Lion

The Lion in game is the 1938 design approved by the Admiralty, with hypothetical increases in AA armament and raked funnel caps similar to the ones on Vanguard. In a notable break from historical accuracy, the ship in game can mount 16.5 inch (419mm) guns from 1920s design studies.

History

The Lion-class battleships were a class of six fast battleships designed for the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. While the Second London Naval Treaty limited the caliber of battleship guns to 14 inches (356mm), the refusal of Japan to sign the treaty resulted in the caliber limit reverting back to 16 inches (406mm) in April 1937. While it was too late to alter the King George V-class to accommodate larger guns, work began on a new class of battleships that could carry 406mm guns. In the interest of saving time, many design features of the King George V-class were reused. In addition to good balance between speed, armament, and protection, the design must also be able to be built and supported in existing home naval slipways and dockyards; in particular, this limited the beam to 105 ft (32.0m). It was eventually concluded that a well balanced ship that met these requirements would weigh some 40,000 long tons standard, well over the 35,000 long ton standard treaty limit that was still in place; this forced several compromises, such as the reduction of secondary mounts from eight to six, and the deletion of aviation facilities.

However, the refusal of the Japanese to disclose details of their battleships under construction caused the US, Britain, and France to invoke the Escalator Clause on March 31, 1938, which increased the tonnage limit to 45,000 long tons at American insistence (the US Navy intended to use that additional tonnage to build the 33 knot Iowa-class battleships). Again, due to cost and the dimensional limits of Royal Navy home docking facilities, such as the major naval dockyards of Rosyth and Portsmouth, the designers chose to proceed with the 40,000 ton design; the two deleted secondary mounts and aviation facilities were restored.

Design

1938 Design

The visual appearance of the Lion would have closely resembled the King George V, having reused many of the previous class's design features. Among the biggest improvements is the main armament; the Lion would use 406mm/45 guns of a new design in three triple turrets; unlike the wire-wound BL 16-inch Mk.I on the Nelson, the new Mk.II guns are of solid built up construction; it would fire a 1,077 kg (2,375 lb) APC shell at 747 m/s (2,450 ft/s) muzzle velocity. The secondary armament would be the same as the King George V-class, sixteen 134mm/50 dual purpose guns in eight mounts. As designed, the AA gun armament would have consisted of six octuple 40mm "pom-poms", though this likely would have increased had the ships been completed. The machinery, consisting of eight boilers and four shafts, was largely duplicated from the King George V-class, with a slight increase in power to 130,000 SHP at overload condition, which drove the ship at 30 knots. The hull had transom stern, the first for a Royal Navy battleship, to improve steaming efficiency at high speeds. The protection scheme from gunfire and torpedoes was also largely repeated from the King George V, with minor differences such as increasing the belt armor by the machinery spaces to 14.7 inches (374mm) to match the belt around the magazines. The Admiralty approved the design in December 15, 1938 and bids were solicited very shortly afterwards.

Design Modifications

The design changed several times in response to the removal of all treaty restrictions on size and in light of war experience. Notably, the 1942 design modifications included increased fuel load due to the concerns about King George V's range and fuel state during the hunt for the Bismarck. The requirement to fire the main guns forward at 0 degree elevation was removed in order to accommodate a bow shear; this was intended to reduce the amount of water shipped over the bow. The beam was increased to 108 ft (32.9m), the maximum that could be accommodated by the extant Panama Canal, in order to increase torpedo protection and reduce draft; however this severely limited the number of home docking facilities that could have handled these ships. The number of AA gun amounts was also increased. To reduce weight and draft, the belt armor over machinery spaces was reduced to 13.7 inch (349mm). While not laid down, this revised design contributed to the Vanguard, the last battleship Britain ever built.

Service

Six Lion-class ships were planned, two each in the 1938, 1939, and 1940 Naval Programmes. The first pair, Lion and Temeraire, were ordered on 28 February 1939 from Vickers Armstrongs and Cammell Laird respectively. Lion was laid down at Vickers' Newcastle-upon-Tyne shipyard on 4 July 1939 while Temeraire preceded her at Birkenhead on 1 June. Contracts for Conqueror and Thunderer were awarded on 15 August 1939 to John Brown and Fairfield. It is uncertain if Conqueror was actually ordered, but Thunderer was not. Neither ship was ever laid down, and construction on Lion and Temeraire was later suspended shortly after World War II began in September 1939 in order to free up resources for badly needed escorts to protect supply convoys; both ships were scrapped after the end of the war.

Historical inaccuracies

• The Lion class never considered 16.5 inch (419mm) guns at any point during the design process. The 419mm guns were a part of studies done in the 1920s that resulted in the G3 battlecruiser and N3 battleship designs, which in turn led to the Nelson-class treaty battleships.
• The 1938 Lion as depicted in game should have the Mk. II designation for the 406mm guns; the Mk. IV designation was used for a new design from the 1944 and 1945 Lion design studies.
• The 1938 design for Lion had a top speed of 30 knots, not 29.5 knots as in game.
• The original builders' plans for Lion and her sister ships had a main battery director on the aft superstructure; this is not modeled in game.
• The in-game citadel volume encompassing the magazines, handling rooms, and machinery spaces is currently missing the top portion of the boiler rooms that would be slightly above the waterline.
• Had the Lions been completed, they likely would not have been equipped with aircraft, as evidenced by the removal of aircraft on King George V-class ships after 1943.
• British armor thicknesses are actually 0.98 times their nominal thickness, due to using 40 lb/sq ft as the approximate weight of steel (actual weight is 40.8 lb/sq ft). Consequently, the nominal 15 inch (381mm) belt was in reality 14.7 inch (374 mm) thick.
• The 40mm Mk. IV Bofors 'Hazemeyer' mounts were found to be fragile in service, and therefore the placement of these mounts around and on the main battery turrets is unrealistic.
• The placement of 40mm Bofors forward of "A" turret is inconsistent with history, as no power-operated AA guns were to be mounted forward of the "B" turret barbette due to the front of the ship being very wet while underway.