HMS Vanguard (1944)

Type:
Battleship
Class:
Builder:
John Brown & Company
Clydebank, Scotland
Pennant Number:
23
Ordered:
March 14, 1941
Commissioned:
April 25, 1946
Keel Laid:
October 2, 1941
Paid Off :
N/A
Launched:
November 30, 1944
Stricken:
N/A
Fate:
Sold in 1960 for scrap to Shipbreaking Industries and scrapped in Faslane, Scotland.


Dimensions, machinery and performance

Length:
814' 6"
Engines:
4 Parsons single reduction geared steam turbines
Beam:
108'
Boilers:
8 Admiralty 3 drum type
Draft:
34' 9" max
Shafts:
4
Displacement:
44,500 std. / 51,420 full
SHP:
130,000
Speed:
30 knots
Crew:
1,893
Range:
8,250 NM @ 15 knots


Armament As Built
Number Carried
Type
Arrangement
Maximum Range / Ceiling
8
15"/42 (380mm)
Mk 1
4 twin turrets
32,500 yards @ 30.5° (18.4 miles)
with 1,938 lb. armor piercing shell

16
5.25"/50 (133mm)
Mk 1 DP QF
8 twin turrets
23,400 yards @45° (13.2 miles)
AA ceiling 49,000'

73
40mm/56.3 Bofors MG
10 sextuple mounts
1 twin mount
11 single mounts
AA ceiling 23,500'
Rate of fire 120 RPM


Notes:
Vanguard was originally designed to carry eight 16" (406mm) guns but, due to the time
needed to manufacture the 16" guns and the need for manpower elsewhere, the turrets
and guns from HMS Courageous and HMS Glorious, which had been removed when those ships were converted into aircraft carriers, were used.


Builder's Data
Page published Feb. 15, 2007