After the outbreak of the largest naval battle in human history in the First World War - the Battle of Jutland, the theory of the victory of the big ship giant gun began to go to the peak of history, the battleship naturally became a weapon to dominate the sea, after the First World War, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, And Japan five naval powers signed the "Washington Naval Treaty", the displacement of battleships and the caliber of the guns were limited, in this context, britain began to build the battleship with the largest caliber of artillery at that time, known as one of the seven giants of the Nelson class battleship.
Nelson class battleships are the first class of Treaty battleships built by the United Kingdom, a total of two were built, namely the Nelson battleship commissioned on August 15, 1927 and the Rodney battleship commissioned on November 10, 1927.
From the appearance, the Nelson class uses a flat-deck ship type, which is very different from the bow ship type commonly used by British warships in the past, and the reason why it was designed at that time was because in the previous lessons of the Battle of Jutland, it was understood that the battleship should focus on improving the protection level of the armor, so this time the design was also the first time to use the oblique arrangement of the waterline armor belt, the side armor was tilted by 18 to 22 degrees, and the armor thickness was 356 mm, which was the thickest battleship at that time.
The armor thickness of the deck is 152 mm, the thickest part reaches 160 mm, and the protection of the deck is also so important because the engagement distance of the naval battleships at that time has exceeded 15,000 meters, at this distance, the ballistic trajectory of the gun will become curved, and the pitch angle of the shell will increase when it hits the target, in this case, the horizontal protection becomes as important as the vertical protection, the 380 mm main gun of the German Bismarck class battleship is only at a distance of 35,000 meters, when the shell reaches a 40-degree pitch angle, In order to break it down, and in general, the combat distance is within 25,000 meters, which can be said to be quite reliable for the level protection of the Nelson class.
At that time, due to the treaty's restrictions on tonnage, the layout of the Nelson-class battleships was adjusted, the 3 triple main gun turrets were all installed in front of the bridge, and the power engine room was centrally configured in the rear of the hull, this layout structure was very different from the conventional layout in the past, the reason for this layout at that time was because the treaty stipulated that the displacement of the battleship should not exceed 35,000 tons, so in the limited tonnage, only the limited heavy armor protection area could be concentrated to the maximum in key parts. This can only be achieved by concentrating the parts that need protection together.
The Frontal armor thickness of the Turret of the Nelson-class battleships reached 406 mm, while the third turret had the thickest armor thickness of 457 mm, and at that time, the battleship's protection was excellent within normal engagement range.
The Standard Displacement of the Nelson-class battleships is 33,950 tons, the full load displacement is 38,000 tons, and the total length is 216.5 meters and the width is 32 meters. Eight 3-drum tube oil-fired boilers with a unit pressure of 260 psi are steam turbines with two Brown Curtis single-stage gear reduction steam turbines with a total power of 45,000 shafts.
At that time, in order to be within the tonnage range stipulated in the treaty, its power system was simplified, the propulsion method was changed to a double-shaft and double-propelled propulsion, and the maximum speed of the design was only 23 knots, and the cruising range at the maximum speed was 5500 nautical miles, which caused the Power and Maneuverability of the Nelson-class battleships to be poor, and in World War II, the maximum speed of the ship's 23 knots was not suitable for accompanying the aircraft carrier formation and other actions, and the seaworthiness and stability were not ideal, so the status of this battleship in World War II was not very high.
In terms of firepower, the main gun is 9 newly developed mk.i type 406 mm 45 caliber naval guns, using a three-pack three main turret layout. These three main gun turrets are gathered together, the middle turret is relatively high, the three turrets are arranged in a mountain character, these 9 main guns are actually designed for the battlecruiser in the G3 plan, when the G3 plan was cancelled, in order to avoid the waste of resources, it was directly adopted, but this main gun was not tested enough before service, the main gun power is quite limited, the gun barrel life, shooting accuracy is not as good as the original 380mm gun, so many times in World War II is only used for escort and shore bombardment.
The secondary guns are 6 twin 152 mm secondary guns, and the medium and long-range anti-aircraft fire uses 6 single-barrel 120 mm high-level dual-purpose guns, these guns have an elevation angle of 90 degrees, a rate of fire of 8 to 12 rounds per minute, basically the backbone of the medium and long-range anti-aircraft firepower of the Nelson-class battleships, the short-range air defense is 8 single-barrel 40 mm guns, and the underwater defense is two 620 mm torpedo tubes.
Overall, the firepower is still OK, but the design of the main gun is a big failure, in addition to the firepower and accuracy problems, there is the main turret concentrated in the front, the main gun has a rear dead end, and are piled together, once the lower ammunition depot fire, it is easy to cause a chain reaction.
After entering service that year, both Nelson-class battleships served on british soil, and after the outbreak of World War II, they participated in escort and some search missions, generally used as long-range fire support, and in 1945 Nelson participated in combat operations against Japan in the Indian Ocean, witnessing the Japanese landing operation in the Indonesian archipelago.
On 27 May 1941, rodney took part in the siege of the German battleship Bismarck, during which rodney fired more than 380 shells at Bismarck, sweeping the bismarck's superstructure, destroying its main turret, turning it into a mobile castle without combat effectiveness, and finally being bombed like crazy until it sank to the bottom of the sea.
After the end of the war in 1945, two Nelson-class battleships were retired from service, and in February 1948 the battleship Rodney was sold and disintegrated. The Nelson was converted into a training ship in 1946 and sold as scrap iron in 1949. As the pioneering work of the new battleship of the treaty, although the Nelson class battleships have poor performance, they have more advanced and unique design ideas, and their position in the history of world battleships is still very important.