David K. Brown - The Grand Fleet: Warship Design and Development, 1906-1922

The Grand Fleet

Contents

T HE AIM of this book is to review the design and construction of British warships and their machinery up to and during the First World War, together with the immediate post-war years when lessons of the war were studied, concluding with the Washington Treaty. The technology of guns and their fire control, of torpedoes etc, will be considered only in sufficient depth to recognise their impact on the overall design of the ships. Some of the story is well known and will be dealt with briefly but there are many topics which are less familiar and will be treated in more depth. Where possible, designs which were not built will be described in some detail as they often form the missing link between well-known classes. In particular, attention will be paid to the battleships and cruisers designed just prior to the First World War when ideas were changing rapidly.

By the time Dreadnought was designed, naval architecture was a well-developed technology, with scientific backing for most aspects and soundly-based empirical solutions available where direct calculation was not possible. Stability was well understood, though there was some uncertainty over its link with rolling, while the two Froudes had developed procedures for model testing of hulls and propellers, supported by trials, which worked well in most cases and gave the RN an important lead. The structural design method initiated by Rankine and Reed and applied by White had been verified by Biles trials on the Wolf. The design process was not, however, an automatic one and there was plenty of scope for individual styles, perhaps most apparent in the arrangement of armour. Thicker plates were all of the well-proven Krupp Cemented (KC) material but materials for thinner plates varied and the arrangements, confirmed by trials, differed widely. The design methods in use differed little from those which I was taught as a student and used as a young assistant. Only the introduction of the computer made major change possible

Submarine design developed quite quickly and by 1914 the RNs large fleet included a considerable number of overseas boats. From 1913 onwards, the many problems of carrying and operating aircraft at sea were solved, giving the RN in the Argus of 1918 the only true aircraft carrier of the war. It is convenient and nearly correct to attribute ships built before the war to Sir

Phillip Watts and those during the war to Sir Eustace Tennyson dEyncourt. Both were great gentlemen in the traditional sense and great designers.

It was, however, the age of the Marine Engineer. Turbines were novel and there was keen competition between Parsons designs and those of the American Curtis company for which John Brown held the UK licence. Turbines benefited greatly as did propeller efficiency from the introduction of gearing just before the war. The use of oil firing presented many difficulties which were gradually overcome. British engineers led the way in all these aspects but, surprisingly, they continued to use large tube boilers long after the benefits of the small tube boiler became apparent, penalising RN ships in weight and space.

The Engineers-in-Chief

There is a widespread, but unjustified, belief that funds for the Navy were almost unlimited in the run-up to war. In fact, successive governments were dedicated to economy or to spending in other areas. The way in which available funds were used to achieve a balanced fleet is an important theme.

This book cannot be a history of the shipbuilding industry but tribute must be paid to the very numerous shipyards and their supporting industries, large and small, which built the enormous fleet of the First World War. Minesweeping and anti-submarine warfare needed a very large number of small ships, largely built by shipyards without warship experience. I have included a small selection of plans from the magnificent collection held in the National Maritime Museum and have chosen the smaller ships since they are less well known and also reproduce better!

It will be suggested that British ship and machinery designers produced ships which stood up well to the first major war for a century. Understandably, the British saw the German Navy as the main rival before the war but it was the industrial skill and might of the USA which would lead by the end of the era.

One must make special mention of John Campbell who up to his death in 1998 was such a help on armament matters to so many writers. I must then thank George Moore who read all the drafts and provided many useful ideas and I McCallum for drawing my attention to the importance of shells and their fuses. John Roberts has been most helpful with illustrations. Others who contributed include L Ahlberg, J Brooks, J D Brown, J Coates, K McBride, A Holbrook, G Hudson, I Johnston, R Morris, G Penn, P Pugh, J Shears, T Shaw, R Todd, J Wraight and last but not least, the Chatham editorial team.

The photographs were largely selected from the authors collection. That this is so comprehensive owes much to successive secretaries of the Naval Photograph Club of which the author is Vice President. The original source is acknowledged where known but many are unknown and I apologise for any unwitting use of someones material. My thanks are also due to the naval secretary of the World Ship Society for permission to use their photographs.

D K Brown, Warrior to Dreadnought (London 1997), pp1845

T HE SUCCESS of naval staffs and constructors in developing the ships and fleets which fought the war can be judged from two viewpoints. Firstly, it may be asked if they used existing knowledge wisely in support of their perceived naval objectives and, secondly, if with hindsight either the aims or the means used could have been better. In judging success, national objectives and the resources available must be considered. From the building of the Dreadnought in 1905 to the outbreak of war the size of most categories of ship increased greatly as did their numbers.

Numbers of ships 190718

A general view of the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. The majority of them were designed under Phillip Watts. In the foreground is Neptune, with (left to right) Thunderer, Royal Sovereign, Canada, Erin, Royal Oak, Iron Duke, Orion, Marlborough, Australia, Monarch, St Vincent and New Zealand. (Authors collection)

Aims

The Royal Navy had the traditional objectives of a sea command navy. Jellicoe, first as C-in-C and then First Sea Lord spelt these out.

• To secure the use of the seas for British ships and preventing their use by the enemy.
• To bring economic pressure on the enemy country.
• To prevent invasion of the homeland.

To some extent, the potential to carry out these tasks was seen as a deterrent to war.

Germanys aims were less clear. Tirpitz originally intended to build a fleet of such a size that, though still inferior to the RN, it would pose such a threat, concentrated in the North Sea, that Britains Imperial ambitions would be constrained. There was a second duty; to keep the Baltic a German Lake. This was sometimes over-stated to win political support at home.