Lyon-class battleship
 Plan and left elevation drawing of the Lyon class as depicted in the Journal of United States Artillery
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Lyon |
| Builders | France |
| Operators |  French Navy |
| Preceded by | Template:Sclass- |
| Succeeded by | Template:Sclass- |
| Planned | 4 |
| Completed | 0 |
| Cancelled | 4 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Battleship |
| Displacement | 29,600 t (29,133 long tons) |
| Length | |
| Beam | 29 m (95 ft 2 in) |
| Draft | 8.65 to 9.2 m (28 ft 5 in to 30 ft 2 in) |
| Installed power | 40,000 shp (30,000 kW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
The Lyon class was a proposed battleship class which was planned for the French Navy in 1913, with construction scheduled to begin in 1915. The class was to have comprised four ships: Lyon, Lille, Duquesne, and Tourville. The first two were named for cities in France, while the rest honored French admirals Abraham Duquesne and Anne Hilarion de Tourville. The design was an improvement on the previous Template:Sclass-, and mounted a fourth quadruple-gun turret, for a total of sixteen 34 cm (13.4 in) guns. Construction was cancelled due to the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 before any of the ships could be laid down.
Design
Starting in 1910, the French Navy began a dreadnought battleship construction program, starting with the four ships of the Template:Sclass- that year. In 1912, a new naval law was passed that called for a fleet of twenty-eight battleships by 1920. The plan called for three ships to be ordered in 1912; these became the Template:Sclass-. Two more were projected for 1913 and another two for 1914, which were to be the first four Template:Sclass-s, though an amendment to the law increased the pace of construction to four Normandies in 1913 and a fifth member of that class in 1914. Four ships were projected for 1915.[1][2] Design work on the vessels to follow the Normandies began in 1912; the design staff submitted several proposals for the new battleships, with displacements ranged from 27,000 metric tons (26,574 long tons) to 29,000 t (28,542 long tons).[3] In 1913, the Navy authorized a fourth class of battleships, what was to have been the Lyon class, scheduled for 1915.[4][5]
One of the main considerations for the new design was the armament to be carried. The French were aware that the latest British battleships—the Template:Sclass-—were to be armed with 38 cm (15 in) guns, prompting significant consideration to match the caliber for the Lyon design. The design staff prepared four variants, two armed with the standard French 34 cm gun in twin or quadruple gun turrets, and two armed with 38 cm guns in twin turrets. The designers also briefly considered a ship armed with twenty 30.5 cm (12 in) guns in quadruple turrets, but the decrease in gun caliber was deemed to be a step in the wrong direction and it was quickly rejected. At the time, the French Navy believed that at the expected battle ranges in the Mediterranean, the 34 cm gun was effective and so the larger 38 cm gun was not necessary.[6] In addition, the design staff determined the 38 cm gun would take too long to design, so the proposals that incorporated these weapons were cancelled and one of the two 34 cm proposals was selected. The first proposal, which mounted fourteen guns, was a 27,500-metric-ton (27,066-long-ton) ship 185 meters (607 ft) long. On 24 November 1913, the design staff instead chose the slightly larger second design, armed with sixteen guns in four quadruple turrets, but the specific 34 cm gun to be used to arm the ships was still an open question.[4]
The first proposal by the Directorate of Artillery (Direction de l'artillerie) was for the existing 45-caliber gun used by the Brétagne and Normandie-class ships to be modified to use a slightly longer shell that weighed 590 kg (1,300 lb), 50 kg (110 lb) more than the existing shell, and was optimized for underwater performance. The second proposal was for a 50-caliber gun that fired a larger 630 kg (1,390 lb) shell. Accommodating the extra volume and weight of the longer gun was estimated to increase the displacement of the design to 31,000–32,000 t (31,000–31,000 long tons) and to increase the cost from 87 million francs to 93–96 million. The first option was ultimately selected in February 1914.[7] The first two ships, Lyon and Lille, were scheduled to be ordered on 1 January 1915, and Duquesne and Tourville would have followed on 1 April.[3]
World War I broke out in August 1914, however, and shifting military requirements, emphasizing the army, forced the cancellation of the class.[4] The pre-war mobilization in July greatly impeded construction as those workmen in the reserves were called to the colors, stripping the shipyards that would have built the ships of many of the skilled workers necessary to begin construction. Additionally, industrial capacity was redirected to weapons and munition orders from the army. In light of such constraints, the navy decided that only those ships that could be completed quickly would be worked upon, like the Brétagnes.[8]
Ships
| Ship | Builder[3] |
|---|---|
| Lyon | Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, St Nazaire |
| Duquesne | Arsenal de Brest, Brest |
| Lille | Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, La Seyne |
| Tourville | Arsenal de Lorient, Lorient |
Characteristics
The ships would have been 190 m (623 ft 4 in) long between perpendiculars and 194.5 m (638 ft 1 in) long overall. They would have had a beam of 29 m (95 ft 2 in) and a draft of 8.65 to 9.2 m (28 ft 5 in to 30 ft 2 in).[3] Their displacement was estimated at 29,600 metric tons (29,100 long tons). The propulsion system had not been settled by the time the class was cancelled; the design staff proposed either the mixed steam turbine and triple-expansion engine system used in the first four ships of the preceding Normandie class or the all-turbine system used in the last Normandie-class ship, Béarn, in a memo dated 13 September 1913. They also considered new geared turbines that had proved satisfactory in the new destroyer Enseigne Gabolde. The final design called for a propulsion system rated at 40,000 shaft horsepower (30,000 kW) with a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). An unknown number of boilers were trunked into two funnels amidships.[9]
The main battery of the Lyons would have been sixteen 34 cm Modèle 1912M guns mounted in four quadruple-gun turrets. They would have all been mounted on the centerline, although the arrangement is not clear. A preliminary sketch, attached to the design staff's memo of 19 September 1913, showed one turret was placed forward, one amidships, and two in a superfiring pair aft.[7] The contemporary Journal of United States Artillery, however, suggests the turrets would have been mounted in two superfiring pairs, forward and aft.[10] The turrets weighed 1,500 t (1,500 long tons), and were electrically trained and hydraulically elevated. The guns were divided into pairs and mounted in twin cradles; a 40 mm (1.6 in) thick bulkhead divided the turrets. Each pair of guns had its own ammunition hoist and magazine. They could be fired simultaneously or independently.[11] Before work on the Lyon class had started, the French Navy had begun experimenting with new types of shells. After learning that shells had penetrated the hulls of battleships underwater to burst below their armored belts during the Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1904 and during British gunnery trials in 1907, the French Navy began investigating how they might optimize shell design to improve their performance through the water. By 1913 the navy believed that it had a design that could be accurate through the water for a distance of 100 meters (328 ft).[12]
The secondary armament was to consist of twenty-four guns, either the 55-caliber 138.6 mm Modèle 1910 or a new automatic model, each singly-mounted in casemates in the hull sides.[3] The M1910 guns fired a 36.5 kg (80 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 830 m/s (2,700 ft/s).[13] The ships would also have been equipped with a pair of 47 mm (1.9 in) anti-aircraft guns and six submerged torpedo tubes of unknown size.[6]
The ships would have been protected with a modified version of the armor layout of the earlier Normandie class. The primary alteration was that the upper strake of armor intended to protect the secondary armament was reduced from 160 millimeters (6.3 in) on the Normandies to 100 millimeters (3.9 in). The reduction compensated for the additional armor below the waterline to better protect the hull against "diving" shells. The waterline armor belt would have been 300 millimeters (11.8 in) thick between the barbettes of the end turrets. The turrets were also intended to be protected with an armor thickness of 300 millimeters on their faces. The lower armored deck would have consisted of a total of 42 millimeters (1.7 in) of mild steel; the deck sloped downwards to meet the bottom of the waterline belt and the sloped portion of the deck would have had a total thickness of 70 millimeters (2.8 in). The upper armored deck was intended to be 40 millimeters (1.6 in). Between the end barbettes, below the waterline belt, the thickness of the hull would have graduated from 80 to 35 millimeters (3.1 to 1.4 in) in thickness down to a depth of 6 meters (19 ft 8 in) below the waterline forward and 4.5 meters (14 ft 9 in) aft.[14]
Notes
- ^ Gardiner & Gray, pp. 190–191
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 162
- ^ a b c d e Gardiner & Gray, p. 199
- ^ a b c O'Brien, p. 47
- ^ Wilmott, p. 143
- ^ a b Jordan & Caresse, p. 204
- ^ a b Jordan & Caresse, p. 206
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 189
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 204–205
- ^ Barnett, p. 377
- ^ Friedman, p. 209
- ^ Friedman, pp. 204, 208
- ^ Friedman, p. 225
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 204–207
References
- Barnett, M. K. (1915). "The New French Battleship "Tourville"". Journal of the United States Artillery. 44. School Board of the Coast Artillery School: 377–379. OCLC 225526618. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
- Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|lastauthoramp=ignored (|name-list-style=suggested) (help) - Jordan, John; Caresse, Philippe (2017). French Battleships of World War One. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-639-1.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|lastauthoramp=ignored (|name-list-style=suggested) (help) - O'Brien, Phillips Payson (2001). Technology and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century and Beyond. Portland: Frank Cass. ISBN 978-0714651255.
- Willmott, H. P., ed. (2009). The Last Century of Sea Power (Volume 1, From Port Arthur to Chanak, 1894–1922). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-2533-5214-9.