HMS Lord Nelson (1906)

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Career

Builder:	Palmers, Greenock
Laid down:	18 May 1905
Launched:	4 September 1906
Commissioned:	October 1908
Status:	Sold for breaking up, November 1920
General Characteristics
Displacement:	16,500 tons
Length:	445 ft (135.6 m)
Beam:	79.5 ft (24.2 m)
Draught:	26.75 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion:	Vertical triple expansion (4 cylinder) engines by Palmers and Hawthorn Leslie to 2 screws. Fifteen Babcock boilers, pressure 275 psi, 16,750 ihp
Speed:	18.5 knots
Range:	9,180 nautical miles at 10 knots
Capacity:	900-2,171 tons of coal plus 1,090 tons of oil
Complement:	800-817
Armament:	Four 12 inch 45 cal, 80 r.p.g. (2 × 2) Ten 9.2 inch 50 cal 100 r.p.g. (4 × 2 + 2 × 1) Twenty-four 12 pdr, 230 r.p.g. (24 × 1) Five 18 inch submerged torpedo tubes, 23 torpedoes carried
Armour:	Main belt: 12 inches (amidships), 6-2 inches (forward) Decks: main 1.5 inches, middle 4-1 inches, lower 3 - inches Main turrets: 12 in Secondary turrets: 7 inches Barbettes: 12 inches Bulkhead aft: 8 inches Citadel: 8 inches Conning tower: 12 inches

The HMS Lord Nelson was a Lord Nelson class battleship launched in 1906 and completed in 1908. She served in 1914 in the English Channel. 1915 Dardanelles & Mediterranean. 1919 Radio-controlled target. Scrapped 1920.

1 Design History
2 Service History
3 References
4 External link

[edit] Design History

The first class battleship HMS Lord Nelson, together with her sister ship HMS Agamemnon, was designed in the very early years of the twentieth century, at a time when the standard battleship armament in the Royal Navy and in many other navies was four guns of twelve-inch calibre and a number of guns, usually twelve, of six-inch calibre. There were already in existence proposals for all-big-gun ships, promoted largely by Admiral Jackie Fisher, but at the time of the laying-down of the Lord Nelson class these plans were at an early stage. It was, however, recognised that with increasing thickness of armour and prospective increases in combat ranges, a heavier armament than had heretofore been carried in battleships was necessary. It was also recognised that greater protection was needed than had been thought to be the case in previous classes, and her main armour belt was twelve inches thick over the machinery spaces and magazines; the armour belt in the King Edward VII class battleships, the immediately preceding class, was nowhere more than nine inches thick. The designer, Isaac Watts, had wanted to include twelve 9.2 inch (234 mm) guns in three twin turrets amidships on each beam. This gun, which he had included in the Warrior and Minotaur classes of armoured cruisers, was very well thought of in Royal Naval service. Unfortunately, the Controller (the fourth Sea Lord) decreed that the ships must be able to dock at number 9 dock at Chatham and number 5 at Devonport. These stipulations necessitated shortening the designed length by eleven feet, and restricting the beam to 79.5 feet (24.2 m). It was therefore necessary to re-work the design with the central turret on each beam holding a single gun only. As the rapid completion of HMS Dreadnought was held to have absolute priority, the twelve-inch gun turrets being produced for Lord Nelson and Agamemnon were diverted to this ship, and the Lord Nelsons had to wait for further production, being therefore not completed until 1908, nearly two years after Dreadnought.

[edit] Service History

HMS Lord Nelson was first commissioned in December 1908, being attached to the Nore Division of the Home Fleet with a nucleus crew. She received a full crew in January 1909, and in April 1909 became part of the first Division, Home Fleet. She was transferred in January 1911 to the second Division of the Home Fleet, and in May 1912 to the second battle squadron. She was temporarily attached in September 1913 to the third battle squadron. In 1914 she was the flagship of the Channel Fleet and, with other ships, covered the safe transport of the British Expeditionary Force, under the command of Sir John French, to France. She was employed in the defence of the Southern ports (without being in action) until February 1915, when she was ordered to the Dardanelles. Lord Kitchener made his headquarters aboard her in November 1915. She was flagship of Vice-Admiral Wemyss until December 1915, and thereafter of Vice Admiral de Roebeck. She sustained no damage or casualties in the campaign. She was flagship, Eastern Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Sea until April 1919. She returned home in May 1919.

HMS Lord Nelson was sold for breaking up in November 1920.