HMS Vanguard (23)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Vanguard |
| Ordered: | 14 March 1941 |
| Builder: | John Brown and Company, Clydebank, Scotland |
| Laid down: | 2 October 1941 |
| Launched: | 30 November 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 9 August 1946 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 June 1960 |
| Fate: | sold to Shipbreaking Industries 1960, arrived Faslane for scrapping 9 August 1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 46,000 standard, 48,500 tons at full load |
| Length: | 814 ft 6 in (248.3 m) |
| Beam: | 107 ft 7 in (32.8 m) |
| Draught: | 30 ft 6 in (9.3 m) |
| Propulsion: | 8 Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers (400 psi, 750 °F) 4 Parsons single reduction steam turbines 4 shafts 130,000 shp (97 MW) |
| Speed: | 30 knots (60 km/h) |
| Range: | 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1500 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Armament: |
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| Motto: | We Lead |
| Notes: | Pennant number 23 |
HMS Vanguard was a "Fully Armoured Battlecruiser" of the Royal Navy. She was the biggest and last battleship to be built for the Royal Navy.
Contents |
[edit] Construction
At the outbreak of World War II the Admiralty decided to concentrate the limited shipbuilding resources on vessels that could come into service quickly rather than larger or more powerful ships that might be completed too late to serve in the conflict. Since it would take too much time and demand too many resources to build the 12 triple 16-inch turrets needed for the four Lion class battleships, these four ships were cancelled.
An alternate plan was suggested in 1940 that would use four spare twin 15 inch mountings originally used by HM ships Courageous and Glorious during World War I. These four turrets—enough to arm a new battleship—were removed during the conversions of Courageous and Glorious to aircraft carriers in the late 1920s and had since been kept in store. It was suggested that the turrets and mountings from the two battlecruisers be utilized in a modified Lion design for speedy construction, thus giving rise to the nickname "battleship with her great aunt's teeth".
The Admiralty ordered a design for a 40,000-ton battleship utilizing these weapons, intended to be the core of a Far East Fleet, where her high speed and armament would be a match for Japanese warships. Vanguard was laid down in 1941, by John Brown and Company, Clydebank, Scotland, and her hull was launched in November 1944; however, the ship was not commissioned until 1946.
It is interesting to note that whilst the 15-inch mounts were reportedly from Courageous and Glorious, the actual guns were from a pool of guns that had been used on several ships including Queen Elizabeth, Royal Sovereign and others. One single gun had been on either Courageous or Glorious but came to Vanguard via HMS Warspite.[1] Two of the mounts themselves had been intended for Renown and Repulse before going to Courageous and Glorious.
[edit] Career
She performed various duties as flagship, training ship, and even as a "Royal Yacht", when, in 1947, she took the royal family of George VI to South Africa. This was the first time his daughter Elizabeth II, then a princess, ever left Britain [2]. The ship took 17 days to reach South Africa.[2]
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At the end of 1954 Vanguard sailed to HMNB Devonport, for a refit. On completion in 1955, she was placed in reserve, not returning to the Home Fleet. In 1956 Vanguard became flagship of the Royal Navy Reserve Fleet. While moored in Fareham Creek, during her time in the reserve fleet, scenes for the film "Sink the Bismarck" were filmed aboard. During this time there was some controversy over the ship's future. It was announced in October 1959 that the Vanguard would be scrapped in 1960. Efforts to turn her into a museum were unsuccessful.
On 4 August 1960, when she was to be towed from Portsmouth to the breakers yard at Faslane, Scotland, the whole of the Southsea sea front was packed with people to see her off. As she was being towed towards the harbour entrance, she slewed across the harbour to the Still & West public house and went aground. She was eventually pulled off by tugs and finally made her exit from Portsmouth. Five days later she arrived at Faslane and by the spring of 1962 Vanguard ceased to exist.
[edit] Design
Vanguard was unique among British battleships in having remote power control (RPC) for main, secondary and the tertiary guns. There were two director control towers (DCT) for the 15-inch (381 mm) guns, each carrying a "double cheese" Radar Type 274 centimetric fire control set for rangefinding and spotting the fall of shot. There were four US Navy type Mark 37 DCT for the 5.25 inch guns, each carrying the twin domes of Radar Type 275, a centimetric fire control set. Lastly, each Mark VI sextuple 40 mm Bofors mounting had its own CRBF ("close range blind fire") director fitted with RP50 RPC and Radar Type 262. The Type 262 was a centimetric set transmitting through a small parabolic dish giving a narrow search cone. The antenna was spun off-axis at high speed to produce a wider cone capable of locking on to a target. The STAAG Mk.I 40 mm Bofors mounting carried its own Radar Type 262 on the mounting itself. Originally this was located below the gun barrels, but it was subject to excessive vibration and was later relocated to the top of the mounting. Other radar sets carried were Type 960 air warning, Type 293 target indication and Type 277 height finding.
Vanguard was well regarded as a good seaboat, able to keep an even keel in rough seas. This was due to the large flare applied to the bows after experience with her predecessors, the King George V class. The latter had been built with no sheer to the main deck forwards to allow firing of Turret A straight ahead at 0° of elevation, resulting in a poor seaboat that took a lot of water over the bows. During NATO exercises in the 1950s Vanguard's main deck was dry in heavy North Atlantic swells whereas US Navy Iowa-class battleships had their forward turrets awash with spray.
[edit] See also
- John Litchfield, captain of HMS Vanguard, and later Member of Parliament for Chelsea.
| HMS Vanguard | |
| Preceded by: Lion class (planned) - Followed by: none | |
List of battleships of the Royal Navy |
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[edit] References
- ^ The Fifteen Inch Guns of HMS Vanguard. Retrieved on 2007-08-30.
- ^ a b Madge, Tim (1997). Royal Yachts of the World. Thomas Reed Publications, pp.146-7. ISBN 0901281743.
