HMS Princess Royal (1911)

HMS Princess Royal was the second of two Lion-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy before the First World War. The ships significantly improved on the speed, armament, and armour of the preceding Indefatigable class. Princess Royal served in the Battle of Heligoland Bight a month after the war began, then was sent to the Caribbean to prevent the German East Asia Squadron from using the Panama Canal. The battlecruiser was placed into reserve in 1920, then sold for breaking up as scrap in 1922.

About HMS Princess Royal (1911) in brief

HMS Princess Royal was the second of two Lion-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy before the First World War. The ships significantly improved on the speed, armament, and armour of the preceding Indefatigable class. The ship was named for The Princess Royal, a title occasionally granted to the Monarch’s eldest daughter. Princess Royal served in the Battle of Heligoland Bight a month after the war began, then was sent to the Caribbean to prevent the German East Asia Squadron from using the Panama Canal. She spent the rest of the war on uneventful patrols of the North Sea. The battlecruiser was placed into reserve in 1920, then sold for breaking up as scrap in 1922 to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. She was the last of the Lion-classes to be scrapped in 1922. The Lion-class ships were designed by Philip Watts, the Director of Naval Construction, to be as superior to the new German battle Cruisers of the Moltke class as the German ships were to the Invincible class. Their increase in speed, armour and gun size forced a 70% increase in size and made them the largest warships in the world. They were armed with eight BL 13. 5-inch Mk V guns in four twin hydraulically powered turrets, designated ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘Q’ and ‘X’ from bow to stern. Her secondary armament consisted of 16 BL 4- inch Mk VII guns, most of which were mounted in casemates in the superstructure.

The two guns mounted on the deck above the forward group of casemate were fitted with gun shields in 1913 and 1914 to better protect their crews from enemy fire. A single QF 6-pounder Hotkiss high-angle gun was added in January 1915 and carried until April 1917 until it was scrapped in April 1922. It had a muzzle velocity of 20 rounds per minute and a maximum elevation of 90° at a muzzle Velocity of 2,500 feet. At 10 knots, the ship’s range was 5,610 nautical miles. She normally displaced 26,270 long tons and 30,820 long tons at deep load, over 8,000 long tons more than the earlier ships. She had two paired sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines housed in separate engine-rooms. During maximum power trials in July 1913, the ship achieved 96,238 shp for a speed of 27. 97 knots while at the unusually high displacement of 29,660 long tons. The steam plant consisted of 42 Yarrow large-tube boilers arranged in seven boiler rooms. Maximum bunkerage was 3,500 long tons of coal and an additional 1,135 long tons  of fuel oil to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. In September 1912, Princess Royal began her sea trials and developed 78,803 shP for speed of 28. 5 knots. She had a metacentric height of 5. 95 feet atdeep load.

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