Battleship HMS King Edward VII

The battleship HMS King Edward VII was the type ship of the same class of ships, which consisted of a total of 8 ships and should serve in response to the larger guns of other naval forces.

 

Launching and design:

Beginning of the 20th century, the Royal Navy had 29 battleships consisting of six different ship classes. The ships were all the same in their basic construction and come from the designer William Henry White. The major drawback of these battleships was that the medium artillery caliber 152 mm guns consisted. Due to the steadily improved armor of the warships of other nations these guns were ineffective with time and had done little damage, also were already equipped in the US and Italy, the warships with a medium artillery of caliber 203 mm.

To increase the firepower of the British battleships, William Henry White began planning new ships. These were based on the basic concept of the already used Majestic class, but had a displacement of 1,000 tons and for the first time four caliber 234 mm guns in addition. The 10 caliber 152 mm guns also remained in this class, as a conversion to the 234 mm guns would have required a completely new planning and thus the schedule for the construction of the new ships could not have been met. At least in the last three of the eight ships an improved version of the guns was installed. A placement of the center artillery in casemates was not made in this ship type, instead, the guns amidships were housed in a central battery which had the advantage that the guns could be used regardless of the sea.

Also on the maneuverability of the ships was significantly increased with a balanced rudder.

At the time of the construction of the ships, these were considered the most powerful battleships of the time. By the end of 1906, however, they were outdated by the construction of the HMS Dreadnought and its many improvements within a very short time.

The launching of the HMS King Edward VII took place in 1904, the commissioning in 1905.

 

 

 

 

 

 

History of HMS King Edward VII:

After commissioning and testing, the HMS King Edward VII was initially assigned to the Atlantic Fleet as flagship.

In 1907, the transfer to the Channel Fleet, where the ship was used together with the sister ships.

Between 1909 and 1914, the ships of the King Edward VII class were used in the Home Fleet, the HMS King Edward VII in the period of the First Balkan War from 8 October 1912 to 1 May 1913 in the Mediterranean as part of the 3rd Battle Squadron should monitor the war.

After the end of the first Balkan war, the ship was relocated back to the Grand Fleet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use in the war:

With the outbreak of the First World War, the HMS King Edward VII stayed in the Grand Fleet and made some forays into the North Sea.

In early 1916, the transfer to Nore Command.

 

 

 

Whereabouts:

On January 6, 1916, the HMS King Edward VII drove on a sea mine, which was previously laid by the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Möve at Cape Wrath on.

The damage was so severe that the engine rooms were completely flooded. Since no further onward journey was possible and the ship could not be towed, the crew was taken off board. After nine hours, the ship was completely submerged.

 

 

 

 

 

Ship data:

Name:	HMS King Edward VII
Country:	Great Britain
Ship Type:	Battleship
Class:	King Edward VII-Class
Boatyard:	Chatham Dockyard
Building-costs:	unknown
Launched:	During the year 1903
Commissioning:	During the year 1905
Whereabouts:	On January 6, 1916 at Cape Wrath ran on a sea mine and sunk
Length:	138,23 meters
Width:	24 meters
Draft:	Max. 8,15 meters
Displacement:	Max. 17.500 tons
Crew:	777 men
Drive:	10 Babcock & Wilcox and 6 cylindrical cauldrons 2 four-cylinder triple compound steam engines
Power:	unknown
Maximum speed:	18,5 kn
Armament:	4 x 305 mm Mark IX /40 guns 4 x 234 mm Mark X guns in four single turrets 10 x 152 mm Mk VII guns 14 x 12 pounds QF Marine guns 14 x 3 pounds QF guns 2 x Maxim machine guns
Armor:	Belt 203 to 229 mm Bulkheads 203 to 360 mm Barbettes 360 mm Armored Cupolas Twin Towers 203 to 360 mm Armored cupolas Single towers 127 to 229 mm Command tower 360 mm Deck 25 to 63 mm

 

 

 

 

 

You can find the right literature here:

 

British Battleships of World War One

This new edition of a classic work on British battleships is the most sought after book on the subject. Containing many new photographs from the author's exhaustive collection this superb reference book presents the complete technical history of British capital ship design and construction during the dreadnought era. Beginning with Dreadnought, all of the fifty dreadnoughts, 'super-dreadnoughts' and battlecruisers that served the Royal Navy during this era are described and superbly illustrated with photographs and line drawings.

Click here!

 

 

The British Battleship: 1906-1946

Norman Friedman brings a new perspective to an ever-popular subject in The British Battleship: 1906-1946. With a unique ability to frame technologies within the context of politics, economics, and strategy, he offers unique insight into the development of the Royal Navy capital ships. With plans of the important classes commissioned from John Roberts and A D Baker III and a color section featuring the original Admiralty draughts, this book offers something to even the most knowledgeable enthusiast.

Click here!

 

 

British Battlecruisers 1905-1920

The brainchild of Admiral Sir John Fisher, battlecruisers combined heavy guns and high speed in the largest hulls of their era. Conceived as "super-cruisers" whose job it was to hunt down and destroy commerce raiders, their size and gun-power led to their inclusion in the battlefleet as a fast squadron of capital ships. This book traces in detail the development of Fisher's original idea into the first battlecruiser Invincible of 1908, through to the "Splendid Cats" of the Lion class, and culminating in HMS Hood in 1920, the largest warship in the world for the next twenty years. The origins of the unusual "light battlecruisers" of the Courageous type are also covered.

The well-publicized problems of British battlecruisers are examined, including the latest research throwing light on the catastrophic loss of three of the ships at the Battle of Jutland. The developmental history is backed by chapters covering machinery, armament, and armor, with a full listing of important technical data. The comprehensive collection of illustrations includes the author's superb drawings and original Admiralty plans reproduced in full color. This revised and updated edition of the classic work first published in 1997 will be welcomed by anyone with an interest in the most charismatic and controversial warships of the dreadnought era.

Click here!

 

 

British Battlecruiser vs German Battlecruiser: 1914–16 (Duel)

Battles at Dogger Bank and Jutland revealed critical firepower, armor, and speed differences in Royal Navy and Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) Battlecruiser designs.

Fast-moving and formidably armed, the battlecruisers of the British and German navies first encountered one another in 1915 at Dogger Bank and in the following year clashed near Jutland in the biggest battleship action of all time. In the decade before World War I Britain and Germany were locked in a naval arms race that saw the advent of first the revolutionary dreadnought, the powerful, fast-moving battleship that rendered earlier designs obsolete, and then an entirely new kind of vessel - the battlecruiser. The brainchild of the visionary British admiral John 'Jacky' Fisher, the battlecruiser was designed to operate at long range in 'flying squadrons', using its superior speed and powerful armament to hunt, outmanoeuvre and destroy any opponent. The penalty paid to reach higher speeds was a relative lack of armour, but Fisher believed that 'speed equals protection'. By 1914 the British had ten battlecruisers in service and they proved their worth when two battlecruisers, Invincible and Inflexible, sank the German armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau off the Falklands in December 1914.

Based on a divergent design philosophy that emphasised protection over firepower, the Germans' battlecruisers numbered six by January 1915, when the rival battlecruisers first clashed at Dogger Bank in the North Sea. By this time the British battlecruisers had been given a new role - to locate the enemy fleet. Five British battlecruisers accompanied by other vessels intercepted and pursued a German force including three battlecruisers; although the battle was a British tactical victory with neither side losing any of its battlecruisers, the differences in the designs of the British and German ships were already apparent. The two sides responded very differently to this first clash; while the Germans improved their ammunition-handling procedures to lessen the risk of disabling explosions, the British drew the opposite lesson and stockpiled ammunition in an effort to improve their rate of fire, rendering their battlecruisers more vulnerable. The British also failed to improve the quality of their ammunition, which had often failed to penetrate the German ships' armour.

These differences were highlighted more starkly during the battle of Jutland in May 1916. Of the nine British battlecruisers committed, three were destroyed, all by their German counterparts. Five German battlecruisers were present, and of these, only one was sunk and the remainder damaged. The limitations of some of the British battlecruisers' fire-control systems, range-finders and ammunition quality were made clear; the Germans not only found the range more quickly, but spread their fire more effectively, and the German battlecruisers' superior protection meant that despite being severely mauled, all but one were able to evade the British fleet at the close of the battle. British communication was poor, with British crews relying on ship-to-ship flag and lamp signals even though wireless communication was available. Even so, both sides claimed victory and the controversy continues to this day.

Click here!

 

 

 

 

 

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