Iron Duke class battleship

The "Iron Duke"-class battleships of the Royal Navy were four battleships, HMS|Benbow|1913|6, HMS|Emperor of India|1913|2, HMS|Iron Duke|1912|2, and HMS|Marlborough|1912|2. Launched from October 1912 to November 1913, this third class of Royal Navy super-dreadnoughts had the same ten 13.5-inch guns in five centreline twin turrets as before.

They were essentially "King George V"-class battleships with improved armour and an improved secondary armament of 6-inch weapons instead of 4-inch. The underwater protection scheme relied on an incomplete torpedo bulkhead, with coal bunkers protecting those areas that lacked a bulkhead. This makes an interesting comparison to the corresponding German design, which employed a complete torpedo bulkhead.

The move to 6 in guns had been necessary for some time because of the growing size of destroyers, but had been impossible until Admiral Jackie Fisher, with his preference for a purely all-big-gun armament, had left the Admiralty. The secondary armament was well disposed except for 4 guns mounted low in the stern, in the innovative but incorrect belief that destroyers would be silhouetted against the horizon - these gun positions were eventually plated over. (An alternate perspective on the value of a large secondary battery is provided by several authors and commentators, who argue that the 6-inch battery in these ships consumed 2,000 tons of displacement; were worthless in battle; were important holes in the side subject to flooding; were poorly-armoured pathways through which a ship-crippling secondary magazine explosion might be triggered; and medium-calibre weapons could have been carried much more cheaply and effectively on smaller screening vessels).

Although they were designed for the convert|21|kn|km/h|adj=on battle line as before, they became overloaded and by the end of the war, struggled to maintain station and apparently did not often steam at more than convert|19|kn|km/h. However, naval opinion was that they were a successful design, and hardly less effective than the "Revenge"-class of 2 years later.

The "Iron Duke"s were followed by the famous "Queen Elizabeth"-class.

ervice

"Benbow", "Iron Duke" and "Marlborough" participated in the battle of Jutland. "Emperor of India" was sunk as a target ship in 1931, "Benbow" was sold for scrap in 1929, and "Marlborough" was sold for scrap in 1932. "Iron Duke" survived the longest after being converted to a training ship as the result of the Washington Naval Treaty, and was sold for scrap in 1946.

ee also

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External links

* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/pages/battleships/iron_duke_class_overview.htm MaritimeQuest "Iron Duke"-class overview]