HMS VANGUARD
The ship's main armament consisted of eight 42-calibre BL 15-inch Mk I guns in four twin hydraulically powered gun turrets designated 'A', 'B', 'X' and 'Y' from bow to stern. When the turrets were modernised their maximum elevation was increased to +30°,[10] although the guns were loaded at +5°. They fired 1,938-pound (879 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,458 ft/s (749 m/s); this provided a maximum range of 33,550 yards (30,680 m).[18] These guns were also capable of firing the same projectiles while using supercharges which gave a maximum range of 37,870 yards (34,630 m). Their rate of fire was two rounds per minute.[18] Vanguard carried 100 shells per gun.[19] The 15-inch turrets had been designed when the customary practice was to place the magazine above the shell room, and it was not cost-effective to modify the ammunition hoists to accommodate the opposite arrangement adopted after the Battle of Jutland demonstrated the dangers of exposing the magazines to long-range gunfire. The ship was provided with a powder-handling room above the shell room to mimic the arrangement that turret's hoists were designed to handle, and another set of hoists moved the propellant charges from the magazines to the powder-handling room. The charges were stowed in cases to reduce their exposure to fire.[20] The secondary armament consisted of sixteen 50-calibre QF 5.25-inch Mk I* dual purpose guns in eight twin gun mounts.[19] They had a maximum depression of −5° and a maximum elevation of 70°. They fired an 80-pound (36 kg) high-explosive shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,672 ft/s (814 m/s). The improved 5.25 turrets on Vanguard were claimed to be fully automatic, with a power-rammed breech and automatic tracking and elevation under radar control enabling a rate of fire was about 18 rounds per minute.[21] At maximum elevation, the guns had a maximum range of 24,070 yards (22,010 m).[22] 391 rounds were provided for each gun.[19] Short-range air defence was provided by 73 Bofors 40 mm AA guns in a variety of mountings. Vanguard had ten sextuple-barrel power-operated mounts concentrated in the superstructure and stern, a twin-barrel mount on 'B' turret, and 11 power-operated single mounts on the upper deck and rear superstructure.[19] All mounts could depress to −10° and elevate to a maximum of +90°. The 40-millimetre (1.6 in) gun fired a 1.97-pound (0.89 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,890 ft/s (880 m/s) to a distance of 10,750 yards (9,830 m). The gun's rate of fire was approximately 120 rounds per minute.[23] Space was not available to stow the standard allowance of 1564 rounds per gun, and Vanguard only carried 1269 rounds per gun.[24] Two of the single guns on the quarterdeck were removed in 1949 and five others during a major refit in 1954. All of her multiple Bofors mounts were removed at this same time. http://ift.tt/2cpO3DJ via John Currin - Google+ Public Posts http://ift.tt/2cpPrGf |
AuthorJohn Currin served 15 years in the Royal New Zealand Navy and has retained an interest in naval, marine, military and happenings around the world. Archives
January 2024
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