|
High resolution picture
|
The HMS King George V was a British battleship launched in 1939 and designed under the limitations set by the Naval Limitation Treaty
of 1935, which imposed a maximum caliber of 356 millimeters for the naval artillery. The design included two quadruple turrets
and one smaller twin turret for the main armament; the suppression of two cannons was intended to increase the protection to the
point of allowing these ships to withstand impacts from 406-millimeter projectiles in the main belt. The protection scheme in the
ships of the King George V class was indeed superior than in any of the foreign contemporary battleships.
During the Second World War the HMS King George V took part, along with the HMS Rodney, in the sinking of the Bismarck and later
she served in the Pacific together with her sisters HMS Anson and HMS Howe. During the last stage of the war these ships were fitted
with radars and improved light antiaircraft artillery, whereas the aircraft carried were suppressed. The HMS King George V was
decommissioned in 1949 and finally scrapped in 1957. The drawing shows the HMS King George V as she was in 1940; note the
"Unrotated Projectile" (1) antiaircraft mountings installed upon the main turrets and astern.
(1) This was an experimental weapon which fired rockets with cables attached to them to create a barrier
on the air; used during the early part of the war in many British warships, it was quickly discarded due to its uneffectiveness and operative danger.
Class: King George V (5 units - Anson (ex Dellicoe), Duke of York (ex Anson), Howe (ex Beatty), King George V, Prince of Wales)
Type: Battleship
Length: 227.5 meters
Beam: 31.5 meters
Draught: 10.5 meters
Displacement (standard): 36566 tonnes
Propulsion: 4 x shaft, 4 x steam turbine Parsons, 8 x boiler Admiralty, 125000 horsepower
Speed: 28 knots (52 kilometers/hour)
Range: 11770 nautical miles (21770 kilometers) at 10 knots
Fuel: 3760 tonnes of petrol
Complement: 1644
Armament: 10 x 356-millimeter 45-caliber cannon, 16 x 133-millimeter 50-caliber cannon, 64 x 40-millimeter cannon, 3 x aircraft
Armor: 114-381 millimeters in belt, 127-152 millimeters in main deck, 63-127 millimeters in lower deck, 280-330 millimeters in barbettes,
152-330 millimeters in main turrets, 25-38 millimeters in secondary turrets, 76-102 millimeters in conning tower
|
