Nelson Class, British Battleships

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Specifications:

The Nelsons were completed in 1927 and have been described by one authority as "misbegotten twins fathered by disarmament." The Washington Treaty allowed Britain to build two battleships to match the U.S. Colorados and the Japanese Nagatos. The British design team chose to base the new ships on a battle cruiser design (G3) that had proven too ambitious for the straining British economy, trimming weight wherever possible, crowding the three turrets onto the foredeck to reduce the length of the armored citadel, and replacing the battle cruiser machinery with battleship machinery generating 28% the original shaft horsepower.

The result was a pair of ships incorporating numerous innovations, few of them successful. The guns proved no more effective than the older 15" guns and had poor arcs of fire. The secondary battery lacked the elevation to be effective in an antiaircraft role and was inadequately protected. The massive superstructure, placed well to the rear to make room for the main turrets, badly degraded maneuverability. The torpedo armament created a weakness in the hull that was remedied in 1941 by removing the torpedo tubes. On the other hand, the use of the new high-strength "D" steel permitted significant weight savings.

Rodney was laid up in late 1944 and never saw service thereafter. Nelson arrived at Ceylon as the war in the Pacific was winding down.

Units in the Pacific:

References

Preston (1998)
Worth (2001)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2009 by Kent G. Budge.  Index

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