HMS Audacious (1912)
HMS Audacious
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | HMS Audacious |
| Ordered: | 1910 |
| Laid down: | March 1911 |
| Launched: | 14 September 1912 |
| Commissioned: | August 1913 |
| Fate: | Mined, 27 October 1914 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | King George V-class battleship |
| Displacement: | 23,400 long tons (23,780 t) |
| Length: | 598 ft (182.3 m) |
| Beam: | 89 ft (27.1 m) |
| Draught: | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Installed power: | 31,000 shp (23,120 kW) |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | 21 kn (24.2 mph; 38.9 km/h) |
| Complement: | 900 |
| Armament: |
|
HMS Audacious was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy. The vessel did not see any combat in the First World War. It was sunk by a German naval mine off the northern coast of County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland, in October 1914.
The four ships of the King George V class of the 1910 building programme were to have been repeats of the Orion class. However, the battle-cruiser HMS Lion, completed in May 1912 with her foremast ahead of the fore funnel, showed that this was a far better arrangement than that in the Orions, where it was the other way round. This modification produced a new and much improved class of battleship, a rare case where a battle-cruiser design influenced that of a battleship. Although the Orion and King George V classes were very similar, the position of the mast easily distinguishes the two types.
The first two ships of the class, King George V and Centurion, were initially fitted with pole type foremasts, but the advent of director firing required a more substantial mast, so they were refitted with heavier tripod masts. Audacious and Ajax were fitted with tripod masts from the outset.
The machinery arrangement was very similar to that of the earlier Orion class: quadruple propellers driven by Parsons direct drive steam turbines. The machinery spaces were split into three, with the inboard shafts leading to the centre engine room, and the outer shafts to the port and starboard wing engine rooms. The two inboard shafts were driven by the high pressure ahead and astern turbines, with the ahead turbines having an extra stage for cruising. This was separated from the main turbine by a bypass valve. The outer shafts were driven by the ahead and astern low pressure turbines. For cruising, the outboard turbines would be shut down, the ship relying on the inboard shafts alone. The Yarrow boilers remained in three groups of six, eighteen boilers in total. Although primarily coal-fired, Audacious was equipped with oil spraying equipment for quickly raising steam. Normal power was 31,000 SHP, giving 21 knots (39 km/h). Bunker capacity was up to 3,180 tons of coal and 800 tons of oil, which gave a range of 6,370 miles (10,250 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h).
...
Wikipedia