Lion-class battleship
 |
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Lion-class battleship |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy
|
| Preceded by: | King George V class |
| Succeeded by: | HMS Vanguard |
| Planned: | 6 |
| Completed: | 0 |
| Cancelled: | 6 |
| General characteristics (1942 design) | |
| Type: | Fast battleship |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 793 ft (241.7 m) |
| Beam: | 108 ft (32.9 m) |
| Draught: | 34 ft 3 in (10.4 m) (deep load) |
| Installed power: | 130,000 shp (97,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 28.25 knots (52.32 km/h; 32.51 mph) |
| Range: | 16,500 nmi (30,600 km; 19,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 1,750 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: |
|
| General characteristics (B3 1944 design) | |
| Type: | Fast battleship |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 930 ft (283.5 m) |
| Beam: | 116 ft (35.4 m) |
| Draught: | 35 ft 3 in (10.7 m) (deep load) |
| Installed power: | 152,000 shp (113,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) |
| Range: | 6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Complement: | 1,800 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: |
|
The Lion-class battleships were a class of six fast battleships designed for the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. They were a larger, improved version of the King George V class with 16-inch (406 mm) guns. Only two ships were laid down before World War II began in September 1939 and a third was ordered during the war, but their construction was suspended shortly afterwards. Their design changed several times in response to the removal of treaty restrictions on size and in light of war experience. None of the other ships planned were laid down, although there was a proposal to modify one of the suspended ships into a hybrid battleship/aircraft carrier with two 16-inch gun turrets and a flight deck. The two ships already begun were scrapped after the end of the war.
The choice of 14-inch (356 mm) gun and the mix of quadruple and twin turrets for the main battery of the King George Vs had been dictated by the Second London Naval Treaty, which limited battleships to 35,000 long tons (36,000 t) standard displacement and a main calibre of 14 inches. However, when the Japanese Government refused to agree to its terms, the maximum calibre allowed reverted to 16 inches in April 1937. The Board of Admiralty then began preliminary design work on a 35,000-ton ship armed with 16-inch guns and they were promising enough that the Director of Naval Construction (DNC) was ordered to further investigate such designs, providing for several aircraft as well. To save design time, many of the features of the King George Vs were incorporated in the new design, but the limited size of the ship was a real challenge for the designers. The increased weight of the main armament was compensated for by a slight reduction in the overall weight of armour and the elimination of two twin 5.25-inch (133 mm) gun turrets.
...
Wikipedia