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HMS Lord Clive
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HMS Lord Clive
HMS Lord Clive was the lead ship of her class of eight monitors built for the Royal Navy during World War I. Their primary armament was taken from obsolete pre-dreadnought battleships. The ship spent the war in the English Channel bombarding German positions along the Belgian coast as part of the Dover Patrol, often serving as a flagship. She participated in the failed First Ostend Raid in 1918, bombarding the defending coastal artillery as the British attempted to block the Bruges–Ostend Canal. Lord Clive was one of two ships in the class fitted with a single 18-inch (457 mm) gun in 1918, but she only fired four rounds from it in combat before the end of the war in November. The ship conducted gunnery trials after the war and was sold for scrap in 1927.
All of the British monitors built during the war were intended to bombard land targets. To this end the Lord Clive class were given a heavy armament modified to increase its range and a shallow draught to allow them to work inshore as necessary. As the Royal Navy did not expect the ships to engage in naval combat, speed was very much not a priority. Lord Clive had an overall length of 335 feet 6 inches (102.3 m), a beam of 87 feet 2 inches (26.6 m) including the torpedo bulge, 57 feet (17.4 m) without, and a draught of 9 feet 11 inches (3.02 m) at deep load. She displaced 5,850 long tons (5,940 t) at deep load and her crew numbered 12 officers and 182 ratings. The ship was powered by a pair of four-cylinder Harland & Wolff triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by two water-tube boilers. The engines were designed to produce a total of 2,310 indicated horsepower (1,720 kW) which was intended to give her a maximum speed of 10 knots (18.5 km/h; 11.5 mph). On her sea trials Lord Clive only made 8.02 knots (14.9 km/h; 9.2 mph) because her designers were unfamiliar with the proper way to contour her hull to maximise her propeller efficiency; the ship reached 7 knots (13.0 km/h; 8.1 mph) in service as she was more heavily loaded. The monitor carried 356 long tons (362 t) of coal which gave her a range of 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) at 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph).
The Lord Clives mounted two BL 12-inch (305 mm) Mk VIII guns in a single hydraulically powered gun turret which came from the Majestic-class predreadnought battleships; Lord Clive received hers from Magnificent. To suit their new role as long-range bombardment weapons, the turrets were modified to increase the maximum elevation of the guns from 13.5° to 30°. Their secondary armament consisted of a pair of quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder (3 in (76 mm)) guns on low-angle mounts. Anti-aircraft defence was provided by a single Vickers QF 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) Mk I gun and a QF 2-pounder (40 mm (1.6 in)) Mk I gun.
The spotting top on the tripod mast between the turret and the funnel housed a rangefinder that fed data to the director on the roof of the spotting top. The director's crew would calculate the amount of traverse and elevation needed to hit the target and transmit that information to the turret for the guns to follow.
The Lord Clive-class ships were protected against gunfire by a sloping waterline belt amidships of 6-inch (152 mm) Krupp cemented armour (KCA) that was closed off at its ends by transverse bulkheads of equal thicknesses to form the ships' central armoured citadel. The 2-inch-thick (51 mm) upper deck of high-tensile steel served as the roof of the citadel and the forecastle deck above it consisted of 1-inch (25 mm) plates of high-tensile steel. For protection against torpedoes, the ships were fitted with bulges 15 feet (4.6 m) deep.
The turret taken from Magnificent retained its original armour, viz. 10.5-inch-thick (270 mm) faces and 5.5-inch (140 mm) sides with a 2-inch roof, all of Harvey armour. Its original circular barbettes was replaced by a new one formed from a dozen plates of 8-inch (203 mm) KCA. The ships were also fitted with a cast-steel conning tower just forward of the barbette that had 6-inch sides and a roof 2.5 inches (64 mm) thick.
A pair of QF 6-inch guns with 200 rounds per gun were added in early 1916 abreast the funnel when it was realized that the two 12-pounder guns were not powerful enough to defend the ship from German destroyers. Two coal bunkers were turned into magazines for them, reducing the range to approximately 960 nmi (1,780 km; 1,100 mi), and increasing the crew in size to 215, necessitating plating in the sides of much of the upper deck to provide quarters. These guns were later exchanged for longer-ranged 6-inch Mk VII guns. By 1918 they had been replaced in their turn by four BL 4-inch (102 mm) Mk IX guns abreast the bridge. The 12-pounder guns were replaced, probably in 1917, by QF 3-inch (76 mm) Mk I anti-aircraft guns.
The biggest change was the addition of a BL 18-inch (457 mm) Mk I gun in an enormous gun shield mounted abaft the engine room, fixed over the starboard side. The gun itself could traverse 20°, but the gun shield was fixed. The entire mount weighed 384 long tons (390 t), but the total weight of the ammunition, equipment and supports nearly doubled this again. This weight so far aft promised to increase the draught at the stern enough that the after inboard compartments of the torpedo bulge, which were normally free-flooding, were closed up, but the ship's draught increased to 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) forward and 13 ft 2 in (4.01 m) aft. This corresponded to a displacement of 6,850 long tons (6,960 t), even after removal of the armored conning tower in compensation. The gun was hydraulically worked, but the ammunition parties had to use muscle power. The shells were stowed below deck and had to be moved by overhead rail to the hatch in the deck behind the gun to be lifted up and loaded. The cordite propellant charges were kept in eighteen steam-heated storage tanks mounted on the forecastle deck abaft the funnel and moved to the gun on a bogie mounted on rails, two one-sixth charges at a time, reducing the rate of fire to about one round every 3–4 minutes. The interior of the ship was extensively modified to accommodate the larger crew of 278 officers and men, storage and handling gear for the sixty 18-inch shells, and to support the weight of the gun mount. Other changes included the transfer of the radio room down into the hold, the addition of a new gyrocompass, enlarging the bridge and rearranging the existing magazines and storage spaces. A pair of additional two-pounder AA guns were also installed on top of the gun shield.
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HMS Lord Clive
HMS Lord Clive was the lead ship of her class of eight monitors built for the Royal Navy during World War I. Their primary armament was taken from obsolete pre-dreadnought battleships. The ship spent the war in the English Channel bombarding German positions along the Belgian coast as part of the Dover Patrol, often serving as a flagship. She participated in the failed First Ostend Raid in 1918, bombarding the defending coastal artillery as the British attempted to block the Bruges–Ostend Canal. Lord Clive was one of two ships in the class fitted with a single 18-inch (457 mm) gun in 1918, but she only fired four rounds from it in combat before the end of the war in November. The ship conducted gunnery trials after the war and was sold for scrap in 1927.
All of the British monitors built during the war were intended to bombard land targets. To this end the Lord Clive class were given a heavy armament modified to increase its range and a shallow draught to allow them to work inshore as necessary. As the Royal Navy did not expect the ships to engage in naval combat, speed was very much not a priority. Lord Clive had an overall length of 335 feet 6 inches (102.3 m), a beam of 87 feet 2 inches (26.6 m) including the torpedo bulge, 57 feet (17.4 m) without, and a draught of 9 feet 11 inches (3.02 m) at deep load. She displaced 5,850 long tons (5,940 t) at deep load and her crew numbered 12 officers and 182 ratings. The ship was powered by a pair of four-cylinder Harland & Wolff triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by two water-tube boilers. The engines were designed to produce a total of 2,310 indicated horsepower (1,720 kW) which was intended to give her a maximum speed of 10 knots (18.5 km/h; 11.5 mph). On her sea trials Lord Clive only made 8.02 knots (14.9 km/h; 9.2 mph) because her designers were unfamiliar with the proper way to contour her hull to maximise her propeller efficiency; the ship reached 7 knots (13.0 km/h; 8.1 mph) in service as she was more heavily loaded. The monitor carried 356 long tons (362 t) of coal which gave her a range of 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) at 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph).
The Lord Clives mounted two BL 12-inch (305 mm) Mk VIII guns in a single hydraulically powered gun turret which came from the Majestic-class predreadnought battleships; Lord Clive received hers from Magnificent. To suit their new role as long-range bombardment weapons, the turrets were modified to increase the maximum elevation of the guns from 13.5° to 30°. Their secondary armament consisted of a pair of quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder (3 in (76 mm)) guns on low-angle mounts. Anti-aircraft defence was provided by a single Vickers QF 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) Mk I gun and a QF 2-pounder (40 mm (1.6 in)) Mk I gun.
The spotting top on the tripod mast between the turret and the funnel housed a rangefinder that fed data to the director on the roof of the spotting top. The director's crew would calculate the amount of traverse and elevation needed to hit the target and transmit that information to the turret for the guns to follow.
The Lord Clive-class ships were protected against gunfire by a sloping waterline belt amidships of 6-inch (152 mm) Krupp cemented armour (KCA) that was closed off at its ends by transverse bulkheads of equal thicknesses to form the ships' central armoured citadel. The 2-inch-thick (51 mm) upper deck of high-tensile steel served as the roof of the citadel and the forecastle deck above it consisted of 1-inch (25 mm) plates of high-tensile steel. For protection against torpedoes, the ships were fitted with bulges 15 feet (4.6 m) deep.
The turret taken from Magnificent retained its original armour, viz. 10.5-inch-thick (270 mm) faces and 5.5-inch (140 mm) sides with a 2-inch roof, all of Harvey armour. Its original circular barbettes was replaced by a new one formed from a dozen plates of 8-inch (203 mm) KCA. The ships were also fitted with a cast-steel conning tower just forward of the barbette that had 6-inch sides and a roof 2.5 inches (64 mm) thick.
A pair of QF 6-inch guns with 200 rounds per gun were added in early 1916 abreast the funnel when it was realized that the two 12-pounder guns were not powerful enough to defend the ship from German destroyers. Two coal bunkers were turned into magazines for them, reducing the range to approximately 960 nmi (1,780 km; 1,100 mi), and increasing the crew in size to 215, necessitating plating in the sides of much of the upper deck to provide quarters. These guns were later exchanged for longer-ranged 6-inch Mk VII guns. By 1918 they had been replaced in their turn by four BL 4-inch (102 mm) Mk IX guns abreast the bridge. The 12-pounder guns were replaced, probably in 1917, by QF 3-inch (76 mm) Mk I anti-aircraft guns.
The biggest change was the addition of a BL 18-inch (457 mm) Mk I gun in an enormous gun shield mounted abaft the engine room, fixed over the starboard side. The gun itself could traverse 20°, but the gun shield was fixed. The entire mount weighed 384 long tons (390 t), but the total weight of the ammunition, equipment and supports nearly doubled this again. This weight so far aft promised to increase the draught at the stern enough that the after inboard compartments of the torpedo bulge, which were normally free-flooding, were closed up, but the ship's draught increased to 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) forward and 13 ft 2 in (4.01 m) aft. This corresponded to a displacement of 6,850 long tons (6,960 t), even after removal of the armored conning tower in compensation. The gun was hydraulically worked, but the ammunition parties had to use muscle power. The shells were stowed below deck and had to be moved by overhead rail to the hatch in the deck behind the gun to be lifted up and loaded. The cordite propellant charges were kept in eighteen steam-heated storage tanks mounted on the forecastle deck abaft the funnel and moved to the gun on a bogie mounted on rails, two one-sixth charges at a time, reducing the rate of fire to about one round every 3–4 minutes. The interior of the ship was extensively modified to accommodate the larger crew of 278 officers and men, storage and handling gear for the sixty 18-inch shells, and to support the weight of the gun mount. Other changes included the transfer of the radio room down into the hold, the addition of a new gyrocompass, enlarging the bridge and rearranging the existing magazines and storage spaces. A pair of additional two-pounder AA guns were also installed on top of the gun shield.
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