HMS Vanguard (1944)
From Free net encyclopedia
| Image:HMS Vanguard (1946 Battleship).jpg | |
| Career | Image:RN-White-Ensign.svg |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 14 March 1941 |
| Laid down: | 2 October 1941, John Brown and Company, Clydebank, Scotland |
| Launched: | 30 November 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 9 August 1946 |
| Decommissioned: | 9 October 1959 |
| Fate: | scrapped, Faslane, Scotland |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 48,500 tons |
| Length: | 785 ft (239 metres) |
| Beam: | 107ft 7in (32.8 metres) |
| Draught: | 30 ft 6 in (9.3 metres) |
| Propulsion: | 4 Parsons single reduction turbines driving 130,000 shp (97 MW) |
| Speed: | 30 knots |
| Range: | 9000 nautical miles (17 000 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1500 |
| Armament: | 8 x 15 in /42(38 cm) guns in four twin mountings 16 x 5.25 in (13.3 cm) guns in 8 twin mountings |
| Aircraft: | |
| Motto: | We Lead |
HMS Vanguard was a "Fully Armoured Battlecruiser" of the Royal Navy. She was the biggest and last battleship to be built for the British Navy, and also the last ever commissioned by any navy.
Early in 1939, the Admiralty decided to build a new battleship that would use four spare twin 15-inch mountings originally manufactured for HM ships Courageous and Glorious during World War I; thus giving rise to the nickname "battleship with her great aunt's teeth".
A design for a 40,000-ton battleship was produced, intended to be the core of a Far East Fleet, where her high speed and armament would be a match for Japanese warships. At the outbreak of World War II the Admiralty decided to concentrate the limited shipbuilding resources on vessels that could come into service quickly rather than larger or more powerful ships that might be too late. As a result the planned Lion class was cancelled. It was suggested that the turrets and mountings from the two battlecruisers be utilized in a modified Lion design for speedy construction. The plan was approved and the ship built.
Vanguard was laid down in 1941, by John Brown and Company, Clydebank, Scotland, and her hull was launched in November 1944; however, the ship was not commissioned until 1946, and became known as the only British battleship never to fire her guns in anger. (In fact, however, these guns had indeed been fired during minor skirmishes during the latter parts of the First World War, when mounted aboard HMS Courageous and HMS Glorious prior to their conversions to aircraft carriers.)
She performed various duties as flagship and training ship; and even as a "Royal Yacht" when, in 1947, she took the royal family of George VI to South Africa. This was the first time his daughter Elizabeth II, then a Princess, had ever left Britain. Vanguard was finally decommissioned in 1954, having never seen combat. In 1960 she was towed from Portsmouth. During the tow, she nearly struck the harbour side and became temporarily grounded. It looked like the harbour might be blocked but prompt action and the efforts of the tugs pulled her free before the tide dropped. She made the journey to Faslane, Scotland over the next five days and was scrapped there after efforts to turn her into a museum were unsuccessful.
Vanguard was unique among British battleships in having remote control for both main and secondary guns. She was well regarded as a good seaboat, able to keep an even keel in rough seas. During NATO exercises in the 1950s Vanguard's main deck was dry in heavy North Atlantic swells whereas US Navy Iowa-class battleships had their forward turrets awash with spray.
See HMS Vanguard for other ships of the name.
External links
See also
| HMS Vanguard |
| List of battleships of the Royal Navy |