The Lion class of battleships were to be a development of the British King George V class battleships. They were intended to replace the World War One vintage Revenge class ships in service with the Royal Navy. The Revenge-classes had been built with economy in mind and as a consequence were slow, at 21 kt, and could not be effectively upgraded. As designed, the Lion class ships would have displaced 40,000 tons standard, and carried nine 16 inch guns in three triple mount turrets which was the same as the Nelson class battleships of 1925 (although both guns and turrets were new designs). The unusual choice of 14 inch gun and the mix of quadruple and twin turrets for the KGVs had been born of the need to get them built as soon as possible. The secondary armament would be the same as the KGVs, sixteen 5.25 inch guns. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (961x220, 158 KB) Summary Schematic Design of Lion Class Battleship Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For other uses, see Battleship (disambiguation). ... One of the KGV battleships, HMS Howe The King George V class battleships were the second to last class of battleships completed by the Royal Navy. ... The Revenge-class battleships were five battleships of the Royal Navy, ordered as World War I loomed on the horizon, and launched in 1914–1916. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... HMS Nelson For the Battleship class in the Cosmic Era of Gundam, see Nelson class battleship (Gundam) The Nelson class were battleships of the British Royal Navy built shortly following the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922. ...

The Second London Naval Treaty had in theory limited the building of major warships by the USA, France and the United Kingdom to 14 inch guns and 35,000 tons maximum, but an "escalation clause" allowed for increases to match other navies if they exceeded these limits, which had happened. The Second London Naval Disarmament Conference opened in England on December 9, 1935. ...

Construction

Four ships were planned, and the first two, Lion and Temeraire, were laid down in mid-1939. However, after the outbreak of the Second World War that year, the Lions became a questionable investment. After some consideration, construction work on the two ships was halted during October 1940 to allow the shipbuilding industry to concentrate on more important vessels such as escort craft. The two partially complete hulls were scrapped during 1942–43. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Serious thought was given to resuming construction of at least one Lion to a new design immediately following the Second World War. However these proposals all came to naught due to both the financial situation of postwar Britain and the realization that, if the ships were to be given adequate protection from air attacks, the amount of deck armour they would have to carry would be excessively heavy. In the event only a single battleship was completed after World War II, HMS Vanguard. HMS Vanguard was a Fully Armoured Battlecruiser of the Royal Navy. ...

The ships

Four vessels were planned:

• Lion

Vickers-Armstrong 4 July 1939

• Temeraire

Cammell Laird 1 June 1939

• Conqueror

John Brown & Company

• Thunderer

Fairfield

See HMS Lion, HMS Temeraire, HMS Conqueror and HMS Thunderer for other ships of the same name. The Vickers corporation, founded as the Vickers company in 1828, was a British manufacturer, primarily of military equipment. ... For the United States holiday, the Fourth of July, see Independence Day (United States). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Cammell Laird logo Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. ... June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... HMS Indefatigable being launched at Clydebank. ... Eighteen vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Lion, after the lion, an animal traditionally associated with courage, and also used in several heraldric motifs representing England and the British Monarchy. ... The fighting Temeraire, tugged to her last berth to be broken up by J. M. W. Turner, 1838. ... Nine vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Conqueror. ... Six ships of the British Royal Navy have been called HMS Thunderer: The first Thunderer was a 74-gun third-rate launched in 1760 and wrecked 1780. ...

Specification

• Displacement
  • Standard: 40,500 tons
  • Full load: 46,300 tons
• Length: 785 ft (239.3 m)
• Beam: 104 ft (31.7 m)
• Draught: 30 ft (9.1 m)
• Propulsion
  • Machinery: 8 boilers, Steam turbines, 4 shafts
  • Power: 130,000 hp
  • Speed: 30 knots
• Armament:
  • Main: 3 x triple 16 inch /L45 (406 mm)
  • Secondary: 8 x dual 5.25 inch /L50 (133 mm)
  • Anti-aircraft: 6 8-barrelled 2 pounder "pom-pom"s (40 mm)
• Armour:
  • Belt: 5.5-15 inch (14-381 mm)
  • Barbettes: 12-15 inch (305-381 mm)
  • Turrets: 15 inch (381 mm)

2-pounder multiple pom-pom Mark VIII on 8-barrel mounting Mark VI. A pom-pom is a large calibre machine-gun, used mostly famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the British Royal Navy. ... A barbette is the fixed area underneath a rotating gun turret on a warship. ... Corbelled corner turrets at Newark Castle, Port Glasgow. ...

Reference

• D.K. Brown, Nelson to Vanguard, 2000, Chatham Publishing