KING GEORGE V class (1911)

The 1910 Naval Programme envisaged the construction of four battleships that would be practically the same as those of Orion class, but without the problems caused by the situtation of the funnels and pole foremasts in this class. The King George V, Centurion, Audacious and Ajax battleships, formed the King George V class and its construction began between January and February of 1911, entering service between November 1912 and August 1913. They had a main battery equipped with ten 343/45mm guns in 5 twin turrets and a secondary battery of sixteen 102mm guns in single mounts. These 102mm guns were distributed throughout the superstructure as follows: 8 under the bridge, 4 in the battery deck, (on the sides of the bow main turret), and the last 4 in a kind of superstructure in front of the stern turrets. The vertical protection was remarkable, with an armoured belt from 203 to 305mm in thickness. The horizontal protection was composed by 3 armoured decks of 25, 38 and 64mm in thickness. They reached a maximum speed of 21 knots and a range of 4,000 miles at full speed. The HMS Audacious struck a mine and sunk on October 27, 1914, HMS Centurion was used as a target ship in 1927 and finally scuttled off Omaha Beach in June 1944 to form a breakwater and HMS Ajax and HMS King George V were scrapped in 1926.

KING GEORGE V class (1911) gallery and more info