Lord Nelson class battleship

Lord Nelson class battleship

The "Lord Nelson" class was a class of two predreadnought battleships built by the Royal Navy between 1905 and 1908. They were the last British predreadnoughts.

Technical Characteristics

The "Lord Nelson"-class battleships were designed and built at a time when the direction of future battleship construction was controversial. On the one hand, naval combat during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 suggested that engagement ranges would increase to the point that intermediate and secondary batteries would become far less important and perhaps even ineffective, and that smaller-caliber guns would be useless in combat between capital ships; on the other hand, the lower rate of fire of battleship main batteries raised questions about the prudence of building all-big gun battleships, for fear that they might be overwhelmed by the higher rate of fire of intermediate-caliber guns in the shorter-range engagements that might occur in fog or bad weather or at night. In the end, the all-big-gun battleships, which became known as dreadnoughts after the first such ship, HMS "Dreadnought", were vindicated, but this was by no means clear when the "Lord Nelsons" were designed in 1904 or even by the time they were laid down in 1905. [Burt, pp. 277-287]

s; this eliminated the problem of being unable to work the secondaries in a seaway, a problem in the many classes of British battleships with main-deck-mounted secondaries which were washed out in all but the calmest weather. [Burt, p. 229-238, 281-288]

The 12-inch (305-mm) guns were a new, more powerful, 45-caliber type; they and their turrets were the same as those carried by the revolutionary "Dreadnought"; [Burt, p. ] indeed, the completion of "Lord Nelson" and "Agamemnon" was delayed when their main battery guns and mountings were diverted to "Dreadnought" to expedite her completion in 1906. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 40]

In the end, the mixed-caliber heavy armament proved unsuccessful, as gunnery officers found it impossible to distinguish between 12-inch (305-mm) and 9.2-inch (234-mm) shell splashes, making fire control impractical. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 40] This finding further pushed the navies of the world to move to all-big-gun dreadnought battleship designs. Indeed, an all-big-gun design had been considered for the "Lord Nelsons" in January 1905, but their design was too far advanced by then to be changed, and the all-big-gun layout had to await HMS "Dreadnought". [Burt, p. 284]

For anti-torpedo-boat defense, the "Lord Nelsons" retained a battery of 12-pounders. These were mounted on a large flying deck amidships, where they had good command. However, this innovative mounting scheme also was critcized because it made a good target and because falling debris due to damage might foul the 9.2-inch (234-mm) turrets below in combat. In addition, some officers believed that the all-12-pounder battery was too light to deal with larger, modern torpedo boats. [Burt, pp. 284-288]

The larger gun calibers becoming common in foreign battleships also led to greater protection being built into the "Lord Nelsons". They were more heavily armored than any other British predreadnoughts, and more heavily armored in terms of area and thickness than any of the dreadnoughts prior to the "Orion" class of 1909. They were the first British battleships to have solid watertight bulkheads, penetrated by no doors or pipes, intended to contain flooding, with access across the bulkheads being via lifts (elevators). The solid bulkheads proved unpopular in service because of the inconvenience they imposed on the crew and were not repeated in the early British dreadnoughts, although Russian experience in the Russo-Japanese War suggested that such bulkheads were useful in keeping predreadnoughts from sinking. As further protection, each compartment in the "Lord Nelsons" had its own ventilation and pumping arrangements, eliminating the need for a single main drainage system as employed in previous British battleships and seen as a possible weakness during flooding. [Burt, p. 289] The underwater defenses of the "Lord Nelsons" never were tested seriously in combat, but it is likely that they would have performed much better than other British predreadnought battleships, which usually sank due to progressive flooding after only a single torpedo or mine hit.

Both ships were designed to be short because the design board responsible for the ships wanted them to be able to fit into dry docks, otherwise closed to previous battleship classes. The design requirements this imposed made them shorter than the earlier "King Edward VII"-class battleships and rather cramped in service, but the requirements also made the ships both flat-sided and fairly flat-bottomed; this and the mounting of the heavy 9.2-inch (234-mm) guns and their turrets had the useful side-effect of making the "Lord Nelsons" resistant to rolling and therefore both good seaboats and good gun platforms. However, the design also forced a compromises in the 9.2-inch (234-mm) battery. The ships' beam limitations forced abandonment of a design in which each of them would mount twelve 9.2-inch (234-mm) in six twin turrets, and instead they mounted ten of the guns in four twin and two single turrets, and limitations on the size of the 9.2-inch (234-mm) turrets themselves meant that they were cramped enough in service to impair the rate of fire of the 9.2-inch (234-mm) guns. [Burt, p. 286-287]

They were the last British battleships to have reciprocating engines and the last with twin screws, future classes having turbines and quadruple screws. They also were the last with inward-turning screws, which allowed greater propulsive force and slightly higher speeds and slightly less fuel consumption, but were unpopular in service because they made ships less maneuverable at low speeds or when going astern. It was decided to stop using mixed boiler types in the same ship, and both had uniform, large water-tube boilers, 15 Babcock and Wilcox in "Lord Nelson" and 15 Yarrow in "Agamemnon". Although primarily coal-powered, they were the first British battleships designed to carry oil, earlier ships having been retrofitted to carry oil; "Lord Nelson" had six oil spayers and "Agamemnon" five, and the use of these extended their range considerably. The boiler arrangements were very successful in service, and both ships easily made their design speed of 18 knots (33.33 km/h); on trials "Lord Nelson" made 18.7 knots (34.6 km/h) and "Agamemnon" made 18.5 knots (34.25 km/h). ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 40]

The "Lord Nelsons" were the last British battleships to have an armored ram built into their bow. [Burt, p. 286-287] They cost just over £1,600,00 each, the 2005 equivalent of about £110,000,000.

The ships as completed were homely but intimidating in appearance, and looked more like French battleships than the previous British predreadnought pattern. [Burt, p. 293-294] Like all predreadnoughts, the "Lord Nelsons" were made obsolete by the commissioning of the revolutionary HMS "Dreadnought" at the end of 1906 and the many other dreadnought battleships commissioned in succeeding years; indeed, "Dreadnought" commissioned while "Lord Nelson" and "Agamemnon" were still under construction, neither ship joining the fleet until 1908.

However, their obsolescence often is overstated. While clearly outgunned by any dreadnought battleship or battlecruiser at ranges of over 10,000 yards (9,100 m), they probably could have more than held their own in engagements under that range, as might occur at night or in fog or bad weather; they were better armored than the early dreadnoughts or any battlecruiser, and the all-9.2-inch (234-mm) secondary battery gave them a powerful broadside with a higher rate of fire than the all-big-gun ships could manage. Despite the commissioning of "Dreadnought" in 1906, the Royal Navy in 1908 considered building two more "Lord Nelsons" to create a tactical group of four because of the success of the first ship, "Agamemnon", in service, although this idea was abandoned due to the success of "Dreadnought" and pressure for more and larger guns on battleships. Thanks to their excellent armor and powerful secondary battery, the "Lord Nelsons" remained in active front-line service right to the end of World War I, something that could not be said of any other British predreadnought or even of HMS "Dreadnought" herself.

Operational History

Both ships commissioned in 1908 and served in the Home Fleet until World War I broke out in August 1914. After early wartime service in the Channel Fleet, both spent the rest of the war in the Mediterranean, where they were involved in attacks on Turkish forts and support of landings in the Dardanelles Campaign and later blockaded the German battlecruiser "Goeben" off the Dardanelles, although both were out of position and missed her when she sortied in January 1918. In November 1918 both ships were part of the first British squadron to pass through the Dardanelles after the Armistice. "Agamemnon" was employed as a radio-controlled target ship during the 1920s. [Burt, pp. 295-298]

hips of the class

HMS "Lord Nelson"

"Lord Nelson" was laid down by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Jarrow in 1905, launched in 1906, and completed in 1908. She commissioned in reserve in 1908, the last British predreadnought to join the fleet, then served in the Home Fleet (1909-1914). Her World War I service was in the Channel Fleet (1914-1915), Dardanelles Campaign (1915-1916), Eastern Mediterranean Squadron (1916-1917), and Aegean Squadron (1917-1919). She went into reserve in 1919 and was sold for scrapping in 1920. [Burt, pp. 282, 297-298]

HMS "Agamemnon"

HMS|Agamemnon|1906|2 was laid down by William Beardmore and Company at Dalmuir in 1905, launched in 1906, and completed in 1908. She served in the Home Fleet (1908-1914). Her World War I service was in the Channel Fleet (1914-1915), Dardanelles Campaign (1915-1916), Eastern Mediterranean Squadron (1916-1917), and Aegean Squadron (1917-1919). She went into reserve in 1919, then served as a radio-controlled target ship (1921-1926) [Many sources say "Agamemnon" served as a radio-controlled target ship only from 1923 to 1926, but Burt, p. 295, specifically states she was converted in 1921 and provides examples of her service as a target ship in 1921. Per Burt, p. 298, she underwent a refit in 1922-1923 while serving as a target ship, and the confusion may arise there.] . The last surviving British predreadnought, she was sold for scrapping in 1927. [Burt, pp. 282, 295-297, 298]

Notes

References

*Brown, D.K. Warrior "to" Dreadnought. Chatham Publishers, 1998.
*Burt, R. A. "British Battleships 1889-1904". Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1988. ISBN 0870210610.
*Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, eds. "Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905". New York: Mayflower Books, Inc., 1979. ISBN 0831703024.
*Gibbons, Tony. "The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers: A Technical Directory of All the World's Capital Ships From 1860 to the Present Day". London: Salamander Books Ltd., 1983.
*McBride, K. "Lord Nelson" and "Agamemnon". Conway's: "Warship", 2005.

External links

* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/pages/battleships/lord_nelson_class.htm MaritimeQuest Lord Nelson Class Overview]
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/pre-dreadnought/hms-lord-nelson.html World War 1 Naval Combat]


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