N3 class battleship

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The N3 battleship was a planned battleship for the Royal Navy after World War I. They were never built because of the Washington Naval Treaty signed in 1921 which prevented an arms race between the major naval powers.

In the post War period the Royal Navy was faced with the task of trying to maintain a superiority over the other major nations, Japan and the USA, who had the intention and the ability to create equivalent or better navies. The Great War had taken its toll of the Imperial economy and although the battleships of the fleet were large in numbers the Royal Navy included many older designs.

The N3 design was directly related to the G3 battlecruiser drawn up at the same time in that they were both built with similar ideas in mind and it used the same layout of the main guns being disposed to the front of the ship. However while the G3 was expected to achieve a fast 32 knots and was armed with 16 inch guns, the equally sized but heavier N3 battleships would carry much larger armament (18 inch guns (45.7 cm)) but at the expense of a slower speed.

Since the G3 were given greater priority than the N3, the latter were never even named before cancellation. It has been suggested that if they had been built they would have been named after the four patron saints of the countries of the United Kingdom: St Andrew, St David, St George, and St Patrick^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Planned specification

• Displacement: 48,000 tons
• Length: 815 feet (248.4 m)
• Beam: 106 ft (32.3 m)
• Draught: 33 ft (10.1 m)
• Machinery: two shafts, 56,000 shp
• Speed: 23.5 knots
• Armour:
  • Belt: 15 inches
  • Deck: 8 inches
  • Barbettes: 15 inches
• Armament
  • Main: 9 × 18 in (457 mm) /L45 in three turrets
  • Secondary: 16 6 inch guns in 8 twin turrets
  • 6 HA 4.7 inch guns
  • 4 ten-barrel 2 pdr pom-pom mounts
  • 2 24.5 inch underwater torpedo tubes
• Aircraft: 2 for spotting and reconnaissance

[edit] References

• Siegfried Breyer, Battleships and Battlecruisers 1905–1970 (Doubleday and Company; Garden City, New York, 1973). Originally published in German as Schlachtschiffe und Schlachtkreuzer 1905–1970, J.F. Lehmanns, Verlag, Munchen, 1970.

N3 battleship

four ships planned 1921 — none built

Preceded by: Revenge class — Followed by: Nelson class

List of battleships of the Royal Navy