King George V Class Dreadnought Battleship

HMS King George V.  The mast is forward of the funnels, for good this time, and originally was a light pole rather than the more normal heavy tripod.  This had to be reinforced with tripod legs as the number of fire control instruments such as directors were fitted to the ships.

HMS King George V
Built Portsmouth Dockyard, laid down January 1911, completed October 1912, cost £1,961,096.

HMS Centurion
Built Portsmouth Dockyard, laid down January 1911, completed February 1913, cost £1,950,671.

HMS Audacious
Built Cammell Laird, laid down March 1911, completed August 1913, cost £1,918,813

HMS Ajax
Built Scott, laid down February 1911, completed May 1913, cost £1,889,387.

Size:
Length 589 feet 6 inches waterline 597 feet 9 inches overall, beam 89 feet 1 inches, draught 28 feet 8 inches, displacement 25,420 tons load 27,120 tons deep.

Propulsion:
4 shaft Parsons turbines, 27,000 shp, 21kts.

Trials:
King George V 33,022 shp = 22.373 knots
Centurion 34,530 shp = 22.866 knots
Ajax 29,250 shp = 21.22 knots

Armour:
12-8in belt, 10-3in barbettes, 11in turret faces, 4-1in decks

Armament:
10 x 13.5in 45cal MK V (5 x 2), 16 x 4in (16 x 1), 4 x 3 pounder (4 x 1), 3 x 21in TT

Comments:
Development of the Orion class.  The secondary armament was re-arranged to improve forward fire after it was found during manoeuvres that during a torpedo attack the forward anti-torpedo boats guns fired twice as often as the rear ones.  The anti-torpedo bulkhead covered a larger area than the Orion class but had not reverted to the full length one of Neptune.  They also had a new and improved bridge layout.  Crew 869.

World War 1 Service:
King George V
2nd Battle Squadron Grand Fleet
October 1914-February 1915 refit.
Present at the Battle of Jutland 1916. Fired 9 13.5in rounds. Received no damage.
December 1926 sold for scrap.

Centurion
2nd Battle Squadron Grand Fleet
February 1915 refit.
Present at the Battle of Jutland 1916. Fired 19 13.5in rounds. Received no damage.
August 1916 refit.
1944 sunk as part of Mulberry harbour.

Audacious
2nd Battle Squadron Grand Fleet
27 October 1914 struck a mine and sank.  See sinking of HMS Audacious.

Ajax
2nd Battle Squadron Grand Fleet
Present at the Battle of Jutland 1916. Fired 6 13.5in rounds. Received no damage.
December 1926 sold for scrap.

HMS King George V in 1912 with light pole mast fitted.  In June 1914 the four ships of the class visited Kiel and King George V was visited by the Kaiser in his first visit to a British battleship.  The following month the two nations were at war.