Formidable-class battleship

The ''Formidable'' class of battleships were a three-ship class of pre-dreadnoughts designed by Sir William White and built for the Royal Navy in the late 1890s. The class comprised , , and . They were armed with a battery of four guns, they had top speed of , and they marked the adoption of Krupp armour in British battleship designs. The class formed the basis for the nearly identical of five ships, and those ships are sometimes included in the ''Formidable'' class. ''Formidable'', ''Irresistible'', and ''Implacable'' were built between 1898 and 1901 at the Portsmouth, Chatham, and Devonport Dockyards, respectively.

All three ships served in the Mediterranean Fleet early in their careers, before returning to British waters in the late 1900s for duty in the Home Fleet, Channel Fleet, and the Atlantic Fleet. By 1912, all three ships had been assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron, Home Fleet, where they remained until the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. They patrolled the English Channel in the early months of the war and escorted troopships carrying elements of the British Expeditionary Force and other British Army units across the Channel to France. On the night of 31 December 1914 – 1 January 1915 while on patrol in the Channel, the 5th Squadron encountered a German U-boat that torpedoed and sank ''Formidable''. ''Irresistible'' was sent to the Dardanelles Campaign in February 1915, and after engaging in a series of attacks on the Ottoman coastal fortifications, she struck a naval mine and sank.

''Implacable'', the sole surviving member of the class, joined the Dardanelles operations in March 1915 and saw action during the landings at Cape Helles in April. She was later withdrawn, first in May 1915 to reinforce the Italian fleet guarding the Adriatic Sea and then to Salonika in November that year. After being recalled to Britain in July 1917, she was converted into a depot ship and used to support the Northern Patrol. After the war, she was sold for scrap in 1921 and was broken up in 1922.

Design

Design work on what became the ''Formidable'' class began with a meeting of the Board of Admiralty on 3 May 1897, where the general parameters of the new class was discussed. The Board concluded that repeating the would not be a workable solution, since the Imperial Japanese Navy had begun building larger, battleships and the ''Canopus'' design was too small to carry the new 40-calibre Mk IX guns, which were significantly heavier than the shorter 35-calibre BL 12-inch Mk VIII guns. The design staff determined that it was possible to construct a new ship that incorporated the advances of the ''Canopus'' class—namely, Krupp armour and improved engines and water-tube boilers—on a larger hull like the earlier s without increasing displacement and keeping the same speed as the ''Canopus'' class.

The Director of Naval Construction, William Henry White, provided two design options, both modified versions of the basic ''Majestic'' form. Both variants had a main battery of four 12-inch guns, belt armour that was thick, and a top speed of . The main difference between the designs was the number of secondary guns; the first had twelve guns and the second had fourteen of the guns. Displacement differed by just 200 tons, at for the 12-gun variant and for the other one. White preferred the 14-gun version, though the consensus of the Board was that twelve guns were sufficient, on the basis that the two additional guns would overcrowd the upper deck, where they would have been placed, and would have increased the size of the crew too much. Additionally, a secondary battery of twelve guns was deemed to be sufficient in comparison to most other foreign battleships. And while an increase in offensive power would have been welcome, members of the Board decided that the weight savings gained by omitting the two guns could be used to strengthen the ships' armour, which they preferred at a time where naval guns were becoming increasingly powerful.

The board adopted the 12-gun version, along with a request to increase the belt to . The thicker armour increased displacement to . The board requested that White prepare drawings for this new design on 19 June. A model was created by 17 August, which allowed the design staff to refine the hull shape. The staff cut away the deadwood forward and aft, which made the vessels more handy.

Due to their similarity, some like historian Tony Gibbons consider the five s to be part of the ''Formidable'' class, though most historians view them as a distinct class. The five ''London''-class ships differed from the ''Formidable''s in their protection layout, which abandoned the forward armoured bulkhead in favour of an armoured belt that extended all the way to the stem. Regardless, the ''Formidable'' design provided the basis for the five ''London''s that were ordered under the 1898 programme. The only extant British built pre-dreadnought remaining, the Japanese battleship was also built to a slightly modified design, the chief difference being the addition of another pair of 6-inch guns.

General characteristics and machinery

The ships of the ''Formidable'' class were long between perpendiculars, long at the waterline, and long overall. They had a beam of and a draft of normally and fully loaded. The three ships displaced between normally and up to fully loaded. Freeboard was forward, amidships, and aft.

They had two pole masts fitted with fighting tops; each top carried a searchlight, and four additional searchlights were mounted on the forward and aft bridges. Their crew size varied over the course of their careers; ''Irresistible'' had a crew of 788 officers and ratings in 1901, and in 1910, ''Formidable'' had a crew of 711. After having been withdrawn from active service in 1917, ''Implacable'' had a crew of just 361. The ships carried a number of small boats that varied over the course of their careers, including a variety of steam and sail pinnaces, sail launches, cutters, galleys, whalers, three gigs, dinghies, and rafts.

The ''Formidable''-class ships were powered by a pair of 3-cylinder triple-expansion engines that drove two inward-turning screws, with steam provided by twenty Belleville boilers. The boilers were divided into three boiler rooms and were trunked into two funnels located amidships. The boilers proved to be troublesome in service, with all three members of the class experiencing problems with them, particularly as the ships aged, between 1909 and 1914. The ''Formidable''-class ships were rated for a top speed of from . The ships' normally carried of coal for the boilers, but had a total capacity of , which provided a cruising range of at a cruising speed of .

Armament and armour

''Formidable'' and her sisters had four 40-calibre Mk IX guns mounted in twin-gun turrets fore and aft; these guns were mounted in circular barbettes that allowed all-around loading or elevation. Shell allowance was 80 rounds per gun. The ''Formidable'' class were the first to carry these guns, which featured several improvements over the earlier Mk VIII guns used in older battleships, including a stronger barrel design and higher muzzle velocity. ''Formidable'' and ''Implacable'' had BVI type mountings for their guns, while ''Irresistible'' received newer BVII mounts, the primary difference between the two types being the arrangement of the shell hoists and other equipment. Both types of mountings had a range of elevation from -5 degrees to of 13.5 degrees. The BVI mounts required the guns to return to 4.5 degrees to be loaded, while the BVII mounts allowed for loading at any angle. The guns had a muzzle velocity of , and they were capable of penetrating 12 inches of Krupp armour at a range of . At their maximum elevation, the guns had a range of . The guns had a rate of fire of one shot every eighty seconds.

The ships also mounted a secondary battery of twelve 45-calibre guns mounted in casemates, which were supplied with 200 rounds per gun. The guns had a muzzle velocity of . These guns could penetrate 6 inches of Krupp armour at . Maximum elevation was 14 degrees, which allowed the guns to engage targets out to . For close-range defence against torpedo boats, they carried ten 12-pounder guns with 300 rounds per gun and six 3-pounder guns with 500 shells per gun. As was customary for battleships of the period, they were also equipped with four torpedo tubes submerged in the hull.

The ''Formidable''-class ships made more extensive use of Krupp steel than the preceding ''Canopus'' class, with most of their side armour consisting of the stronger steel. They had an armoured belt that was thick and extended from the forward main battery barbette to the aft barbette; the transverse bulkheads on either end of the belt were 9 in thick forward and thick aft. The belt extended from main deck level ( above the waterline) to below the waterline. The ships' side plating forward of the belt was thick, while it was only aft of the belt. The ships were fitted with two armoured decks; the first was a flat deck that was thick, above the main deck, which was 2 in on the flat portion and increased slightly to 3 in on the sloped sides, where it connected to the belt armour.

The ships' main battery turrets sides and faces were thick—reduced slightly compared to earlier ships to account for the heavier belt armour—with thick rears. The turret roofs were 3 in thick. The turrets sat atop 12 in thick barbettes, though ''Irresistible''s barbette armour was reduced in thickness to 10 in behind the belt. Above the main belt was a strake of armour that protected the casemate guns, which was 6 inches thick; behind the casemates, an interior bulkhead that was thick protected the interior of the ship. Their forward conning tower had thick sides, with a communication tube below the tower that had armour protection that was thick. The aft conning tower had 3 in thick sides with a 3 in tube below.

Ships in class

Service history

The ships of the ''Formidable'' class had uneventful peacetime careers. All three ships of the class served with the Mediterranean Fleet as their first station; in 1908, ''Formidable'' and ''Irresistible'' were recalled to the Channel Fleet, though the former remained there for just a year, transferring to the Home Fleet and then shortly thereafter to the Atlantic Fleet in 1909. That year, ''Implacable'' joined her sister ship in the Atlantic Fleet. Between 1911 and 1912, all three ships were assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron of the Home fleet, where they remained for the rest of their peacetime careers. Throughout their peacetime careers, the ships were repeatedly overhauled and had minor modifications carried out, including alterations to their light armament, addition of searchlights, and installation of improved fire-control and wireless systems.

All three ships were mobilized as part of the 5th Battle Squadron at Britain's entry into the First World War in August 1914. They were initially based in the English Channel, and they helped to escort the British Expeditionary Force and later the Portsmouth Marine Battalion across the Channel in August. In October ''Implacable'' was temporarily detached to guard against a rumoured German cruiser attack. Shortly after midnight on 1 January 1915, ''Formidable'' was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat off Portland Bill while on patrol in the Channel. Most of the ship's crew—35 officers and 512 men—were killed in the sinking. The following month, ''Irresistible'' was sent to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to join the Dardanelles Campaign against the Ottoman Empire. She took part in repeated, failed attacks on the Ottoman defences guarding the entrance to the Dardanelles over the course of February and March. During a major Anglo-French attack on the coastal fortifications on 18 March, ''Irresistible'' struck a naval mine and sank, though most of her crew was evacuated; around 150 men were killed in her final battle.

''Implacable'' was ordered to join the Dardanelles campaign in March 1915, and she arrived shortly after the loss of ''Irresistible''. She supported the landings at Cape Helles and at Anzac Cove, the beginning of the land portion of the Gallipoli Campaign. On the day of the attack, 25 April, the ship steamed off X Beach at Cape Helles, bombarding Ottoman defences as men went ashore. In recognition of the critical support she had provided the troops as they attacked Ottoman positions, they named the landing site "Implacable Beach". She continued to support the ground forces into May, including during the First and Second Battles of Krithia. In May, she was reassigned to the 2nd Detached Squadron, which was tasked with supporting the Italian ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) in the Adriatic Sea, where it contained the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In November, she was again transferred, this time to the 3rd Detached Squadron, based in Salonika, Greece. The ship was recalled to Britain in July 1917, later being converted into a depot ship for the Northern Patrol. ''Implacable'' was ultimately sold for scrap in 1921 and was broken up the following year in Germany.

Notes

References

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Further reading

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External links

The Dreadnought Project
(Formidable, Implacable, Irresistible)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Formidable Class Battleship
Battleship classes

Ship classes of the Royal Navy
World War I battleships of the United Kingdom