Wednesday's weird warship, HMS Nelson
Nelson class battleship
Displacement. 34,44o t.
Lenght. 660'
Beam. 106'
Draft. 31'6"
Speed. 23 k.
Complement 1314
Armament. 9 16"; 12 6"; 6 4.7" (as built)
HMS Nelson was built by Armstrong and launched in September 1925. During the Second World War, Nelson was in the Home fleet from 1939-1942, and in 1943 she was in Force "H". Nelson was mined off the Scottish coast in December of 1939 and was under repair until June of 1940. She was struck by an Italian aerial torpedo on 27th September 1941 and under repair until April 1942. HMS Nelson saw service in he Mediterranean up to 1943, she again saw service off Normandy where she was again mined on 18th June 1944. Repairs were carried out in Philadelphia, HMS Nelson then saw service in the Indian Ocean in operations off the Malayan coast, returning home in November 1945 she was scrapped on 15 March 1949 at Inverkeithing.
When the Washington Naval Treaty was signed, only the United States and Japan had 16 inch gunned battleships. Britain was therefore allowed to build two 16in gunned battleships, but their maximum standard displacement was fixed at 35,360 tonnes. The HMS Nelson and HMS Rodney were the result. The three 16in triple turrets were mounted forward, and the bridge moved aft to shorten the hull, armour belt and deck to save weight. The beam was restricted to 106ft by the dimensions of existing drydocks. For the first time on a British battleship an all-or-nothing protection system was adopted and the inclined armour belt was fitted about 25ft inboard, above the torpedo bulkhead. The outer part of the hull could be filled with water to improve the shock loading, and restrict damage. The secondary armament was concentrated aft, and consisted of six twin 6in turrets. For the period a powerful AA armament was mounted. To save weight a twin-screw arrangement was adopted, and although Nelson and Rodney had a small turning circle, the use of twin-screws, the long fo'c's'le and the tall tower bridge (adopted for the first time in a battleship) made them very unhandy ships. Also the triple 16in turrets proved troublesome, and the 16in gun itself was something of a disappointment when compared with the excellent British 15in gun. However, Nelson and Rodney were very powerful ships.
The all big gun forward arrangement was never repeated in British or any other navy's battleships, except for the french, who adopted it for all of their post WWI battleships. Go figure.
Big guns in action!