RN Battleships: Victoria Class

[Brian James]

Victoria Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship HMS Sans Pareil pictured at Sheerness in 1897.
In deciding upon her design configuration the Board of Admiralty took what history shows was a retrograde step by requesting the reversion from barbettes to turrets for her main armament. She was completed slightly later than her sister-ship Victoria at Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company Shipyards at Leamouth, London and was hence the last British Battleship ever to be equipped with her main armament mounted in a single turret.
The choice of calibre, while influenced by the desire to mount as heavy guns as possible, was also influenced by the slow rate of production in the Woolwich yards of the 13.5-inch calibre guns mounted in most of the preceding Admiral Class. HMS Benbow, of that Class, mounted the heavier calibre guns for the same reason. Following on from this decision, and given that a turret is heavier than a barbette, it was not possible to mount the two guns separately in fore and aft positions and at the same time keep the ship within the displacement stipulated by the Board. Hence both were mounted in a single turret, placed forward of the superstructure. To provide a nominal fire to stern, a 10-inch gun was mounted aft of the superstructure, behind a light armour shield. This weapon fired a shell weighing 500 pounds with a muzzle velocity of 2,040 ft/s (620 m/s), and could in theory penetrate an iron plate of thickness of 20.4 inches at a range of 1,000 yards.
The Elswick yards also experienced delays in producing the gun of 16.25 inches calibre, so in fact the times between laying down and completion of the Admirals and of Sans Pareil were closely comparable.
Sans Pareil was the last Battleship to be designed by Nathaniel Barnaby.She was sold for scrapping to Thos. W. Ward Ltd at Sheffield, Yorkshire in 1907.

[Brian James]

Lead Ship,Pre-Dreadnought Battleship HMS Victoria pictured c1890.
Built at Armstrong, Mitchell & Co,Elswick Shipyards in 1887,She was the first Battleship to be propelled by triple-expansion steam engines.These were constructed by Humphrys, Tennant & Company of Deptford and had cylinders of diameters 43 inch, 62 inch and 96 inch with a stroke of 4 ft 3 inch.They produced 12,000 ihp (8,900 kW) under forced draught, or 7,500 ihp (5,600 kW) under open draught.She was also the first Royal Navy ship to be equipped with a steam turbine which was used to run a dynamo.She was nicknamed 'the Slipper' (or when with her Sister Ship Sans Pareil, also attached to the Mediterranean squadron, 'the pair of Slippers') because of a tendency for her low foredeck to disappear from view in even slight seas and especially, as a result of the low forward deck and raised aft superstructure, for the two ships' humorously perceived resemblance to the indoor footwear.The forward deck held a single turret with two BL 16.25 in Mark I guns. The 16.25 in gun was chosen because similar large guns had been used in foreign ships, and because of difficulties in obtaining the navy's preferred 13.5 in design. The great weight of the forward turret with its two guns meant that it had to be mounted low so as not to detract from the ship's stability, and that a similar large gun and turret could not be mounted aft. Instead, the after gun was a BL 10 in gun protected by a gun shield.On June 22nd 1893, she collided with HMS Camperdown near Tripoli, Lebanon, during manoeuvres and quickly sank, killing 358 crew members, including the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. One of the survivors was executive officer John Jellicoe, later commander-in-chief of the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.

[Brian James]

Victoria Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship HMS Sans Pareil pictured in 1904.
In deciding upon her design configuration the Board of Admiralty took what history shows was a retrograde step by requesting the reversion from barbettes to turrets for her main armament. She was completed slightly later than her sister-ship and was hence the last British Battleship ever to be equipped with her main armament mounted in a single turret.The choice of calibre, while influenced by the desire to mount as heavy guns as possible, was also influenced by the slow rate of production in the Woolwich Yards of the 13.5-inch calibre guns mounted in most of the preceding Admiral Class. HMS Benbow, of that Class, mounted the heavier calibre guns for the same reason. Following on from this decision, and given that a turret is heavier than a barbette, it was not possible to mount the two guns separately in fore and aft positions and at the same time keep the ship within the displacement stipulated by the Board. Hence both were mounted in a single turret, placed forward of the superstructure. To provide a nominal fire to stern, a 10-inch gun was mounted aft of the superstructure, behind a light armoured shield. This weapon fired a shell weighing 500 pounds with a muzzle velocity of 2,040 ft/s (620 m/s), and could in theory penetrate an iron plate of thickness of 20.4 inches at a range of 1,000 yards.The Elswick Yards also experienced delays in producing the gun of 16.25 inches calibre, so in fact the times between laying down and completion of the Admirals and of Sans Pareil were closely comparable.Sans Pareil was the last Battleship to be designed by Nathaniel Barnaby. She was commissioned at Chatham on July 8th 1891 to take part in manoeuvres, and then went into reserve. She was posted to the Mediterranean Fleet in February 1892, serving on this station until April 1895 when she paid off and was named as port Guard Ship at Sheerness. She was refitted from April 1899, and resumed duty as Sheerness Guardship on January 19th 1900, serving until January 1904. On October 1st 1901 Rear-Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker hoisted his flag as second in command of the Reserve squadron.
In June 1902 she was docked in the Medway, during a trial of the New Bermuda Floating dock.She took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on August 16th 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII, and the following month went to Chatham Dockyard for a refit.She was sold for scrap in 1907 as part of the fleet modernisation programme instigated by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Fisher.

[Brian James]

Lead ship,the ill fated Pre-Dreadnought Battleship HMS Victoria pictured in drydock at Gibraltar c1892.On June 22nd 1893, she collided with HMS Camperdown near Tripoli, Lebanon during manoeuvres and quickly sank, killing 358 crew members, including the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon.One of the survivors was executive officer John Jellicoe, later commander-in-chief of the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.

[Brian James]

Lead Ship,the ill fated Battleship HMS Victoria pictured as she is towed down river from Sir W G Armstrong Mitchell & Company Shipyards at Elswick,Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1890.On June 22nd 1893, she collided with Admiral Class Battleship HMS Camperdown near Tripoli, Lebanon, during manoeuvres and quickly sank, killing 358 crew members, including the Commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet,Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. One of the survivors was Executive Officer John Jellicoe, later Commander-in-Chief of the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.

[jbryce1437]

A lovely photo which includes the Swing Bridge. I used to park my car at one side of it at Gateshead and walk over it to the Fire Brigade HQ in Newcastle for around the last 14 years of my service. I don't think it opens much now as there is very little traffic that far up river, especially for larger craft.

Jim

[Pelican]

Internationales Maritimes Museum Hamburg.

The name of the ironclad battleship HMS Sans Pareil, which means “unequalled” in French, was a bit unprecise. This is because she was part of the two ships Victoria-class. Actually, the Sans Pareil was laid down on April the 21st 1885, about a month and a half earlier than the Victoria, but the latter was commissioned over a year earlier, giving her name to the class.
The ships were built during a period of experimentation in naval construction. While the Victoria took a prominent position in the propaganda of her time due to her unsurpassed size, speed and main armament calibre, Much of her design qualities proved to be problematic – and with tragic consequences.
They were the first battleships powered by triple-expansion steam engines. With this innovation, they reached a top speed of 17,3 Knots. Their main armament was composed by two guns of a calibre of 16,25 inches. This was quite spectacular, but the new guns had design flaws and were very slow to reload. Their weight added to that of a turret only allowed for them to be concentrated in one single twin turret. This was set towards the bow. The extra frontal weight and specially the very low freeboard that was designed to make this ships a more difficult target for enemy artillery, made them very wet ships. They slipped into the waves. This and their looks gave them the humorous nickname “The Pair of slippers” among the sailors of the Royal Navy.
HMS Victoria Had a short career. Having been commissioned in 1890, she accidentally sunk off Tripoli on June the 22nd 1893. Human error aboard caused her to be rammed by HMS Camperdown. The low freeboard allowed water to enter the hull faster and she sunk fast, in under 15 minutes, taking 358 of her crew down with her.
HMS Sans Pareil, commissioned in 1891, she shared service in the Mediterranean with her sister and stayed there on service until 1895, when she was set as the guard ship of the Port of Sheerness. In 1899 she accidentally collided with a merchant sailing ship off southern Cornwall. Her being the one ramming in this occasion, the merchant sailor was sunk. She was retired and sold for scrapping in 1907.
This magnificent 1:100 scale waterline model of her is displayed on deck 5 of the museum. While its origin is unclear, it most probably was built in the UK while the Sans Pareil was still in service.

[jbryce1437]

HMS Victoria on the stocks at Elswick, her name having been changed from Renown to Victoria while building.

Jim

hms victoria launch elswick.jpg

[emason]

HMS Victoria on the stocks at Elswick, her name having been changed from Renown to Victoria while building.

Two bladed propellors! How unusual was that? Or was it normal for the time?

[jbryce1437]

HMS Victoria on the stocks at Elswick, her name having been changed from Renown to Victoria while building.

Two bladed propellors! How unusual was that? Or was it normal for the time?

Not sure Bill, but I have seen underwater images of her wreck and she has four blades on her props, so I assume the two blade props proved to be unsatisfactory and not enough thrust.

Jim