Lion class (1939)
Lion class | |
---|---|
Overview | |
Type | Battleship |
units | 4, none completed |
1. Period of service | |
Technical specifications | |
displacement | |
length |
239 m |
width |
32 m |
Draft |
9 m |
drive |
|
speed |
30 kn |
Armament |
|
Armor |
Turrets
Command tower
|
Aircraft |
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