Lion class battlecruiser
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| Image:HMS Lion (Lion-class battlecruiser).jpg | |
| Lion-class | Image:RN-White-Ensign.svg |
|---|---|
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | Lion and Princess Royal 26,250 tons standard 29,680 tons full load
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| Length: | 700 ft (213 m), 703 ft (214 m) for Queen Mary |
| Beam: | 88.6 ft (27 m), 89 ft (27.1 m) for Queen Mary |
| Draught: | 27.5 ft (8.4 m), 28 ft (8.5 m) for Queen Mary |
| Propulsion: | 42 boilers, Parsons geared steam turbines, 4 shafts, 70,000 shp (52 MW), 75,000 shp (56 MW) for Queen Mary |
| Speed: | 27.5 knot (51 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,610 nautical miles (10,390 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Complement: | 997 1,267 |
| Armament: | 8 x 13.5 in (343 mm) guns in four turrets, 16 x 4 in (102 mm) guns, 2 x 21 in (533 mm) submerged torpedo tubes, a single 4 in gun was removed from Princess Royal |
The Lion class were a three-ship class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy. They were nicknamed the "Splendid Cats".
The class was adapted from the design of the first "super-dreadnought" class, the Orions. The design of the Lion class was an attempt to solve the problems of the Indefatigable-class - their predecessor - which suffered from poor armoured protection.
To attain their high speed of 27 knots (50 km/h), the Lions, too, had to do away with much of their armour protection; it was a risky decision as their length was over two hundred feet longer than their predecessor. The ships were the first battlecruisers to be armed with the new 13.5 inch (343 mm) gun by Vickers.
The first two ships of the class were commissioned in 1912; the following year, Queen Mary was commissioned with improved armour protection - it was still insufficient - and a consequent increase in displacement. Though sometimes seen as distinct from the Lions, she is commonly seen as the third ship of the class.
All three ships were heavily involved in the Battle of Jutland in 1916: Lion came close to blowing up, Princess Royal was heavily damaged and Queen Mary exploded and sank with the loss of 1,255 crew - just twenty survived. It was after Queen Mary's explosion that Vice-Admiral David Beatty, embarked aboard Lion, was noted to have said: "There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today".
Jutland was the last major engagement that the two surviving Lions were involved in. Both ships were scrapped as part of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.
| Lion-class battlecruiser |
| Lion | Princess Royal | Queen Mary |
| List of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy |