Neptune Class Dreadnought Battleship

World War 1 Naval Combat

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HMS Neptune Neptune. First British battleship with super-firing turrets.  They were arranged this way aft rather than forward as it was felt that the concentration of weight forward would make the ship a poor sea boat.  The sighting hoods in British turrets were in the turret roof so there was risk of concussion if the turrets fired over the top of each other, hence the British reticence to adopt the super-firing arrangement.

HMS Neptune
Built Portsmouth Dockyard, laid down January 1909, completed January 1911, cost £1,668,916

Size:
Length 541 feet 2 inches waterline 546 feet overall, beam 85 feet 1 inches, draught 28 feet 6 inches, displacement  19,680 tons load 23,123 tons deep.

Propulsion:
4 shaft Parsons turbines, 25,000 shp, 21kts.

Trials:    25,531 shp = 21.29 knots

Armour:
10-2.5in belt, 9-5in barbettes, 11in turret faces, 3-0.75in decks

Armament:
10 x 12in 50cal MK XI (5 x 2), 16 x 4in (16 x 1), 4 x 3 pounder (4 x 1), 3 x 18in TT

Comments:
The first significant change since the original Dreadnought. The armament was rearranged with the rear turrets now superimposed and the wing turrets staggered to allow some cross deck firing to allow all 10 guns to fire on the broadside. The secondary was reduced and guns were no longer on the turret roofs, an acknowledgement that these potions were too exposed and supplying them with ammunition in action could be hard.  Crew 756.

World War 1 Service:
1st Battle Squadron Grand Fleet.
December 1914-March 1915 under refit.
18 March unsuccessfully attacked by German submarine U29.
22/23 April 1916 accidentally hit at night by SS Needvaal but only sustained minor damage.
Present at the Battle of Jutland 1916. Fired 48 12in rounds and received no damage.
June 1916 transferred to 4th Battle Squadron.
September 1922 sold for scrap.

HMS Neptune in July 1914.  When built she was fitted with a director and used for trials.  Although there were problems with this early installation further trails were carried out with a modified design in HMS Thunderer and by the end of World War 1 directors were standard equipment on British warships. HMS Neptune

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