Tiger Class Battlecruiser

Tiger showing the new arrangement of turrets allowing much improved firing arcs for the 'Q' turret. She was also the first battlecruiser to be completed with a director, mounted on the top of the tripod. Although the best protected British battlecruiser it was still generally short of German standards.

HMS Tiger
Built John Brown, laid down June 1912, completed October 1914, cost £2,100,000.

Size:
Length 697 feet 9 inches waterline 704 feet overall, beam 90 feet 6 inches, draught 32 feet load, displacement 28,800 normal 33,677 tons deep.

Propulsion:
4 shaft Brown-Curtis turbines, 85,000 shp, 28 knots

Trials: 104,635 shp = 29.07 knots

Armour:
9-3in belt, 9in barbettes, 9in turret faces, 3-1in decks

Armament:
8 x 13.5in 45cal MK V (4 x 2), 12 x 6in (12 x 1), 2 x 3in (2 x 1), 4 x 3 pounder, 4 x 21in TT

Comments:
Battlecruiser contemporaries of the Iron Duke class and many of the improvements in the design were inherited from the Iron duke design and not from the Japanese Kongo class battlecruisers. The main armament was re-arranged to give a more satisfactory arrangement, the gap between the rear turrets was owing to the position of the rear torpedo room. Secondary armament was increased to 6 inch guns and although in casemated was mounted quite far from the bow to help reduce interference form the sea. the maximum thickness of armour was unchanged but a larger area was covered making them the best protected British battlecruiser of World War 1. Crew 1,109.

World War 1 Service:
October 1914 joined 1st Battlecruiser Squadron.
24 January 1915 Battle of Dogger Bank. Received 6 hits with 10 killed.
31 May 1916 Battle of Jutland. Hit by 15 11 inch shells with 24 killed and 46 wounded. Fired 303 13.5 inch shells.
Under repair until July 1916. BCF flagship whilst Lion being repaired.
17 November 1917 present at the second Battle of Heligoland Bight.
1932 Sold for scrap.

HMS Tiger. Unlike German battlecruisers the British persisted using large tube boilers instead of the small tube boilers. Despite the weight saving and space advantages of small tube boilers the British decided not to use them because they were less reliable and required more maintenance.

HMS Tiger