St. Vincent-class battleship
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HMS Vanguard at anchor
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | St Vincent class |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy
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| Preceded by: | Bellerophon class |
| Succeeded by: | Neptune class |
| In commission: | 1910–22 |
| Completed: | 3 |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Scrapped: | 2 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Type: | Dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement: | 19,700 long tons (20,000 t) (normal) |
| Length: | 536 ft (163.4 m) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 84 ft 2 in (25.7 m) |
| Draught: | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | 4 × shafts; 2 × steam turbine sets |
| Speed: | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
| Range: | 6,900 nmi (12,800 km; 7,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 758 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: | |
The three St Vincent-class battleships were built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. They were St Vincent, Collingwood, and Vanguard. Vanguard was destroyed in an ammunition explosion, probably due to bagged cordite. The other two were quickly rendered obsolete by rapid advances in naval technology, and spent most of their career in routine patrols or as training ships, before being sold for scrap in the 1920s.
The design was a slightly enlarged version of the previous Bellerophon-class battleships. The Admiralty saw a potential threat to the naval security of Great Britain in the building programme of German dreadnoughts, and decided to construct a significant modern battle fleet as fast as possible. Building to an existing concept clearly saved time. It was intended that there should be initially a core battle-fleet of eight similar battleships; HMS Dreadnought, three Bellerophons, three St Vincents and one further unnamed ship, later authorised as HMS Neptune.
In comparison to the Bellerophon class, the displacement of the St Vincents was increased by 650 long tons (660 t); the length was increased by 10 feet (3.0 m) and the beam by 18 inches (46 cm). A more powerful main armament gun was shipped; the armour protection of the hull was slightly improved; total fuel capacity was marginally increased; and the design speed was increased.
The main armament consisted of ten 12-inch (305 mm) Mark XI 50-calibre guns carried in five twin turrets. The increase in length over earlier ships, from 45-calibre to 50-calibre, produced an increase in muzzle velocity from 2,850 to 3,101 feet/second for the same weight of armour-piercing shell. This produced an increase in armour penetration of about half an inch at a range of 3,000 yards but muzzle wobble reduced accuracy, with salvoes being spread over a greater area than had been the case with previous ships.
The turret arrangement was the same as in all earlier British dreadnoughts. "A" turret was positioned on the forecastle deck, with an unobstructed arc of fire over the bow of some 270 degrees. "P" and "Q" turrets were placed, one on each beam, on the maindeck at a level between the funnels; each had a nominal arc of fire of 180 degrees, being from dead ahead to dead astern. As these two turrets were positioned symmetrically on the ship there was no possibility of firing across the deck on the opposite beam, and in practice firing too close to the long axis of the ship caused unacceptable damage to the superstructure. "X" turret was positioned between the after funnel and the after superstrucure, at maindeck level. The guns of this turret had an arc of fire of some 110 degrees on either beam, with no ability to fire either astern or ahead. "Y" turret, on the quarterdeck at main deck level, had an uninterrupted arc of fire over the stern of some 300 degrees.
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Wikipedia