HMS Vanguard (23)
| 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: | 44,500 standard, 51,420 tons at full load |
| Length: | 814 ft 6 in (248.3 m) |
| Beam: | 107 ft 7 in (32.79 m) |
| Draught: | 30 ft 6 in (9.30 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: | 1,500 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
1 x Radar Type 960 air warning; 1 x Radar Type 293 target indication; 1 x Radar Type 277 height finding; 2 x Radar Type 274 15-inch fire control; 4 x Radar Type 275 5.25-inch fire control; 10 x Radar Type 262 40 mm fire control |
| Armament: | 8 x BL 15 inch (381.0 mm) Mk I guns in 4 twin mountings Mark IN with RP12 RPC; 16 x QF 5.25 inch (133 mm) Mk I gunsin 8 twin mountings Mark I* with RP10 RPC; 60 x 40 mm /60 BoforsAA guns in 10 sextuple mounting Mark VI with RP50 RPC; 2 × 40 mm /60 Bofors AA guns in twin mounting STAAG Mark I 11 × 40 mm /60 Bofors AA guns in single mountings Mark VII; 4 x QF 3 pdr (47 mm)saluting guns |
| Armour: | Belt 4.5-14.0 in (115-355 mm) Bulkheads 4.0-12.0 in (102-305 mm) Barbettes 11.0-13.0 in (280-330 mm) Turret faces 13.0 in (330 mm) Conning tower 2.5-3.0 in (65-75 mm) Deck 5.0-6.0 in (125-150 mm) |
| Motto: | We Lead |
| Notes: | Pennant number 23 |
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HMS Vanguard was a British fast battleship launched late in the Second World War and commissioned after the end of that conflict. She was the only one of her class and was the biggest, fastest and last of the Royal Navy battleships, and the last battleship built in the world. Vanguard was used in training exercises with NATO forces in the 1950s and was put into reserve in 1955. She was broken up in 1960.
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[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 first put on hold and then cancelled mid-war.
An alternative 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 used 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 using 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 was launched in November 1944. As a result of Japan's surrender, there was no need to rush her into service and the ship was not commissioned until 1946.
While 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 their designs were cut down to three turrets apiece with the spares 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]
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 pub 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 early 1962 Vanguard ceased to exist, never having fired her guns in anger.
Sections of 150 millimetres (5.9 in) thick steel plate were recovered from the scrapping of the Vanguard and used for the shielding of the whole body monitor at the Radiobiological Research Laboratory (now DSTL) at Alverstoke, Gosport, Hampshire, England.[3]
[edit] Design
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Vanguard was unique among British battleships in having remote power control (RPC) for main, secondary and the tertiary guns along with the Admiralty Fire Control Table Mk X for surface fire control of the main armament. 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 a RP50 RPC and the 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 almost 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] Scale models
An accurate 1/1200th scale model of the ship had been produced in 1958 by Tri-ang Minic Ltd in their Minic Ships range. This die cast metal waterline model had rotating turrets and separately fitted derrick. Following the scrapping of the real HMS Vanguard, sections of wood from the deck were recovered from the shipbreaker and supplied to the Tri-ang Minic works during late 1960. These were cut to size and prepared to accept mounted versions of the model to produce a special edition. Packed in standard Tri-ang Minic Ships boxes, they contain a single printed page confirming that the model is mounted on a real piece of HMS Vanguard's deck and giving a short history of the ship.
[edit] See also
Media related to HMS Vanguard (1946) at Wikimedia Commons
- John Litchfield, captain of HMS Vanguard, and later Member of Parliament for Chelsea.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ "The Fifteen Inch Guns of HMS Vanguard". http://battleshiphmsvanguard.homestead.com/15inch.html. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
- ^ a b Madge, Tim (1997). Royal Yachts of the World. Thomas Reed Publications. pp. 146–7. ISBN 0901281743.
- ^ Giles Cowling. "From land, sea and air". 31. Defence Management Journal. http://www.defencemanagement.com/article.asp?id=200&content_name=National%20Security%20and%20Resilience&article=5132. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
[edit] External links
- HMS Vanguard website
- Maritimequest HMS Vanguard Photo Gallery
- Fry, Roger (2007 October). "HMS Vanguard: A short history of Britain’s last battleship". Vanguard: The Official Journal of the Royal Navy Association No. 10: 33. http://www.rna-10-area.net/files/VanguardOct07.pdf.
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