Armor |
Belt armor
|
The British King George V class was built in a number of four ships. They were designed as a Dreadnought - battleships ; they were put into service shortly before the outbreak of the First World War . The King George V class from 1911 was planned as the successor to the Orion class battleships , on which they were also technically based.
The successor to the King George V class were the Iron Duke class battleships . Due to the restrictions decided at the Washington Naval Conference of 1922 , the remaining three ship units were scrapped or converted. This made it possible to build new battleships of the Nelson class .
design
The ships of the King George V class had a slightly larger displacement than their predecessors of the Orion class due to the reinforced armor . Among other things, the side armor and the underwater armor to protect against torpedoes were strengthened , but when the HMS Audacious sank in 1914, it was found that it was still too weak to withstand marine hits. The main artillery , consisting of ten 13.5-inch (343-mm) Mark V guns in five twin turrets, was the same as that of the Orion-class, but newly designed projectiles were fired with higher weights. Compared to the previous class, the main mast and the chimney were also slightly changed. Originally it was planned to equip the middle artillery with 6-inch- (152-mm) / Mk-VII-L / 45-guns in single mounts . However, the less powerful 4-inch (102-mm) Mark VII L / 50 cannon was installed in a single mount. Thus, the following ships of the Iron Duke class were the first battleships of the Royal Navy to receive full-fledged medium artillery .
Distinction
To distinguish them, the ships were marked with white rings on the funnels:
The King George V wore white rings around both chimneys, the Centurion only wore a ring around the front chimney, while the Audacious only wore white rings around the rear chimney, while the Ajax was completely without.
Ships built
Surname | Shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | Calls | Whereabouts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
HMS King George V | HM Dockyard, Portsmouth | January 16, 1911 | October 9, 1911 | November 1912 | Battle of the Skagerrak | Decommissioned in 1919 and scrapped in 1926 |
HMS Centurion | HM Dockyard, Devonport | January 16, 1911 | November 18, 1911 | May 1913 | Battle of the Skagerrak , Operation Vigorous , Operation Neptune | Converted to target ship in 1927, converted to decoy in 1941 and sunk as a breakwater in June 1944 |
HMS Audacious | Cammell Laird | March 1911 | September 14, 1912 | August 1913 | Sank after a mine hit on the Northern Irish coast on October 27, 1914 | |
HMS Ajax | Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company , Greenock | February 27, 1911 | March 21, 1912 | October 31, 1913 | Battle of the Skagerrak | Decommissioned in 1924, scrapped in December 1926 |
literature
- Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1905–1970. JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1970.
- Robert Gardiner (Ed.): Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. Conway Maritime Press, London 1980.