St Vincent Class Dreadnought Battleship

HMS St Vincent the third and final class of the basic Dreadnought layout.  The forward tripod has been moved forward of the funnels reducing interference of smoke.  One of the problems during this period was that a new class could be designed before the previous class had entered service so that problems with a previous design may not have been learnt yet.

HMS St Vincent
Built Devonport Dockyard, laid down December 1907, completed May 1909, cost £1,721,970.

HMS Collingwood
Built Vickers, Barrow, laid down February 1908, completed April 1910, cost £1,680,888.

HMS Vanguard
Built Devonport Dockyard, laid down April 1908, completed March 1910, cost £1,606,030.

Size:
Length 531 feet waterline 536 feet overall, 84 feet 1 inch beam, draught 28 feet 11 inches load, displacement 19,700 tons load 22,800 tons deep.

Propulsion:
4 shaft Parsons turbines, 24,500 shp, 21kts.

Trials:
St Vincent 28,218 shp = 21.66 knots
Collingwood 26,789 shp = 20.62 knots
Vanguard 25,780 shp = 22.3 knots.

Armour:
10-7in belt, 9-5in barbettes, 11in turret faces, 3-0.75in decks

Armament:
10 x 12in 50cal MK XI (5 x 2), 20 x 4in (20 x 1), 4 x 3 pounder (4 x 1), 3 x 18in TT 

Comments:
Again an incremental improvement on the preceding class.  The main improvement this time was a new model of 12inch gun with a longer barrel and hence firing at a higher velocity although this weapon was not as successful as hoped. Crew 680.

World War 1 Service:
St. Vincent
1st Battle Squadron Grand Fleet.
Battle of Jutland.  Fired 98 12in rounds, received no damage.
June 1916 transferred to 4th Battle Squadron.
December 1921 sold for scrap.

Vanguard
1st Battle Squadron Grand Fleet.
1 September 1914 fired on on a false alarm submarine at Scapa Flow.
April 1916 transferred to 4th Battle Squadron.
Battle of Jutland.  Fired 80 12in rounds, received no damage.
7 July 1917 accidentally exploded at Scapa Flow with the loss of 804 crew.

Collingwood
1st Battle Squadron Grand Fleet.
HRH The Duke of York, later King George VI served as a lieutenant on her.
Battle of Jutland.  Fired 84 12in rounds, received no damage.
Transferred to 4th Battle Squadron.
December 1922 sold for scrap.

HMS Collingwood.  The improved main armament guns were a disappointment as the higher velocities led to greater barrel wear and there was greater dispersion (spread) of the shells.