Читать книгу Deeper into the Darkness онлайн

63 страница из 184

The dreadnought race stepped up in 1910 and 1911, with Germany laying down four capital ships in each of those years, and Britain laying down five. The British initially equipped their first dreadnoughts with 12-inch guns, which had a rate of fire of approximately 2 rounds per minute per gun. At long range, it was found that the latest version of this gun, which dated back to 1893 (but now had lengthened barrels), had accuracy problems.

To solve this, beginning with the Orion class of dreadnoughts of 1910/11, the Royal Navy quickly moved to the 13.5-inch gun. This larger gun allowed for a much larger shell, which gave improved penetration. The larger shell and increase in bore allowed a lower muzzle velocity, and this gave much greater accuracy and less barrel wear. The final development of the pre-war dreadnought was a 15-inch gun, which was reliable and accurate with a low muzzle velocity that gave outstanding barrel life. The first shipboard firing of such a gun took place in 1915.

Four Orion-class battleships were built for the Royal Navy between 1909 and 1912, and they were much larger than the earlier dreadnoughts. The next class, the King George V-class dreadnoughts such as Audacious were designed as an enlarged and improved evolution of the Orion class.