HMS Vanguard – The Last Battleship Ever Built

There is much controversy regarding which warship is considered the “first battleship”. The French armored cruiser Gloire, built in the late 1850s, classified as a battleship, can also be considered an early battleship. Some other naval historians say that the Royal Navy’s HMS Monarch, built about a decade later, is considered the first battleship.

However, it is much easier to identify the last battleship ever built. It was another battleship of the Royal Navy, the .

Before World War II, the British Royal Navy maintained its dominance over other navies both in terms of sheer numbers and in terms of possessing the most advanced warships of the time. It is a tradition that dates back to HMS Victory, commissioned in 1778, then HMS Warrior (1860) and most notably with the development of HMS Dreadnought in 1906.

However, by the late 1903s, the British Royal Navy had been surpassed by Japan and Germany, both of which built more powerful warships than Britain.

As it often did in similar cases, the British set out to build a larger and more powerful battleship.

The development of more powerful battleships began in earnest when the British army believed that they would be outnumbered by the combined German and Japanese battleships. The Royal Navy initially sought to build two Lion-class battleships, essentially improved and larger versions of the King George V-class.

However, when war broke out, the two Lion-class warships were not ready for service until 1943 at the earliest. Stanley Goodall, the director of naval construction, proposed instead. construction time by producing a single battleship, using 4 twin 381mm turrets taken from the cruisers HMS Courageous and Glorious after these two ships were converted into aircraft carriers.

Built in 1941 at Clydebank, and still incorporating improvements to the King George V-class ships, including lessons learned from the sinking of the second HMS Prince of Wales-class ship, with her payload Standard 44,500 tons, was the largest ship of the Royal Navy ever built until the completion of the modern aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2014.

Notable improvements include the replacement of the 20mm anti-aircraft gun with a 40mm (carrying 73 of these guns). The ship is also equipped with 16 381mm heavy cannons for close combat.

The battleship was essentially a modified King George V, with the hull lengthened to accommodate the four central turrets. The ship can reach a maximum speed of 30 knots. With a large flared design at the bow, it is able to keep the hull balance well even in rough seas.

Effort wasted?

Construction of the HMS Vanguard was halted and then resumed during the war, in part because modifications needed to be made to accommodate wartime experience. In fact, it was not until the end of the war that the ship was completed. By the time it entered service, it had essentially become a relic because the days of giant battleships were over.

Although the ship has been modernized to World War II standards, the use of the smaller 381mm cannons remains a controversial decision – especially given the US Navy’s 10 modern battleships, as well as the US Navy. class HMS Nelson, armed with a 405mm main gun.

The ship has never opened fire and has never been in combat. However, the ship is still the symbol of the British Royal Navy after World War II. In 1947, the HMS was used by King George VI during his visit to South Africa. The ship was decommissioned in 1955 and became flagship in the Reserve Fleet in 1956.

Used as a movie set

Among the ship’s notable and final achievements was its use as the setting for the 1960 film Sink The Bismarck.

Some of the ship’s crew members have called for the ship to be turned into a museum ship. However, the ship ended up suffering the same fate as many other warships: sold for scrap in 1960, less than 20 years after construction began. It was the end of the short and rather quiet career of a British battleship and the age of battleships.