HMS Vanguard (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.

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; in anticipation of Operation Downfall, the expected invasion of Japan, however as a result of Japan's surrender, 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". [cite web| url=http://battleshiphmsvanguard.homestead.com/15inch.html| title=The Fifteen Inch Guns of HMS Vanguard| accessdate=2007-08-30] Two of the mounts themselves had been intended for "Renown" and "Repulse" before going to "Courageous" and "Glorious".

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 cite book |title=Royal Yachts of the World |last=Madge |first= Tim |year=1997 |publisher=Thomas Reed Publications |isbn=0901281743 |pages=pp.146-7] . The ship took 17 days to reach South Africa.

" 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.

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 convert|15|in|mm|0|sing=on 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.

ee also

*John Litchfield, captain of HMS "Vanguard", and later Member of Parliament for Chelsea.

References

External links

* [http://www.hms-vanguard.co.uk/ HMS Vanguard website]
* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/battleships/vanguard_1944/hms_vanguard_1944.htm Maritimequest HMS Vanguard Photo Gallery]