Chapter 1 - "HMS Austere"
This is an itch I have been needing to scratch for some time now - I got the idea from Antony Williams ATL/ASB WW2 novel 'The Foresight War' and applied my fascination of the G3/N3 and O3 designs of Battleships coupled with the Naval treaty limitations of the day and also the problems of austerity that impacted British designs on rearmament in the 1930s.
The idea of building 18 'Austere Battleships' in the late 30s and early 40s has lots of holes in it - some so big you could drive a 35,000 ton battleship through it.
But as I said - I had an itch
So without further ado I present to you the 1933 KGV or 'Austere Class' Battleship design.
Between 1928 and 1931 the then DNC's (Sir William Berry and then Sir Arthur Johns) developed plans for a new class of fast battleship that could be affordable built by British Shipyards in large numbers to replace those pre-Jutland designed warships that would soon be reaching 20 years of age and therefore due for replacement.
One of the problems that Britain faced was that with little or no Capital ship construction since the completion of the Battleships Nelson and Rodney, those industries vital for the building of such warships were beginning to wither and disappear.
For example only 9 large 'erecting' pits capable of building or servicing large turrets remained in the entire country and the ability to produce Armour plate was significantly reduced from what was available in 1916 with the closure of several specialist armour making companies.
So without government support or building more capital ships there was a risk that Britain would soon be left without the ability to replace its aging fleet.
The idea that Sir William and then Sir Arthur came up with was to create a 35,000 Ton (dry) 'treaty' design using the latest proven technology and design concepts capable of 30 plus knots.
And to build enough of them to provide enough Capital ships to be able to protect Imperial interests.
One idea to keep the costs as low as possible was to reuse of the proven Mk1 twin 15” gun turrets as between the cost of new turrets on a new class of ship represented a large % of the cost and necessary development times would not see new weapon systems available for some years further delaying any replacement ships.
Also the triple 16” guns on the Nelson and Rodney had proven to be a disappointment with their performance not much better than the latest 15” Green boy shells from the older BL 15-inch Mark I rifles and the reliability of the 16” system was far far worse and planning regarding the deep refitting of the existing battleships such as HMS Warspite included revising the turret layout to Mk1 (N) standard which for example improved the anti-flash and safety features and reversed the shell and powder handling rooms thus putting the ‘powder’ magazine lower in the ship and in practice less likely to be subjected to the exploding battle cruiser issues that plagued some RN vessels at Jutland.
Even more radically was the idea to only arm each of these new vessels with 3 turrets in the now familiar O3 configuration found on the Nelson class Battleship giving them only 6 main guns which flew in the face of the then established schools of gunner that said that 8 guns were the minimum required for a battleship engagement.
The DNC countered that the 2 Battle cruisers Renown and Repulse frequently came top in gunnery competition scores and that the design would allow more ships to be built making it far more likely that the RN would outnumber any enemy in a surface engagement.
The inclusion of spotting aircraft and superior and larger directors was expected to make the accuracy of the guns superior to that enjoyed by earlier ships. The later inclusion of radar – whose application was unrealised at this time, justified this compromise as the weight savings allowed the ship to carry a much heavier Dual Purpose battery and a greater tonnage of machinery compared to the Nelson class.
Lastly the ships would include a repeat of the all or nothing armour design concept used on the Nelson and Rodney along with the large mostly un-armoured ‘octagonal‘ superstructure (commonly called the Queen’s Ann Mansion) which provided spacious working areas outside of the ships citadel – with only the Trunking to the main director and the ‘fighting bridge’ itself being armoured.
And large calibre shell that hit the structure would 'pass through' the relatively light construction not triggering the fuse of the shell or the delay being such that it would have not been slowed and have cleared the structure before detonating.
A main director was mounted at the very top of the structure increasing the likelihood of it remaining clear of spray from heavy seas and shell splashes etc as well as increasing its horizon
Unlike the Nelson class the Austere class would have a double hanger and double ended catapult aft of the Superstructure with a pair of Cranes that doubled up as ships boat cranes and for use during reloading of the ships 15” and 4.5” magazines.
Technically 3 aircraft could be carried - in practice never more than 2
Armed with 3 x 815 ton Mk1 (N) turrets each with 2 x BL 15-inch Mark I rifles – 120 Rounds were carried per gun (for a total of 720 Rounds).
Secondary guns were intended to be a new 5.25 twin DP mounting but delays to this program, along with known failures in the earlier 'abandoned' 5.1" (13 cm) gun program, as well as troublesome experiences with the in service 4.7" (12 cm) Mark XII both of which had used fixed single piece ammunition. The Crews of the Nelson and Rodney had experienced all sorts of issues with the single piece ammunition of the 4.7" (12 cm) Mark XII which include very heavy ammunition handling and ammunition that broke into shell and case during the loading cycle all leading to a slower than desired ROF and the DNC was keen not to repeat those 'mistakes'.
The new gun used a heavy 4.5” shell with a separate Case
The new guns proved capable of up to 15 RPM per gun (under trial conditions) although this tailed off to about 10-12 RPM at higher elevations.
The weapons had a maximum elevation of 80 degrees and its shells could reach an altitude of 41,000 feet (12,500 m).
Used in the surface role they had an effective range of 20,750 yards (18,970 m) and at 10,000 yards could penetrate 2.5” of armour.
It was always feared that this would not serve and that a heavier gun would be needed to deal with the expected larger, faster and higher flying aircraft as well as having to deal with Destroyers capable of firing torpedoes with longer ranges but in practice the weapon proved suitable for the conditions of the 2nd Great War.
So the new Twin 4.5-in (11.4 cm) Mark I was chosen – with 8 turrets fitted - 4 each side 2 forward and 2 rearward of the Catapult on each side.
This gun would go onto become the principle DP gun for all future Battleships and Fleet / light fleet Carriers, the Principle gun system for all fleet DDs post 1935 (The K,L,M,O and P classes) as well as the Dido class Light Cruisers and the final version of the gun would still be in service in the 1980s
Each pair was served by a director (2 mounted on the fwd superstructure and 2 mounted aft)
400 rounds were carried per gun for a total of 6400 shells
6 (initially 4) x 8 barrelled 40mm QF 2-pounder Mark VIII were installed 1 each side of the Bridge super structure forward and 1 each side aft of the funnels. Later on during the building of the first 6 units 2 more weapons were added 1 on top of the super firing B turret and one towards the stern.
The First batch of 6 Ships had 4 x 4 Vickers .50 cal mountings 2 each side of the Bridge super structure but these did not meet the desired capabilities and so by June 1940 (on the eve of Britain’s participation of the 2nd Great war) all had each been replaced by single mount 2 Pounder Pom Pom on the KGV/Austere class BBs
As the 2nd Great War progressed and aircraft became increasingly more effective against ships, more weapons were added to increase a given vessels AA capability – these were generally 20mm Oerlikon guns, single mount Pom Poms and towards the end of the war single, twin and quad 40mm Bofors became increasingly common.
Like all surviving warships of WW2 they eventually became literally festooned with automatic light AAA.
But that was the as of yet unknown future
The Daily Mail got wind of the proposed design in April 1933 and sneeringly called them 'The Austere class' and the name stuck.
A popular press led resistance to the 'Austere class' gained momentum the 'fear' (which of course is good for newspaper sales) being that the Royal Navy would enter the next decade with the weakest Battleships of the main powers.
However with at least 12 of the Navy's oldest commissioned Battleship/Battle Cruisers reaching 'block obsolescence' by the mid 30s and with Italy and Japan rebuilding their older ships and with Germany planning 2 fast Battleships armed with 15” guns (actually they would be armed with 11” guns) the government agreed to the DNCs design and triggering the 20 year rule and started on an ambitious 10 year plan to replace the Royal Navy's aging battlefleet rather than refitting the existing pre Jutland designs
The first 3 hulls were laid down in Sept of 1933 and 2 ships HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Warspite (the oldest hulls) were decommissioned in April 1934.
With 16 Turrets now available (4 spares left over from the Curious class BC's, 4 to be taken from monitors and the 8 from those 2 Battleships) the first 9 were rebuilt to MK1 (N) Standard by Feb 1935 and fitted to the first 3 KGV hulls which were all commissioned during 1937 (Sadly Sir Arthur Johns died before the first ship was commissioned but he did live to see the first 6 be launched).
These were
HMS King George V
HMS King Edward VIII
HMS Queen Mary
The next 3 hulls were laid down in Sept 1934 and HMS Valiant and HMS Revenge got the chop in April 1935 and again their turrets began the process of being rebuilt to Mk1 (N) Standard adding to the pool of Turrets which were fitted to those 3 '2nd batch' hulls in 1936 – all 3 of which were commissioned during 1938
These were
HMS Howe
HMS Jellicoe (Name agreed after the death of Admiral Jellicoe in Nov 1935)
HMS Anson
The next '4' hulls were laid down in Sept 1935 and HMS Barham and HMS Malaya got the chop in April 1936 and again their turrets began the process of being rebuilt to Mk1 (N) Standard which were added to the pool of reconditioned turrets fitted to those 4 '3rd batch' hulls in 1937 – all 4 of which were commissioned during 1939
These were
HMS Lion (Renamed HMS Beattie at launch after the death of Admiral Beattie)
HMS Conqueror
HMS Temeraire
HMS Bellerophon
The next '4' hulls were laid down in Sept 1936 and this time 3 ships HMS Royal Oak, HMS Royal Sovereign and HMS Resolution went to the breakers in April 1937 and again their turrets began the process of being rebuilt to Mk1 (N) Standard which were added to the pool of reconditioned turrets fitted to those 4 '4th batch' hulls in 1937 – all 4 of which were commissioned during 1940 – (with Tiger and Thunderer rushed into service late in 1940 after the 2nd Great War had begun)
These were
HMS Lion
HMS Vanguard
HMS Tiger
HMS Thunderer
The next '4' hulls were laid down in Sept 1937 and this time 3 ships HMS Ramillies, HMS Renown and HMS Repulse went to the breakers in April 1938 and again their turrets began the process of being rebuilt to Mk1 (N) Standard which were added to the pool of reconditioned turrets fitted to those 4 '5th batch' hulls between 1939 and 1943 – all 4 of which were commissioned between 1941 and early 1944 (completion of this last batch were delayed due to competing and heavy demands on British ship building and associated industries)
HMS Princess Royal
HMS Prince of Wales
HMS St Vincent
HMS Dreadnought
As chance would have it HMS Dreadnought who was finally commissioned in May 1944 would be the very last Dreadnought battleship ever made (USS Wisconsin last of the 4 Iowa class or 2nd batch South Dakota class was commissioned 3 weeks before Dreadnought in April 44)
HMS Hood by then the oldest capital ship in the fleet and hard worked in the late 30s and first years of the 2nd Great War was due to have deep refit in 1936 and then 1938 but the need to have her rush from flash point to flash point in the late 30s kept her in commission with only minor necessary refits to keep her in service able to be carried out. But with so many 'Austere class' ships commissioned by 1941 the plan was to have a major deep refit take place in the US late the same year but after being heavily damaged during the opening clashes during the 1st Battle of Jan Mayan Island by Tirpitz and Gneisenau (during the attempted breakout) with her worn out condition and damage taken into consideration she was deemed beyond economical repair (much to the anguish of many) and her surviving 3 MK2 turrets were used in the 3 Roberts class monitors from 1944 and the hull was finally scrapped in 1946 at the war's end.
On a footnote – a large number of 6” guns (of which about 120 odd were removed from the 5 Queen Elizabeth class and 5 Revenge class ships) and after reconditioning were reused in a number of shore batteries around the Empire and are often named after the ship that 'donated' them.
The 3 'Warspite batteries' for example can still be found around the City of Kota Bhara in Malaya and the 3 'Royal Sovereign' batteries were but 3 of 12 such batteries stood up in Malta – 1 of those Batteries is still preserved on the Island.
In the next episode the Austere class at war.
The idea of building 18 'Austere Battleships' in the late 30s and early 40s has lots of holes in it - some so big you could drive a 35,000 ton battleship through it.
But as I said - I had an itch
So without further ado I present to you the 1933 KGV or 'Austere Class' Battleship design.
Between 1928 and 1931 the then DNC's (Sir William Berry and then Sir Arthur Johns) developed plans for a new class of fast battleship that could be affordable built by British Shipyards in large numbers to replace those pre-Jutland designed warships that would soon be reaching 20 years of age and therefore due for replacement.
One of the problems that Britain faced was that with little or no Capital ship construction since the completion of the Battleships Nelson and Rodney, those industries vital for the building of such warships were beginning to wither and disappear.
For example only 9 large 'erecting' pits capable of building or servicing large turrets remained in the entire country and the ability to produce Armour plate was significantly reduced from what was available in 1916 with the closure of several specialist armour making companies.
So without government support or building more capital ships there was a risk that Britain would soon be left without the ability to replace its aging fleet.
The idea that Sir William and then Sir Arthur came up with was to create a 35,000 Ton (dry) 'treaty' design using the latest proven technology and design concepts capable of 30 plus knots.
And to build enough of them to provide enough Capital ships to be able to protect Imperial interests.
One idea to keep the costs as low as possible was to reuse of the proven Mk1 twin 15” gun turrets as between the cost of new turrets on a new class of ship represented a large % of the cost and necessary development times would not see new weapon systems available for some years further delaying any replacement ships.
Also the triple 16” guns on the Nelson and Rodney had proven to be a disappointment with their performance not much better than the latest 15” Green boy shells from the older BL 15-inch Mark I rifles and the reliability of the 16” system was far far worse and planning regarding the deep refitting of the existing battleships such as HMS Warspite included revising the turret layout to Mk1 (N) standard which for example improved the anti-flash and safety features and reversed the shell and powder handling rooms thus putting the ‘powder’ magazine lower in the ship and in practice less likely to be subjected to the exploding battle cruiser issues that plagued some RN vessels at Jutland.
Even more radically was the idea to only arm each of these new vessels with 3 turrets in the now familiar O3 configuration found on the Nelson class Battleship giving them only 6 main guns which flew in the face of the then established schools of gunner that said that 8 guns were the minimum required for a battleship engagement.
The DNC countered that the 2 Battle cruisers Renown and Repulse frequently came top in gunnery competition scores and that the design would allow more ships to be built making it far more likely that the RN would outnumber any enemy in a surface engagement.
The inclusion of spotting aircraft and superior and larger directors was expected to make the accuracy of the guns superior to that enjoyed by earlier ships. The later inclusion of radar – whose application was unrealised at this time, justified this compromise as the weight savings allowed the ship to carry a much heavier Dual Purpose battery and a greater tonnage of machinery compared to the Nelson class.
Lastly the ships would include a repeat of the all or nothing armour design concept used on the Nelson and Rodney along with the large mostly un-armoured ‘octagonal‘ superstructure (commonly called the Queen’s Ann Mansion) which provided spacious working areas outside of the ships citadel – with only the Trunking to the main director and the ‘fighting bridge’ itself being armoured.
And large calibre shell that hit the structure would 'pass through' the relatively light construction not triggering the fuse of the shell or the delay being such that it would have not been slowed and have cleared the structure before detonating.
A main director was mounted at the very top of the structure increasing the likelihood of it remaining clear of spray from heavy seas and shell splashes etc as well as increasing its horizon
Unlike the Nelson class the Austere class would have a double hanger and double ended catapult aft of the Superstructure with a pair of Cranes that doubled up as ships boat cranes and for use during reloading of the ships 15” and 4.5” magazines.
Technically 3 aircraft could be carried - in practice never more than 2
Armed with 3 x 815 ton Mk1 (N) turrets each with 2 x BL 15-inch Mark I rifles – 120 Rounds were carried per gun (for a total of 720 Rounds).
Secondary guns were intended to be a new 5.25 twin DP mounting but delays to this program, along with known failures in the earlier 'abandoned' 5.1" (13 cm) gun program, as well as troublesome experiences with the in service 4.7" (12 cm) Mark XII both of which had used fixed single piece ammunition. The Crews of the Nelson and Rodney had experienced all sorts of issues with the single piece ammunition of the 4.7" (12 cm) Mark XII which include very heavy ammunition handling and ammunition that broke into shell and case during the loading cycle all leading to a slower than desired ROF and the DNC was keen not to repeat those 'mistakes'.
The new gun used a heavy 4.5” shell with a separate Case
The new guns proved capable of up to 15 RPM per gun (under trial conditions) although this tailed off to about 10-12 RPM at higher elevations.
The weapons had a maximum elevation of 80 degrees and its shells could reach an altitude of 41,000 feet (12,500 m).
Used in the surface role they had an effective range of 20,750 yards (18,970 m) and at 10,000 yards could penetrate 2.5” of armour.
It was always feared that this would not serve and that a heavier gun would be needed to deal with the expected larger, faster and higher flying aircraft as well as having to deal with Destroyers capable of firing torpedoes with longer ranges but in practice the weapon proved suitable for the conditions of the 2nd Great War.
So the new Twin 4.5-in (11.4 cm) Mark I was chosen – with 8 turrets fitted - 4 each side 2 forward and 2 rearward of the Catapult on each side.
This gun would go onto become the principle DP gun for all future Battleships and Fleet / light fleet Carriers, the Principle gun system for all fleet DDs post 1935 (The K,L,M,O and P classes) as well as the Dido class Light Cruisers and the final version of the gun would still be in service in the 1980s
Each pair was served by a director (2 mounted on the fwd superstructure and 2 mounted aft)
400 rounds were carried per gun for a total of 6400 shells
6 (initially 4) x 8 barrelled 40mm QF 2-pounder Mark VIII were installed 1 each side of the Bridge super structure forward and 1 each side aft of the funnels. Later on during the building of the first 6 units 2 more weapons were added 1 on top of the super firing B turret and one towards the stern.
The First batch of 6 Ships had 4 x 4 Vickers .50 cal mountings 2 each side of the Bridge super structure but these did not meet the desired capabilities and so by June 1940 (on the eve of Britain’s participation of the 2nd Great war) all had each been replaced by single mount 2 Pounder Pom Pom on the KGV/Austere class BBs
As the 2nd Great War progressed and aircraft became increasingly more effective against ships, more weapons were added to increase a given vessels AA capability – these were generally 20mm Oerlikon guns, single mount Pom Poms and towards the end of the war single, twin and quad 40mm Bofors became increasingly common.
Like all surviving warships of WW2 they eventually became literally festooned with automatic light AAA.
But that was the as of yet unknown future
The Daily Mail got wind of the proposed design in April 1933 and sneeringly called them 'The Austere class' and the name stuck.
A popular press led resistance to the 'Austere class' gained momentum the 'fear' (which of course is good for newspaper sales) being that the Royal Navy would enter the next decade with the weakest Battleships of the main powers.
However with at least 12 of the Navy's oldest commissioned Battleship/Battle Cruisers reaching 'block obsolescence' by the mid 30s and with Italy and Japan rebuilding their older ships and with Germany planning 2 fast Battleships armed with 15” guns (actually they would be armed with 11” guns) the government agreed to the DNCs design and triggering the 20 year rule and started on an ambitious 10 year plan to replace the Royal Navy's aging battlefleet rather than refitting the existing pre Jutland designs
The first 3 hulls were laid down in Sept of 1933 and 2 ships HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Warspite (the oldest hulls) were decommissioned in April 1934.
With 16 Turrets now available (4 spares left over from the Curious class BC's, 4 to be taken from monitors and the 8 from those 2 Battleships) the first 9 were rebuilt to MK1 (N) Standard by Feb 1935 and fitted to the first 3 KGV hulls which were all commissioned during 1937 (Sadly Sir Arthur Johns died before the first ship was commissioned but he did live to see the first 6 be launched).
These were
HMS King George V
HMS King Edward VIII
HMS Queen Mary
The next 3 hulls were laid down in Sept 1934 and HMS Valiant and HMS Revenge got the chop in April 1935 and again their turrets began the process of being rebuilt to Mk1 (N) Standard adding to the pool of Turrets which were fitted to those 3 '2nd batch' hulls in 1936 – all 3 of which were commissioned during 1938
These were
HMS Howe
HMS Jellicoe (Name agreed after the death of Admiral Jellicoe in Nov 1935)
HMS Anson
The next '4' hulls were laid down in Sept 1935 and HMS Barham and HMS Malaya got the chop in April 1936 and again their turrets began the process of being rebuilt to Mk1 (N) Standard which were added to the pool of reconditioned turrets fitted to those 4 '3rd batch' hulls in 1937 – all 4 of which were commissioned during 1939
These were
HMS Lion (Renamed HMS Beattie at launch after the death of Admiral Beattie)
HMS Conqueror
HMS Temeraire
HMS Bellerophon
The next '4' hulls were laid down in Sept 1936 and this time 3 ships HMS Royal Oak, HMS Royal Sovereign and HMS Resolution went to the breakers in April 1937 and again their turrets began the process of being rebuilt to Mk1 (N) Standard which were added to the pool of reconditioned turrets fitted to those 4 '4th batch' hulls in 1937 – all 4 of which were commissioned during 1940 – (with Tiger and Thunderer rushed into service late in 1940 after the 2nd Great War had begun)
These were
HMS Lion
HMS Vanguard
HMS Tiger
HMS Thunderer
The next '4' hulls were laid down in Sept 1937 and this time 3 ships HMS Ramillies, HMS Renown and HMS Repulse went to the breakers in April 1938 and again their turrets began the process of being rebuilt to Mk1 (N) Standard which were added to the pool of reconditioned turrets fitted to those 4 '5th batch' hulls between 1939 and 1943 – all 4 of which were commissioned between 1941 and early 1944 (completion of this last batch were delayed due to competing and heavy demands on British ship building and associated industries)
HMS Princess Royal
HMS Prince of Wales
HMS St Vincent
HMS Dreadnought
As chance would have it HMS Dreadnought who was finally commissioned in May 1944 would be the very last Dreadnought battleship ever made (USS Wisconsin last of the 4 Iowa class or 2nd batch South Dakota class was commissioned 3 weeks before Dreadnought in April 44)
HMS Hood by then the oldest capital ship in the fleet and hard worked in the late 30s and first years of the 2nd Great War was due to have deep refit in 1936 and then 1938 but the need to have her rush from flash point to flash point in the late 30s kept her in commission with only minor necessary refits to keep her in service able to be carried out. But with so many 'Austere class' ships commissioned by 1941 the plan was to have a major deep refit take place in the US late the same year but after being heavily damaged during the opening clashes during the 1st Battle of Jan Mayan Island by Tirpitz and Gneisenau (during the attempted breakout) with her worn out condition and damage taken into consideration she was deemed beyond economical repair (much to the anguish of many) and her surviving 3 MK2 turrets were used in the 3 Roberts class monitors from 1944 and the hull was finally scrapped in 1946 at the war's end.
On a footnote – a large number of 6” guns (of which about 120 odd were removed from the 5 Queen Elizabeth class and 5 Revenge class ships) and after reconditioning were reused in a number of shore batteries around the Empire and are often named after the ship that 'donated' them.
The 3 'Warspite batteries' for example can still be found around the City of Kota Bhara in Malaya and the 3 'Royal Sovereign' batteries were but 3 of 12 such batteries stood up in Malta – 1 of those Batteries is still preserved on the Island.
In the next episode the Austere class at war.
