Matthew Warwick
@mpwarwick
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Graduate in International Politics & Strategic Studies. Dabble in naval history. Frequently distracted by cricket.
England
Joined July 2009
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The King George V class were the most modern British battleships of the Second World War.
They are perhaps best known for their actions against Bismarck in 1941 and Scharnhorst in 1943, as well as the sinking of Prince of Wales in December 1941.
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Tried to put together a visual representation of the British Pacific Fleet in August 1945, as it is so often forgotten about.
Image ended up quite large.
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This is what missiles robbed from us.
On the left a 4crh armour piercing round for an 18-inch gun. In the middle a 8crh high explosive shell. To the right the 6 charges of propellant used to fire them.
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Nothing says 'modern anti-air weapon' quite like a rocket propelled, blunt nosed, collection of corrugated looking metal!
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In 1997 the authorised destroyer/frigate fleet was 32.
As recently as 2005 it was 27.
We are now looking at about 15.
Can we invest in our armed forces, please? Particularly in the people, so we can run the few ships we actually have.
.
@Telegraph
@SheridanDani
reporting HMS Argyll as well as HMS Westminster to be scrapped due to RN personnel shortage.
HMS Argyll began refit in the shed at Devonport in August 2022 and was supposed to rejoin the fleet in late 2023.
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On this day 80 years ago was the Battle of North Cape.
A British force lead by the battleship HMS Duke of York engaged and sunk the German battleship Scharnhorst.
This was the last time a British battleship engaged an enemy battleship.
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HMS Nelson, from directly ahead.
'Castles of Steel' is a pretty good descriptor...
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One of my favourite photos of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, late summer/early autumn of 1941.
This profile view offers a good opportunity to highlight some features of the class, so, a thread...
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HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales in Portsmouth this afternoon.
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A superb view of the cruiser HMS Argonaut at speed, c. 1942.
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HMS Vanguard, Britain's last battleship. A brief overview.
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I think this is a superb photo of HMS King George V, in 1941. Quite a distinctive look!
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A colour photo of HMS Vanguard, Britain's last battleship.
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An atmospheric photo of the battle cruiser Hood running sea trials, 1920.
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An atmospheric shot of the battlecruiser HMS Hood on speed trials, 1920.
At the time she was the world's largest warship, and her machinery could propel her 44,600 ton displacement at speeds greater than 31 knots.
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The British aircraft carrier force of the Second World War.
Absolutely nailed the naming.
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Battleship Guns - Is fewer larger guns or more smaller guns better?
A question that troubled many a ship designer.
A comparison of 14", 15" and 16" guns...
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HMS Prince of Wales.
One of my favourite views of the class.
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A superb photo of the battle cruisers HMS Hood and HMS Renown (nearest the camera) during the 1930s.
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Plan of the battleship HMS Nelson. A very distinctive look...!
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Missed it yesterday, but the 1st January marked the 87th anniversary of the laying down of the battleships HMS King George V and HMS Prince of Wales.
The first Royal Navy capital ships to be laid down for just over 14 years, they were a radical shift from preceeding designs.
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A stunning picture of HMS Prince of Wales in Norwegian waters.
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This is HMS Euryalus. She was a Dido class cruiser.
This class is commonly described as 'anti-aircraft cruisers'. They are not.
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A very atmospheric shot of HMS Hood, possibly on her sea trials in 1920.
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The battleship HMS Nelson.
One of her better angles, in my view!
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The battle cruisers Repulse (top) and Renown (bottom).
As built they were nearly identical, but by 1939 they looked very different. Repulse had undergone a partial modernisation between 1933 and 1936, whereas Renown had a more thorough reconstruction between 1936 and 1939.
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I frequently see comments along the lines of "The Royal Navy neglected airpower going into WW2".
While you can debate the various merits of each carrier force endlessly, for a bit of perspective this (rapidly put together) graphic shows the respective fleets in September 1939.
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The Type 22 frigate HMS Beaver.
That slightly wild time where missiles were everything, and gun armament limited to a couple of 20mm.
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A Seaslug launcher on the destroyer HMS Fife. Not a pretty weapon system...!
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The naval balance of power during the Second World War via the lens of battleships.
(Excludes training ships, barracks ships, pre-dreadnoughts and the Soviet antiques).
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The superstructure of the battleship HMS King George V, January 1941.
There's a lot going in this photo, but what is everything for? And the 'Queen Anne's Mansion' superstructure is a distinctive feature, but what actually is inside it?
Well, starting from the top...
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Today I found a wild Dutch destroyer - HNLMS Tromp in London.
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'The Heavyweight Punch' by Geoff Hunt.
HMS Victory, HMS Temeraire and HMS Neptune lead the Weather column towards the combined fleet, off Cape Trafalgar, 21st October 1805
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KGVs - Survivability Beyond Armour.
Clearly, battleships are known for their extensive heavy armour. But there's a lot more that goes into ensuring that they can remain combat capable if damaged.
I thought it would be interesting to highlight a few aspects.
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An aerial view of HMS King George V in the Pacific, 1945.
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HMS Argyll and HMS Campbeltown alongside in Portsmouth. A nice comparison between the Type 22 and Type 23 frigates.
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3 of the 4 surviving battleships of the King George V class - HMS Duke of York, HMS Anson and HMS Howe at Portland Harbour, c. 1946.
Duke of York is the foreground ship, departing the harbour.
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Tomorrow marks the 106th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland.
I have my handy chart ready...
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There was a phase of naval history where this was peak battleship engineering, and to be honest, I'm still not sure what to make of it.
The ironclad HMS Howe, laid down in 1882.
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The development of British aircraft carriers.
My favourite is Illustrious - a very 'neat' design!
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The King George V class battleship had a main armament of 10 x 14" (356mm) guns. This is perhaps their most controversial feature.
Afterall, their European contemporaries used 15" guns, the Americans used 16" guns, and the Japanese built ships with whopping 18.1" guns.
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A very atmospheric image of the battleship HMS Nelson, 12 January 1934.
She is, unfortunately, aground at the time, but let's not worry about such minor details.
Photo from
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The Italian fast battleship Vittorio Veneto.
One of my favourite images of the class.
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The then Princess Elizabeth on the battleship HMS King George V, 1944.
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The slightly odd looking sight of a battleship with all her guns at maximum elevation.
HMS King George V, c. 1940-41.
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The Queen Elizabeth class battleships did look very 'right' in their (nearly) original configuration.
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The heavy cruisers HMS Suffolk, Berwick and Cumberland on the China Station in the 1930s.
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A slightly older set of images from shipbucket, but a nice size comparison of Type 23 / 31 / 25 / 45.
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HMS Duke of York at Rosyth, as seen from the top of a crane.
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This is the poetically named "Crane Ship No. 1"
She used to be the battleship USS Kearsage BB-5.
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The 9 x 16-inch guns of the battleship HMS Rodney.
The heaviest broadside ever mounted in a British capital ship, and the only one mounted in triple turrets.
Each gun could fire a 2,048 lb shell about 18.8 nautical miles.
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Battleships and belt armour - internal vs external.
The British KGVs are renowned for their "slab" belts. Mounted externally, they are a distinctive feature.
The previous class of British battleship, the Nelsons, had an internal, inclined armour belt. So why the change?
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Big fan of HMS Clematis - a corvette with a single 4" gun - charging a German heavy cruiser while signalling the Admiralty "AM ENGAGING UNKNOWN ENEMY BATTLESHIP".
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King George V class battleships - Secondary Armament
The story of the 5.25-inch gun.
(Usually known as the wannabe US 5"/38)
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8 x 40mm barrels, each firing up to 115 rounds per minute. On mount supply was at least 1 min 13 seconds continuous firing per barrel. There was a limited ability to reload while firing as well.
What’s not to like!?
So with the cost of missiles being used in the Red Sea, how long till we see the "Pom Pom" return 😂
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Throwback to 2019 with HMS Westminster (top) and HMS Sutherland (bottom) demonstrating the differences between Sea Ceptor (Westminster) and Sea Wolf (Sutherland) fits.
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The Queen Elizabeth class battleships. An incredible class of warship, with the 5 vessels delivering a combined 156 years of service and 39 battle honours over two world wars.
They are also very over-hyped, with their flaws overlooked, but that's alright.
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A colour photo of the British light cruiser HMS Dido alongside in Copenhagen, 9 May 1945 - the day after VE Day.
There is a destroyer outboard of her.
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Model of HMS Prince of Wales from right ahead, by Chris Flodberg. Seriously impressive.
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HMS Duke of York, February 1942.
Still one of my favourite photos of the class.
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A short thread on the evolution of British battleship armour.
Detail is in the images!
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Small arms for a King George V-class battleship:
586 x 0.303 rifles
3 x 0.303 rifles strengthened for firing grenades
16 x 0.22 Rifles
3 x Anti-Tank rifles
108 x Revolvers
20 x Swords
12 x Bren Guns
2 x 0.303 Vickers MGs
8 x .0303 Lewis MGs
Oh, and a
3.7" Howitzer
A Town class cruiser (1937) carried the following small arms for a complement of 754.
3 x Lewis Machine Guns
2 x Vickers Machine Guns
294 x 0.303 Rifles
16 x 0.22 Rifles
76 x Revolvers
20 x Swords
Just in case a landing party or two is required.
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A rare image of a Leander-class cruiser coming ashore to lay its eggs...
[HMS Ajax aground at Newport on her way to be scrapped, 1949]
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Garzke & Dulin: The KGVs were the weakest of the Second World War battleships
Me:
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The evolution of the British 'dreadnought' battleship & battlecruiser.
Ship photo not necessarily name-ship of the class!
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It's fun to compare warship designs, particularly the so-called "35,000 ton" battleships that were built in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
But sometimes we do get over-fixated on the relative differences, particularly things like gun calibre.
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Waves breaking over the bow of HMS King George V as she transits the Atlantic, January 1941.
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How the threat of aircraft evolved in less than a decade...
Top: The King George V class battleship's designed light & medium anti-aircraft weapons, 1936.
Bottom: HMS Duke of York in the Pacific, March 1945.
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The fast battleship HMS Duke of York leads the battleship HMS Nelson, the battlecruiser HMS Renown, and the armoured carrier HMS Formidable, of the coast of North Africa, November 1942.
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A lovely crisp photo of HMS King George V in the Atlantic, January 1941. She is carrying Lord Halifax to the United States to take up his post as ambassador.
A close look at the turrets show's that the armoured faceplate and roofplates are very visible.
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HMS Howe, newly completed in 1942.
If I ever do write a book on the class / British fast battleships, I quite like the idea of this on the cover.
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Not my usual fare, I know, but I'll always be impressed that during the Second World War the RAF stuck a 6-pounder anti-tank gun in the Mosquito, and then used it to attack ships and U-boats.
Oh, and it had an autoloader, so could 55 rpm! (albeit with a 22 round magazine)
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The battleship HMS Rodney engaging the Bismarck, 27 May 1941.
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The heavy cruiser HMAS Australia.
Did I mention the Counties are my favourite class of cruiser?
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Still find it hard to believe that some people think these ships are ugly.
They are quite obviously majestic castles of steel.
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If you're wondering how many 'all big-gun' battleships / battle cruisers the Royal Navy built, the answer is 59.
Excluding non-completed ships and including ships built for other navies but taken over during the First World War.
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In May 1939 the Admiralty produced an interesting table showing planned aircraft carrier distribution (and cruiser / battleship numbers) in 1942 in three scenarios:
- Peace
- 'Axis' war
- Far Eastern war
I've reproduced it here:
(Numbers in brackets are aircraft complements).
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The German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
A troubled pair of ships, who often seemed to be non-operational for various reasons. A crude summary...
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A selection of battleships of the Second World War.
Nominally all '35,000 tons'. In practice none were, though some closer than others..!
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Visitors aboard the battleship HMS King George V in Melbourne, November 1945.
Won't lie, I am pretty envious of these people!
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The battleship HMS King George V at Melbourne, 29 October - 8 November 1945.
There is a nice seletion of photos of the ship visiting Australia post-war. This is one of my favourites, showing 'A' turret elevated.
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I have always found the inside of battleship gun turrets to be very utalitarian - unsurprisingly.
This is a 14" turret on HMS King George V.
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There is something about the profile of the County class cruisers which is just majestic...
HMS Dorsetshire in the 1930s. Looks like she might be departing Portsmouth to me?
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This evening I accidentally wrote 3,250 words on the 5.25" gun, and why maybe the historiography about it is slightly off.
And sometimes I wonder where all my time goes...
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HMS Howe, last of the King George V class battleships, aground at Inverkeithing on 3 June 1958. Her scrapping would begin 3 days later. Note the obvious externally mounted belt armour!
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Who won the Battle of Jutland?
A little tongue in cheek, but it came up in discussion so I thought I'd summarise my thoughts!
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Inspired by a recent
@Drachinifel
drydock question, I was worried that people wouldn't be pedantic enough when talking about Royal Navy historical turret designations.
So I created a handy reference!
Correct your friends!
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HMS King George V in Gladstone Dock, Liverpool, 17 May 1942, after she collided with HMS Punjabi.
You may not notice at first (I didn't) but there are people in this photo. Gives a sense of scale...
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A Nelson-class Star Destroyer passing through the Panama Canal, 1931.
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Evolution of the British Capital Ship, 1906-1946.
(Afraid this does require a "right-click -> view image"!)
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HMS Kent, first of the British '10,000 ton' treaty cruisers.
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HM battleships Duke of York and Vanguard, because why not?
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Throwback to when HMS Defender followed HMS Edinburgh into Portsmouth Harbour.
Size difference between old and new is rather apparent...!
(Apologies, not sure what the photo source is).
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