HMS Warspite (03) Dreadnought Battleship (1915)
Despite her excellent war record, the HMS Warspite was not saved from the scrap heap.
The Queen Elizabeth-class were constructed as "Super Dreadnoughts" which reflected their having more firepower, thicker armor and larger overall dimensions than preceding Dreadnought warships. Winston Churchill was able to push through the 15-inch main guns being developed in secret for the Elizabeth-class. In 1913, these guns were the largest rifled cannons of their kind anywhere in the world, making the Elizabeth-class the first to be designed around this new armament. Her architects chose to mount the guns in 4 x twin-gun turrets, all fitted inline with two forward emplacements and two aft. This was a change from previous Dreadnought battleships which included five total twin-gun turrets. The decision to remove the fifth turret helped to reduce the vessel's overall displacement and provide more internal space and tonnage for a larger powerplant - which significantly increased the speed of the class. Capable of 24 knots in ideal conditions, the Queen Elizabeth-class of World War 1 were considered the first true "fast battleships".
The 15-inch (381.0 mm) main gun barrel weighed approximately 100 tons and was 650.4 inches (16.52 m) in length. The shell was separate from the charges and weighed 1,920 pounds (870 kg) on their own. When fired, the recoil of the barrel was 46 inches (1.2 m) and a trained, experienced gunnery crew could maintain a healthy 2 rounds-per-minute rate-of-fire. Muzzle velocity was rated at 2,575 feet-per-second (785 m/s). By the time of World War 2 in 1941, the maximum elevation of the guns were changed from 20-degrees to 30-degrees. This elevation change allowed a streamlined shell to have a maximum range of 23,734 yards at 20 degrees and 32,500 yards (29,720 m) - more than 18 miles - at 30-degrees elevation.
The 6" BL Mk XII series were chosen as secondary armament and all 14 systems were placed in casements along the sides of the hull as built - 7 to port and 7 to starboard. The caliber was 6 inches and each gun weighed 6-tons. The length of the bore was 45 calibers (270 inches) and the weight of each shell was 100lbs (45kg). A gunnery crew could maintain a rate-of-fire of 7 rouns-per-minute with a maximum range out to 13,500 yards. In practice, the design of these guns of 1915 was such that in they were to fire forward for protection against smaller ships attempting to make torpedo runs on the vessel. The guns were close to the waterline and their use in this fashion proved them to be almost ineffective. Another possibility was to put four guns aft however this plan was abandoned and finally two guns were placed on the boat deck. After the Battle of Jutland in 1916, they were removed altogether as it was found the gun crews were too exposed to enemy fire.
The class also fielded 2 x 3" BL Mk 1 QF series anti-aircraft guns added in 1915. At this point in time, the general feeling by warplanners was that aircraft could not sink a battleship-type vessel therefore the need for anti-aircraft gun protection was a low priority. The caliber of these weapons was 3 inches and the length of the bore was 45 calibers (135 inches). The weight of the individual gun was 1-ton (2000lbs) and the shell weighed 12lbs, 8 oz. The crew could maintain a rate-of-fire of 20 rounds-per-minute. The shells' maximum range was approximately 11,200 yards.
Torpedo tubes were still seen as required armament on capital ships in 1915. As such, Warspite was given four torpedo launch tubes - two mounted forward and two mounted aft - in fixed launchers below the water line. The bow mounts - one port and one starboard - were about 80 feet back from the bow and the two aft tubes were situated as one port and one starboard under the most-aft 15-inch "D" turret emplacement. Each station held five torpedoes of 21-inches (533mm) in diameter and the length of bore of each was 45 calibers (270in). Each torpedo tube weighed 6 tons and the torpedoes themselves were 22 feet, 7.5 in long (6.896 m). The warhead weighed 280 pounds and the complete torpedo weighed 3,206 pounds (1,454 kg). Maximum range of these weapons was 18,500 yards with a cruise-to-target speed of 19 knots. The tubes were removed during the 1941 refit when destroyers took on the "torpedo boat" role in the British Royal Navy.
A number of boats and barges were assigned to the HMS Warspite and her sister ships. The types consisted of a number of 32-foot Cutters with oars, 2 x 27-foot Whalers with sail and oars, a 42-foot sailing launch and a 36-foot pinache boat. Also assigned were 1 x 50-foot steam pinache, 1 x 45-foot steam Admiral's barge, a number of the standard 16-foot dinghy watercraft. Warspite was fitted with 8 x 40" searchlights as-built. After the Battle of Jutland, due to the poor performance of the British Fleet during the night action, an additional 8 lights were added making for a total of 16 searchlights placed about the superstructure.
Belt armor for the class was 13 inches amidships, tapering forward to 6 inches and aft to 4 inches. Above the waterline belt, the armor was 6 inches. The upright walls - or bulkheads - in the ship were from 6-inches to 4-inches thick forward and aft. The main 15-inch turrets weighed 750 tons, each having 13-inch armor fronts, sides of 11-inches and the turret roof with 4.25inch armor protection. The barbettes were given 7 to 10 inches above the belt and 4 to 6 inches below the belt. 6" guns were protected by 6-inch armor and the conning tower had 11-inch sides, a 3-inch roof and 4-inches on the revolving hood.
The propulsion system chosen were 24 x boilers, each having 285 psi maximum pressure and each driving 4 x direct drive turbines. The vessel had 4 x shafts and 75,000 shaft horsepower at 300 rpm. Electrical power for onboard systems was provided for by 2 x oil-driven 450kW dynamos and 2 x turbine-driven 200 Kw dynamos. Shortly after construction a single reciprocating engine-driven 200 kW dynamo was added to support the ships systems. The design speed was 24 knots at 56,000 shaft horsepower and, during trials in 1915, Warspite made 24.1kts at 56,600 shaft horsepower. The propellers each had 3 x 11 foot blades that turned at 275 revolutions per minute. 2 x 30 foot rudders were set behind the propellers, one between the first and second propeller and the second between the second and third propeller, allowing the ship to turn 360-degrees under power. Fuel storage below decks held tanks for 3,300 tons of oil and bins for100 tons of coal. Text ©2003-2013 www.MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • No Reproduction Permitted
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Specifications for the
HMS Warspite (03)
Dreadnought Battleship
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Initial Year of Service: 1915
Operators: United Kingdom
Crew: 1,300
Length: 640ft (195.07m)
Beam: 90.6ft (27.61m)
Draught: 28.9ft (8.81m)
Displacement: 33,670tons
Machinery: 24 x Yarrow oil biolders; 4 x Brown-Curtis single reduction geared quadruple screw steam turbine engines delivering 144,000 shaft horsepower to 4 x shafts.
Surface Speed: 24kts (28mph)
Range: 9,896miles (15,926km)
Armament:
(1915):
8 x Mk I 15-inch /42 main guns in four twin-gun turrets
14 x 6-inch (152mm) Mk XII guns in single mountings
4 x 21-inch (530mm) torpedo tubes
2 x 3-inch anti-aircraft cannons
4 x 3-pdr (47mm) salute cannons
(1941):
8 x BL 15-inch /42 main guns (with increased elevation) in four twin-gun turrets (two forward, two aft).
8 x 6-inch Mk XII (152mm) guns
8 x 4-inch Mk XVI anti-aircraft cannons in four twin-gun turrets
32 x 2-pdr (40mm) "pom-pom" anti-aircraft cannons
15 x 20mm anti-aircraft cannons
16 x 0.50 caliber Vickers anti-aircraft machine guns in quad mountings.
Air Arm:
1920: 1 x Floatplane Aircraft
1939: 2 x Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers
Ship Class: Queen Elizabeth-class
Number-in-Class: 5
Ships-in-Class: HMS Queen Elizabeth (00); HMS Malaya (01); HMS Valiant (02); HMS Warspite (03); HMS Barham (04)
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