HMS Warspite (03)

HMS Warspite (03) History

HMS Warspite (03) is a Queen Elizabeth-class dreadnought in service with the British Royal Navy. The hull of this new Big Gun ship design is modeled after the Iron Duke class battleships. On the drawing board, the Queen Elizabeth class was backed by Winston Churchill, then 1st Lord of the Admiralty. Churchill knew he needed allies to convince the War Department to fund the massive project, so he persuaded Admiral Sir John "Jackie" Fisher to retire and help build HMS Warspite and her sister ships. Their efforts were successful, and Warspite was officially launched from the Royal Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth on 26 November 1913 and officially commissioned on 8 March 1915.

At this time, the First World War (1914-1918) had begun.

The Queen Elizabeth classes were designed as "super dreadnoughts", reflecting their greater firepower, thicker armour and larger overall size than previous dreadnoughts. Winston Churchill was able to execute the 15-inch main gun secretly developed for the Elizabeth class.

In 1913, these guns were the largest rifled rifles of their kind in the world, making the Elizabeth class the first to be designed around this new weapon. Her architects chose to mount the guns in 4 twin turrets, all in two front and two rear positions. This differs from previous Dreadnoughts, which had a total of five twin-gun turrets.

The decision to remove the fifth turret helped to reduce the overall displacement of the ship and provide more interior space and tonnage for the larger engines - significantly increasing the speed of the class. At 24 knots in ideal conditions, the Queen Elizabeth class of World War I is considered the first true "fast battleship".

The 15" (381.0 mm) main barrel weighed approximately 100 tons and was 650.4" (16.52 m) long. The shell is separated from the charge and weighs only 870 kg. When fired, the barrel has a recoil of 46 inches (1.2 m), allowing trained and experienced riflemen to maintain a healthy rate of fire of 2 rounds per minute. Muzzle velocity is rated at 2,575 feet per second (785 m/s). By the time of World War II in 1941, the maximum elevation angle of the gun was changed from 20 degrees to 30 degrees.

This altitude change gives the streamlined hull a maximum range of 23,734 yards at 20 degrees and 32,500 yards (29,720 m) at 30 degreesover 18 miles.

The 6" BL Mk XII series was selected as secondary armament, with all 14 systems placed in built-in sashes along the sides of the hull - 7 on port and 7 on starboard. The caliber is 6 inches and each gun weighs 6 tons. The bore length was 45 caliber (270 in) and each shell weighed 100 lb (45 kg). The gunner can maintain a rate of 7 rounds per minute and has a maximum range of 13,500 yards. In practice, these Model 1915 guns were designed to fire forward to prevent small boats from attempting to torpedo the ship.

These guns were close to the waterline and used in this way had little effect. Another option was to place four guns in the stern, but this plan was abandoned and two guns were eventually placed on the deck of the ship.

After the fighting near Jutland in 1916, they were removed entirely because the gunmen were found to be too exposed to enemy fire.

The squad was also armed with 2 x 3" BL Mk 1 QF series anti-aircraft guns, which were added in 1915. At this time, the general feeling among war planners was that aircraft could not sink battleships, so the need to protect anti-aircraft guns was a low priority Class. These guns have a 3" caliber and a 45 caliber (135") bore length. A single gun weighs 1 ton (2000 lb) and has a 12 lb, 8 oz shell.

The crew can maintain 20 rounds per minute The rate of fire. The maximum range of the shell is about 11,200 yards.

In 1915, torpedo tubes were still considered a must-have weapon on capital ships. As a result, Warspite received four torpedo tubestwo front and two rearin fixed launchers below the waterline.

The bow bracketsone port and one starboardare located approximately 80 feet from the bow, and the two rear tubes are located one port and one starboard, respectively, below the position of the aftmost 15-inch D turret. Each station contained five 533 mm (21 in) diameter torpedoes, each caliber 45 caliber (270 in).

Each torpedo tube weighed 6 tons, and the torpedoes themselves were 22 feet long and 7.5 inches (6,896 meters) long. The warhead weighed 280 pounds, and the entire torpedo weighed 3,206 pounds (1,454 kg). These weapons have a maximum range of 18,500 yards and an aiming speed of 19 knots.

In a 1941 refit, the tubes were removed when the destroyer took over the role of "torpedo boat" for the Royal Navy.

Many ships and barges were assigned to the HMS Warspite and its sister ships. These types include a range of 32ft cutters with paddles, 2 x 27ft whalers with sails and paddles, a 42ft sailboat and a 36ft pinach boat.

Also allocated 1 x 50' Steam pinache, 1 x 45' Admiral's steam barge, some standard 16' dinghy boats. Warspite comes with an 8 x 40 inch searchlight when installed.

After the Battle of Jutland, due to the poor performance of the British fleet in night operations, 8 more searchlights were added, for a total of 16 searchlights placed around the superstructure.

Belt armor for this class is 13 inches amidships, tapering to 6 inches forward and 4 inches aft. Above the waterline, the armor is 6 inches. Upright walls or bulkheads on ships are between 6 inches and 4 inches thick fore and aft.

The 15" main turrets weighed 750 tons and each had a 13" armoured front, 11" sides and turret top with 4.25" armour protection. The stock is 7 to 10 inches above the belt and 4 to 6 inches below the belt.

The 6" gun was protected by 6" armor, the conning tower had 11" sides, a 3" roof, and a 4" swivel.

The propulsion system selected consists of 24 boilers, each with a maximum pressure of 285 psi, each with 4 direct drive turbines. The boat has 4 shafts and 75,000 shaft horsepower at 300 rpm. Electricity for the onboard systems is provided by 2 x 450kW oil driven generators and 2 x 200kW turbine driven generators. Shortly after construction, a 200 kW reciprocating engine-driven generator was added to support the ship's systems. Designed at 24 knots and 56,000 hp, the Warspite made 24.1 knots at 56,600 hp in trials in 1915.

Each propeller has 3 x 11 foot blades and spins at 275 rpm. Two 30-foot rudders are mounted behind the propellers, one between the first and second propellers and the other between the second and third propellers, allowing the boat to turn 360 degrees under power.

The bunker below deck contains tanks of 3,300 tons of oil and 100 tons of coal.

The first commander of the Warspite was Captain Edward Montgomery Phillpotts. The Admiralty released Warspite to sea, and she sailed into the Atlantic for a series of sea trials, including firing a new 15-inch (381 mm) main gun. Churchill himself was on board when the guns were fired to test their accuracy and effectiveness. The gun was on target, and Churchill was pleased with the new gun.

Warspite then completed her sea trials and was assigned to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet in late 1915. Led by the destroyer escort, Warspite landed on the Forth, causing damage to the hull.

After the repairs, she joined the Grand Fleet in the newly formed 5th Combat Squadron, specially formed for fast Queen Elizabeth class ships. In December 1915, USS Warspite accidentally collided with sister ship HMS Barham on a fog bank while conducting a fast attack exercise with ships of her class.

The collision caused extensive damage to Warspite, forcing her to return to Plymouth for repairs. When finished, she returned to the fleet.

During the First World War, Germany's general strategy was to break through the British blockade and allow German merchant ships to bring much-needed supplies back to Germany. The British strategy was to starve the German people into surrender so that the Royal Navy could attack and destroy the High Seas Fleet and keep the German Navy's warships and submarines out of Britain's own shipping lanes.

Two years after the First World War, in May 1916, Warspite and the 5th Battle Squadron joined the Grand Fleet for the first battle of their careers, the Battle of Jutland.

Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer commanded the German Fleet, and the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet was commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. The intention of the German fleet was to destroy only part of the Grand Fleet, as the German Navy did not have enough ships to attack the entire British fleet. Churchill said that Jellicoe was the only one who could lose the war in one afternoon. In late May, Scheer ordered the entire High Seas Fleet to invade the North Atlantic, expecting to destroy and destroy Admiral Beatty's Forth-based battlecruiser squadron.

The Royal Navy learned of Scheer's plans (in violation of German naval regulations), and the Grand Fleet went to sea to meet him.

The British and German fleets sailed in standard formation, with reconnaissance squadrons of faster cruisers ahead of the main body. The battle began on 31 May, with Admiral Beatty in command of the squadron and a smaller fleet of German cruisers under the command of Admiral Hipper found seven miles behind the cruisers. Hipper was lured to the south within range of the German main fleet.

When the Germans tried to overtake and destroy the British cruiser fleet, two British cruisers were destroyed. The 5th Combat Squadron appeared after the destruction of the HMS Indefatigable, as the German fleet approached the British ships, they were attacked by the Jellicoe main battle fleet as the British crossed the "T" - the final "broadside against bow" exercise the term.

When the German fleet passed the British fleet, it received 27 direct hits, compared to only 2 hits against British ships.

HMS Warspite and HMS Malaya engaged the German battleships around 4:00 pm on the first day of the battle. During a violent maneuver to avoid a collision with HMS Valiant, Warspite's steering jammed, causing her to spin in the air and be exposed to heavy German artillery, although she (accidentally) diverted a steer from the damaged cruiser HMS Warrior. firepower. After two full turns, Warspite was brought under control and headed for the attacking German fleet. The previous damage only allowed her first turret to hit enemy targets.

Only when the German fleet was forced to turn around to avoid the fire of the British Grand Fleet was Warspite spared from annihilation. In total, the Warspite suffered 15 direct hits from German 11" and 12" shells. Her cabin was flooded and her speed was reduced to just 16 knots.

When she was rejuvenated, she was ordered back to Rosyth for repairs. She arrived at the British port on June 1. As a result of this battle, the Germans lost one heavy cruiser and four light cruisers, one ex-dreadnought, and five destroyers.

Britain lost three heavy cruisers and four armored cruisers and eight destroyers. Overall, the surviving German capital ships suffered heavy damage, and the end result of the battle increased the British capital ships' naval advantage over Germany.

The battle ended any threat to the balance of war for the German High Seas Fleet. The blockade continued and the Royal Navy took control of the North Sea until the end of the war.

Warspite was repaired and returned to the fleet on July 20, 1916, but collided with HMS Valiant on August 24. The damage suffered required extensive repairs in Plymouth, which will continue until September 28. The rudder damage she suffered during the Battle of Jutland was never fully repaired and would continue to haunt the ship at the end of her illustrious career. She returned to the fleet and served for a time as flagship of the 5th Battle Squadron. In June 1917, the Warspite - again with steering problems - collided with the HMS Destroyer and caused serious damage, both ships had to be returned to Scapa Flow for repairs.

Her troubles didn't continue until July 9, 1917, when HMS Warspite made these repairs. That day, a coal fire broke out on the nearby HMS Vanguard, igniting the Cordite in the armory, causing a huge explosion. The HMS Vanguard sank, taking 804 British sailors and leaving only 2 survivors.

HMS Warspite's last World War I mission was on November 21, 1918, when she entered Scapa Flow to accept the German surrender to the High Seas Fleet.