Lion class (1939)

Lion class
Overview
Type	Battleship
units	4, none completed
Technical specifications
displacement	42,500 ts standard ; 46,500 tn.l. fully charged
length	239 m
width	32 m
Draft	9 m
drive	8 Admiralty boilers with superheaters; 4 Parsons - geared turbines ; 4 propellers; 130,000 hp;
speed	30 kn
Armament	9 × BL 16-inch (406 mm) Mark II L / 45 in Mk.II treble turrets; 8 × QF 5.25-inch (133 mm) Mark IL / 50 in Mk.I in twin towers; 48 × QF 2 pdr Mk.VIII L / 39 (40 mm) Mk.VIII ;
Armor	Belt armor 140-381 mm; 101-330 mm bulkheads; Armored deck Max. 152 mm; Barbeds 305-381 mm; Turrets 152-381 mm; Command tower 51-115 mm;
Aircraft	3 × Supermarine Walrus

The Lion class was an unfinished British class of battleships with a displacement of 45,000 tn.l.

history

Originally four units were planned, the Lion and Temeraire , which were laid down in the summer of 1939, as well as their sister ships Thunderer (ex. Bellerophon ) and Conqueror , which, however, did not get beyond an order in 1939. Ultimately, the start of the war on September 1, 1939 prevented the battleships from being completed.

They were designed as the "answer" to the German battleships of the Bismarck class . The main armament was three triplet turrets with a caliber of 16 inches L / 45 in two turrets staggered one above the other at the front and one aft. Sixteen 5.25 inch L / 50 caliber guns in twin towers were to serve as secondary armament. Work on the Lion and Temeraire units that had been started was finally stopped in March 1941, after a temporary construction stop in October 1939. The orders were then canceled in 1944, whereupon the material that had been started on the slipways was canceled. The outbreak of war was not the only fate of the ships of the Lion class; Above all, the timely delivery of their heavy main armament, which could not be guaranteed, was the reason for the end of the project.

Instead, the Royal Navy came to the conclusion that it would be cheaper and more realistic to build at least one battleship with four 15-inch L / 42 twin towers stored in depots. This became the HMS Vanguard , the last completed battleship in naval history.

literature

Bernard Ireland: Jane's Warships of the 20th Century . Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-86047-592-4 .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Bernard Ireland: Jane's Warships of the 20th Century . Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-86047-592-4

[janes-1] Bernard Ireland: Jane's Warships of the 20th Century . Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-86047-592-4