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Courageous-class battlecruiser

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Courageous during World War I
Class overview
NameCourageous class
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byRenown-class
Succeeded byAdmiral-class
SubclassesHMS Furious
Cost£2,038,225 (Courageous)
Built1915–1917
In service1916–1944
In commission1916–1944
Planned3
Completed3
Lost2
Scrapped1
General characteristics (Courageous)
Typelarge light cruiser/battlecruiser
Displacementlist error: <br /> list (help)
19,180 long tons (19,488 t) standard
22,560 long tons (22,922 t) full load
Length786 ft 9 in (239.8 m)
Beam81 ft (24.7 m)
Draught25 ft 10 in (7.9 m)
Propulsion4 shafts, 4 geared steam turbines, 18 Yarrow small-tube boilers
Speed32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Complement842 officers and men
Armamentlist error: <br /> list (help)
2 × 2 – BL 15-inch (381 mm) Mk I guns

6 × 3 – BL 4-inch (102 mm) Mk IX guns
2 × 1 – QF 3-inch (76.2 mm) 20 cwt AA guns

2 × 1 – submerged 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armourlist error: <br /> list (help)
Belt: 2–3 in (51–76 mm)
Decks: .75–3 in (19–76 mm)
Barbettes: 3–7 in (76–178 mm)
Turrets: 7–9 in (178–229 mm)
Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm)
Torpedo bulkheads: 1–1.5 in (25–38 mm)

The Courageous class battlecruisers were a class of three ships known as "large light cruisers" built for the Royal Navy during World War I. Nominally designed to support Admiral Sir John Fisher's Baltic Project, they were very lightly armoured and armed with only a few heavy guns. They were given shallow draught, supposedly to allow them to operate in the shallow waters of the Baltic, but this also reflected lessons learned thus far during the war.

The first two ships were commissioned in 1917 and spent the war patrolling the North Sea. They participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917 and were present when the High Seas Fleet surrendered a year later. Their half-sister Furious was designed with a pair of 18-inch (457 mm) guns, but was modified while building to take a flying-off deck and hangar in lieu of her forward turret and barbette. She made some patrols in the North Sea before her rear turret was removed and another flight deck added. Her aircraft attacked the Zeppelin sheds at Tondern in July 1918.

All three ships were laid up after the end of the war, but were rebuilt as aircraft carriers during the 1920s. Glorious and Courageous were sunk during World War II and Furious was sold for scrap in 1948.

Design and description

Right elevation and plan view of the Courgeous class from Brassey's Naval Annual 1923

The first two Courageous-class battlecruisers were designed in 1915 to meet a set of requirements laid down by the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Admiral Fisher for his Baltic Project, HMS Courageous and HMS Glorious. They were to be large enough to ensure that they could maintain their speed in moderate weather, a powerful armament, a speed of at least 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) to allow it to outrun enemy light cruisers, light cruiser-scale protection, with 3 inches (76 mm) of armour between the waterline and the forecastle deck, and anti-torpedo bulges amidships and the machinery as far inboard as possible, protected by triple torpedo bulkheads. Shallow draught was of the utmost importance and all other factors should be subordinated to this. The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Sir Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, responded on 23 February 1915 with a smaller version of the Renown-class battlecruisers with one less gun turret and reduced armour protection. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had forbidden any further construction of ships larger than light cruisers in 1915, so Fisher designated the ships as large light cruisers to evade this prohibition. The two ships were laid down a few months later under a veil of secrecy so that they became known in the Royal Navy as 'Lord Fisher's hush-hush cruisers' and their odd design also earned them the nickname of the Outrageous-class.[1]

Their half-sister HMS Furious was designed a few months later to a revised requirement specifying an armament of two BL 18 inch Mk I naval guns in single turrets with the ability to use twin 15-inch (381 mm) gun turrets if the eighteen-inch guns were unsatisfactory. Her secondary armament was upgraded to the BL 5.5-inch (140 mm) Mk I gun, rather than the 4-inch (102 mm) guns of the first two ships. Her displacement and beam were increased over that of her half-sisters with slightly less draught.[1]

The Baltic Project was only one justification for the ships; Admiral Fisher wrote in a letter to the DNC on 16 March 1915: "I've told the First Lord that the more that I consider the qualities of your design of the Big Light Battle Cruisers, the more that I am impressed by its exceeding excellence and simplicity—all the three vital requisites of gunpower, speed and draught so well balanced!"[2] In fact they could be considered the epitome of Fisher's philosophy of speed over everything. The best example of this is from a letter to Churchill concerning the battleships of the 1912–13 Naval Estimates dated April 1912: "There must be sacrifice of armour... There must be further VERY GREAT INCREASE IN SPEED... your speed must vastly exceed [that of] your possible enemy!"[3]

Fisher's desire for a shallow draught was not merely based on a desire to allow for inshore operations, but reflected lessons learned thus far in the war where ships tended to operate closer to deep load than anticipated and were found lacking in freeboard, reserve buoyancy and safety against underwater attack. This experience led the DNC to reconsider the proportions of the hull to rectify the problems identified thus far. The Courageous-class ships were the first products of that reevaluation.[4]

General characteristics

The Courageous-class ships had an overall length of 786 feet 9 inches (239.8 m), a beam of 81 feet (24.7 m), and a draught of 25 feet 10 inches (7.9 m) at deep load. They displaced 19,180 long tons (19,488 t) at load and 22,560 long tons (22,922 t) at deep load. They had a metacentric height of 6 feet (1.8 m) at deep load as well as a complete double bottom.[5]

Their half-sister Furious was the same length, but had a beam of 88 feet (26.8 m), and a draught of 24 feet 11 inches (7.6 m) at deep load. She displaced 19,513 long tons (19,826 t) at load and 22,890 long tons (23,257 t) at deep load. She had a metacentric height of 5.33 feet (1.6 m) at deep load.[5]

Propulsion

The Courageous-class ships were the first large warships in the Royal Navy to have geared steam turbines. To save time they simply doubled the installation used in the light cruiser Champion. The turbines were arranged in two engine rooms and each of the turbines drove one of the four propeller shafts. Furious's propellers were 11 feet 6 inches (3.5 m) in diameter. The turbines were powered by eighteen Yarrow small-tube boilers equally divided between three boiler rooms. They were designed to produce a total of 90,000 shaft horsepower (67,113 kW) at a working pressure of 235 psi (1,620 kPa; 17 kgf/cm2), but achieved slightly more than that during Glorious's trials, but she did not reach her designed speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph).[6]

They were designed to normally carry 750 long tons (762 t) of fuel oil, but could carry a maximum of 3,160 long tons (3,211 t). At full capacity, they could steam for an estimated 6,000 nautical miles (11,110 km; 6,900 mi) at a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[7]

Armament

The Courageous-class ships mounted four BL 15-inch (381 mm) Mark I guns in two twin hydraulically powered Mark I* turrets, one each fore ('A') and aft ('Y').[7] These turrets were available because a class of improved Royal Sovereign-class battleships was cancelled shortly after the war began.[8] The guns could be depressed to −3° and elevated to 20°; they could be loaded at any angle up to 20°, although loading at high angles tended to slow the gun's return to battery. The ships carried 120 shells per gun. They fired 1,910-pound (866 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,575 ft/s (785 m/s); this provided a maximum range of 23,734 yd (21,702 m) with armour-piercing (AP) shells.[9]

The Courageous-class ships were designed with eighteen BL 4-inch (102 mm) Mark IX guns. They were mounted in six triple T.I. Mark I mounts. These mounts were manually powered and quite cumbersome in use as they required a crew of thirty-two men to load and train the guns. They had a maximum depression of -10° and a maximum elevation of 30°. They fired a 22-pound (10.0 kg) high explosive shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,625 ft/s (800 m/s) at a rate of ten to twelve rounds per minute. At maximum elevation the guns had a maximum range of 13,500 yards (12,344 m).[10] The ships carried 120 rounds for each gun.[7]

Each mounted a pair of QF 3-inch (76.2 mm) 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns on single high-angle Mark II mountings. These were mounted abreast the mainmast in the Courageous-class ships and before the funnel on Furious.[7] The gun had a maximum depression of 10° and a maximum elevation of 90°. It fired a 12.5-pound (5.7 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,500 ft/s (760 m/s) at a rate of fire of 12–14 rounds per minute. They had a maximum effective ceiling of 23,500 ft (7,200 m).[11] All three ships mounted two 21-inch (533 mm) submerged side-loading torpedo tubes fitted near 'A' turret. They were loaded and traversed by hydraulic power, but fired by compressed air. A total of ten torpedos were carried.[12]

The eighteen-inch BL Mark I gun carried by Furious was derived from the fifteen-inch Mark I gun used in her half-sisters. It was mounted in two single-gun turrets derived from the twin-gun fifteen-inch Mark I/N turret and her barbettes were designed to accommodate either turret in case problems arose with the eighteen-inch gun's development. The gun could depress to -3° and elevate to a maximum of 30°. It fired a 3,320-pound (1,510 kg), 4crh armour-piercing, capped (APC) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,270 ft/s (690 m/s) to a distance of 28,900 yards (26,400 m). It could fire one round per minute and the ship carried sixty rounds for it. The turret's revolving mass was 826 long tons (839 t), only slightly more than the 810 long tons (823 t) of its predecessor.[13]

Furious's secondary armament consisted of eleven BL 5.5-inch (140 mm) Mk I guns. The guns had a maximum elevation of 25° on their PI* mounts. They fired 82-pound (37 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,790 ft/s (850 m/s). Their maximum range was 16,000 yd (15,000 m) at 25° elevation. Their rate of fire was twelve rounds per minute.[14]

Fire-control

The main guns of the Courageous-class ships were controlled from either of the two fire-control directors. The primary director was mounted above the conning tower in an armoured hood and the other was in the fore-top on the foremast.[15] Data from a 15-foot (4.6 m) rangefinder in the armoured hood was input into a Mk IV* Dreyer Fire Control Table located in the Transmitting Station (TS) where it was converted into range and deflection data for use by the guns. The target's data was also graphically recorded on a plotting table to assist the gunnery officer in predicting the movement of the target.[16] The secondary armament was also director-controlled.[17] Each turret was provided with a fifteen-foot rangefinder in an armoured housing on the turret roof. The fore-top was equipped with a 9-foot (2.7 m) rangefinder as was the torpedo control tower above the rear superstructure. The anti-aircraft guns were controlled by a simple 2-metre (6 ft 7 in) rangefinder mounted on the aft superstructure.[18]

Protection

Unlike other British battlecruisers the bulk of the armour of the Courageous-class ships was made from high-tensile steel, a type of steel used structurally in the other ships. Their waterline belt consisted of 2 inches (51 mm) covered by a 1 inch (25 mm) skin. It ran from barbette to barbette with a one-inch extension forward to the two-inch forward bulkhead well short of the bow. The belt had a height of 23 feet (7.0 m), of which 18 inches (0.5 m) was below the designed waterline. From the forward barbette a three-inch bulkhead extended out to the ship's side between the upper and lower decks and a comparable bulkhead was in place at the rear barbette as well. Four decks were armoured with thicknesses varying from .75 to 3 inches (19 to 76 mm), with the greatest thicknesses over the magazines and the steering gear. After the Battle of Jutland 110 long tons (112 t) of extra protection was added to the deck around the magazines.[19]

The turrets, barbettes and conning tower were made from Krupp cemented armour. The turret faces were 9 inches (229 mm) thick while while their sides ranged from 9 to 7 inches (229 to 178 mm) in thickness and the roof was 4.5 inches (114 mm) thick. The barbettes had a maximum thickness of 6 to 7 inches (152 to 178 mm) above the main deck, but reduced in thickness to 3 to 4 inches (76 to 102 mm) between the lower and main decks. The conning tower armour was 10 inches (254 mm) thick and it had a three-inch roof. The primary fire-control director atop the conning tower was protected by an armoured hood. The face of the hood was six inches thick, its sides were two inches thick and its roof was protected by three inches of armour. A communications tube with three-inch sides ran from the conning tower down to the lower conning position on the main deck. The torpedo bulkheads were increased during building from .75 inches (19 mm) to 1.5 inches (38 mm) in thickness.[20]

All three ships were fitted with a shallow anti-torpedo bulge integral to the hull which was intended to explode the torpedo before it hit the hull proper and vent the underwater explosion to the surface rather than into the ship. However later testing proved that it was not deep enough to accomplish its task and that it lacked the layers of empty and full compartments that were necessary to absorb the force of the explosion.[21]

Ships

Ship Builder Laid down Launched Completed Fate
Courageous Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick 28 March 1915 5 February 1916 28 October 1916 Sunk 17 September 1939 by U-29
Glorious Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland 1 May 1915 20 April 1916 14 October 1916 Sunk 8 June 1940 by Gneisenau and Scharnhorst
Furious Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick 8 June 1915 18 August 1916 26 June 1916 Sold for scrap 15 March 1948

Service

During her sea trials in November 1916, Courageous sustained structural damage while running at full speed in a rough head sea. The forecastle deck was deeply buckled in three places between the breakwater and the forward turret.[22] In addition the side plating was visibly buckled between the forecastle and upper decks. Water had entered the submerged torpedo room and rivets had sheared in the vertical flange of the angle iron securing the deck armour in place.[23] The exact cause is not known for certain, but Courageous received 130 long tons (132 t) of stiffening in response; Glorious did not receive her stiffening until 1918.[24] Courageous also was temporarily fitted as a minelayer in April 1917, but never actually laid any mines. In mid-1917 both ships received a dozen torpedo tubes in pairs: one mount on each side of the mainmast on the upper deck and two mounts on each side of the rear turret on the quarterdeck.[25][26] Courageous and Glorious served together throughout the war. Both ships were initially assigned to the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron (LCS) and later reconstituted the 1st Cruiser Squadron (CS).[27]

Furious as originally completed

Even as she was being built, Furious was modified with a large hangar capable of housing ten aircraft on her forecastle replacing the forward turret. A 160-foot (49 m) flight deck was built along its roof. Aircraft were flown off and less successfully landed on this deck. Although the aft turret was fitted and the gun trialled it was not long before Furious returned to her builders for further modifications. In November 1917 the rear turret was replaced by a 300-foot (91 m) deck for landing aircraft over another hangar.[28] Her funnel and superstructure remained intact, with a narrow strip of decking around them to connect the fore and aft flight decks.[26] Turbulence from the funnel and superstructure was severe enough that only three landing attempts were successful before further attempts were forbidden.[29] Her eighteen-inch guns were reused on Lord Clive-class monitors General Wolfe and Lord Clive during the war.[30]

In the meantime, however, all three ships were assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron of which Courageous was flagship, in October 1917 when the Admiralty received word of German ship movements on 16 October, possibly indicating some sort of raid. Admiral Beatty, commander of the Grand Fleet ordered most of his light cruisers and destroyers to sea in an effort to locate the enemy ships. Furious was detached from the 1st CS and ordered to sweep along the 56th parallel as far as 4° East and to return before dark. The other two ships were not initially ordered to sea, but were sent to to reinforce the 2nd LCS patrolling the central part of the North Sea later that day.[31] Two German Brummer-class light cruisers managed to slip through the gaps in the British patrols and destroyed the Scandinavia convoy during the morning of 17 November, but no word was received of the engagement until that afternoon. The 1st CS was ordered to attempt to intercept the German ships, but they proved to be faster than hoped and the British ships were unsuccessful.[32]

Second Battle of Heligoland Bight

Main article: Second Battle of Heligoland Bight

Over the course of 1917 the Admiralty was becoming more concerned about German efforts to sweep paths through the British-laid minefields intended to restrict the actions of the High Seas Fleet and German submarines. A preliminary raid on German minesweeping forces on 31 October by light forces destroyed ten small ships and the Admiralty decided on a larger operation to destroy the minesweepers and their escorting light cruisers. Based on intelligence reports it decided on 17 November 1917 and allocated two light cruiser squadrons and the 1st CS covered by the reinforced 1st Battlecruiser Squadron and, more distantly, the 1st Battle Squadron of battleships to the operation.[33]

The German ships, four light cruisers of II Scouting Force, eight destroyers, three divisions of minesweepers, eight German: sperrbrechers (cork-filled trawlers) and two trawlers to mark the swept route, were spotted at 7:30 a.m., silhouetted by the rising sun. Courageous and the light cruiser Cardiff opened fire with their forward guns seven minutes later. The Germans responded by laying a smoke screen and this made spotting targets very difficult. The British continued in pursuit, but lost track of most of the smaller ships in the smoke and concentrated fire on the light cruisers as opportunity permitted. One fifteen-inch hit was made on a gun shield of SMS Pillau, but it did not affect her speed. At 8:33 the left-hand gun in Glorious's forward turret was wrecked when a shell detonated inside the gun barrel. At 9:30 the 1st CS reached their absolute limit of advance and turned south, playing no further role in the battle.[34]

Glorious required five days of repairs, although both ships had taken damage from their own muzzle blast.[35] Courageous fired ninety-two rounds of fifteen-inch while Glorious fired fifty-seven. They also fired 180 and 213 four-inch shells respectively.[36] Courageous's mine fittings were removed after the battle and both ships received flying-off platform on top of their turrets in 1918. A Sopwith Camel was carried on the rear turret and a Sopwith 1½ Strutter on the forward turret.[37] Both ships were present at the surrender of the German fleet on 21 November 1918.[26]

Furious was recommissioned on 15 March 1918 and her embarked aircraft were used on anti-Zeppelin patrols in the North Sea after May. In July 1918 she flew off seven Sopwith Camels which attacked the Zeppelin sheds at Tondern with moderate success.[38] Furious was also present at the surrender of the High Seas Fleet.[39]

Post-war history

Courageous was reduced to reserve at Rosyth on 1 February 1919 before being assigned to the Gunnery School at Devonport the following year as a turret drill ship. She became flagship of the Rear-Admiral Commanding the Reserve at Devonport in March 1920. Glorious was also reduced to reserve at Rosyth on 1 February and served as a turret drill ship, but succeeded her sister as flagship between 1921 and 1922. Furious was placed in reserve 21 November 1919.[40]

The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 required the signatory nations to severely curtail their plans for new warships as well as scrapping others. Up to 66,000 long tons (67,059 t) of existing ships could be converted into aircraft carriers for which the Courageous-class ships were chosen by the Royal Navy. Each ship was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck during the 1920s. Their fifteen-inch turrets were placed into storage and later reused after World War II for HMS Vanguard, the Royal Navy's last battleship.[41]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Burt, p. 303
  2. ^ Roberts, p. 51
  3. ^ Roberts, p. 46
  4. ^ Roberts, p. 53
  5. ^ a b Roberts, p. 64–65
  6. ^ Roberts, pp. 71, 76, 79
  7. ^ a b c d Burt, p. 306
  8. ^ Burt, pp. 291, 308
  9. ^ "British 15"/42 (38.1 cm) Mark I". navweaps.com. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  10. ^ "Britain 4"/45 (10.2 cm) BL Marks IX and X". navweaps.com. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  11. ^ "British 12-pdr [3"/45 (76.2 cm)] 20cwt QF HA Marks I, II, III and IV". 27 February 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  12. ^ Roberts, p. 83
  13. ^ "British 18"/40 (45.7 cm) Mark I". navweaps.com. 22 October 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  14. ^ "British 5.5"/50 (14 cm) BL Mark I". navweaps.com. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  15. ^ Roberts, p. 93
  16. ^ Brooks, p. 170
  17. ^ McBride, p. 106
  18. ^ Burt, p. 307
  19. ^ Burt, pp. 308, 313
  20. ^ Roberts, p. 54, 106, 113
  21. ^ Roberts, p. 111
  22. ^ Burt, p. 309
  23. ^ Burt, pp. 309, 313
  24. ^ Roberts, p. 54
  25. ^ McBride, p. 109
  26. ^ a b c Burt, p. 314
  27. ^ Parkes, p. 621
  28. ^ Parkes, p. 622
  29. ^ Parkes, p. 624
  30. ^ Buxton, p. 73
  31. ^ Newbolt, pp. 150–151
  32. ^ Newbolt, pp. 156–57
  33. ^ Newbolt, pp. 164–65
  34. ^ McBride, pp. 110–12
  35. ^ McBride, p. 115
  36. ^ Campbell, p. 67
  37. ^ Campbell, p. 66
  38. ^ Newbolt, p. 347
  39. ^ "Operation ZZ". World War One: The Great War at Sea. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  40. ^ Burt, p. 315
  41. ^ Parkes, p. 647

References

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  • Brooks, John (2005). Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland: The Question of Fire Control. Naval Policy and History. Vol. 32. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-40788-5.
  • Burt, R. A. (1986). British Battleships of World War One. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-863-8.
  • Buxton, Ian (2008). Big Gun Monitors: Design, Construction and Operations 1914–1945 (2nd, revised and expanded ed.). Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-045-0.
  • Campbell, N. J. M. (1978). Battle Cruisers: The Design and Development of British and German Battlecruisers of the First World War Era. Warship Special. Vol. 1. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-130-0. OCLC 5991550.
  • McBride, Keith (1990). "The Weird Sisters". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Warship. Vol. 1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. pp. 93–101. ISBN 1-55750-903-4.
  • Newbolt, Henry (1996). Naval Operations. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents. Vol. V (reprint of the 1931 ed.). Nashville, TN: Battery Press. ISBN 0-89839-255-1.
  • Parkes, Oscar (1990). British Battleships (reprint of the 1957 ed.). Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
  • Roberts, John (1997). Battlecruisers. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-068-1. OCLC 38581302.
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