Colossus-class battleship (1910)

Class overview
HMS Colossus
Name:	Colossus-class battleship
Preceded by:	Neptune class
Succeeded by:	Orion class
In commission:	1911–1921
Completed:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Post Dreadnought Battleship
Displacement:	Normal: 19,680 tons Fully laden: 22,700 tons
Length:	546 ft (166.4 m)
Beam:	85 ft (25.9 m)
Propulsion:	Parsons direct drive steam turbines, 25.000 shp on four shafts
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h)
Complement:	755
Armament:	10 × BL 12 inch / 50 cal Mk XII guns (5 × 2) 16 × BL 4 inch Mk VII guns (16 × 1) 3 × 21-inch (533 mm) submerged torpedo tubes
Armour:	Belt: 11 in (280 mm) Bulkheads: 10 in (254 mm) Barbettes: 11 in (279 mm) Turret: 11 in (279 mm) Deck: 4 in (102 mm)

The Colossus class of two battleships - HMS Colossus and HMS Hercules of the British Royal Navy were among the first battleships following the original HMS Dreadnought of 1906. Originally intended to be part of the Neptune class, the two ships had thicker armour and other differences from Neptune, and so Neptune is traditionally left as its own class. They were the last 12-inch (305 mm) gunned dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy, and were followed by the first "super-dreadnoughts", the Orion-class battleships with 13.5-inch (343 mm) guns.

Design

In designing this class, their Lordships of the Admiralty finally took note of the vulnerability of British capital ships in view of the general move to 12-inch (305 mm) guns by the German navy. Thus the main belt reverted to the 11-inch (280 mm) thickness of Dreadnought, with the unfortunate corollary of necessitating a reduction in internal protection to compensate. The design was also influenced by the American Delaware-class battleship's ability to mount a ten-gun broadside. To save 50 tons of topweight, the mainmast was suppressed. Besides the weight, the mainmast was considered to be of limited value. Meanwhile Dreadnought's major flaw of positioning the foremast just behind the fore funnel was inexplicably repeated. In the Colossus class, this situation was aggravated by the far greater power of the boiler installation served by the funnel.

Machinery was for the first time divided into three compartments instead of two. This was thought to provide resistance to flooding to balance the loss of screening bulkheads. Machinery was otherwise identical to that fitted previously, except apparently the new internal arrangements allowed the center engine room to operate independently during cruising conditions to conserve fuel.

Main armament remained the same as Neptune, except the stagger of the wing turrets was reduced to conserve deck space, allowing the forward superstructure to be lengthened and the layout of the secondary armament to be improved.

References

Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and Battlecruisers 1905–1970, J.F. Lehmanns Verlag, Munich, 1970.
Robert Gardiner: Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1922–1946, Conway Maritime Press London 1980

"HMS Colossus 1910-4-9". Clydebuilt warships. Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

External sources

Dreadnought Project Technical material on the weaponry and fire control for the ships

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Colossus class battleship (1910).

Colossus-class battleships

Colossus Hercules

Preceded by: HMS Neptune Followed by: Orion class

List of dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy

British naval ship classes of the First World War

Aircraft/Seaplane carriers	Empress^S^V Riviera^S^V Engadine^S^V Ark Royal^S Ben-my-Chree^S^V Campania^S^V Raven II^S^V Anne^S^V Vindex^S^V Manxman^S^V Furious^M Pegasus^S^V Nairana^S^V Argus^S^V Vindictive^S^V

Dreadnought battleships	Dreadnought^S Bellerophon St Vincent Neptune^S Colossus Orion King George V Erin^S Agincourt^S Iron Duke Canada^S Queen Elizabeth Revenge

Pre-dreadnought battleships	Royal Sovereign Majestic Canopus Formidable Duncan King Edward VII Swiftsure Lord Nelson

Battlecruisers	Invincible Indefatigable Lion Queen Mary^S Tiger^S Renown Courageous Admiral^S^C Incomparable^X

Armoured cruisers	Cressy Drake Monmouth Devonshire Duke of Edinburgh Warrior Minotaur

Heavy cruisers	Hawkins

Light cruisers	Town^G Arethusa C^{G, C} Danae^C Emerald^A

Protected cruisers	Apollo Astraea Eclipse Blake Pearl Edgar Powerful Diadem Arrogant Pelorus Highflyer Challenger Topaze

Scout cruisers	Adventure Forward Pathfinder Sentinel Boadicea Blonde Active

Destroyer flotilla leaders	Swift^S Faulknor Marksman Parker Admiralty (or Scott)^C Thornycroft (or Shakespeare)^C

Destroyers	A^G B^G C^G D^G E^G F Cricket^G G H I K L Admiralty M Hawthorn M Thornycroft M Yarrow M Yarrow Later M R^G S^{G, C} Talisman V and W^{G, C}

Monitors	Marshal Ney Abercrombie Lord Clive Humber Gorgon M15 M29 Erebus

Minesweepers	Flower Racecourse Hunt 24^C

Gunboats	Fly Insect

Submarines	A B C D E F G H^C J K L^C M^C R^C Swordfish^S V

A All completed after the war C One or more completed after the war G Grouping of several classes M converted from Courageous class S Single ship of class V Conversions X Cancelled

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