Ordinary light and dark greys were deemed insufficiently contrasting, so the colours used were far stronger, ranging through greens, light and dark blues, blue-grey, four shades of grey, white, black, yellow and mauve. And it seemed to work: it was found that warships painted this way were more difficult to pick out at night than others painted entirely in dark grey. However – curiously enough – after the war, German U-boat officers denied that the dazzle painting of British warships ever confused them; yet German warships were seen with similar schemes during the Second World War!
Audacious showing her ‘one-off’ camouflage which was painted during September and October 1914.
Starboard quarter view of Repulse in her one-off experimental camouflage in early 1918.
Design
In order to understand how natural it was for Great Britain to complete the first seagoing ‘all-big-gun’ battleship in 1906, it is necessary to return to the origins of its concept, and to touch on some of the revolutionary ideas propounded during the previous eighteen years. The evolution of the battleship from the sail-powered line-of-battle ship took the form of a succession of more or less experimental warships, as designers responded to developments in weapons, armour and propulsive machinery. As guns became bigger, armour grew thicker; but the size of battleships did not grow in proportion, it being generally believed that investing in fewer, but larger ships (which would soon be rendered obsolete) made bad sense. With ever increasing weights of armour, armament and machinery, the designers were constrained to maintain stability by reducing freeboard, thus placing the armament near the water-line. In many battleships of this era, the guns were often partly submerged even in a moderate seaway.
In 1888, Sir William White, the Director of Naval Construction, submitted designs for a first class battleship substantially increased in both size and freeboard. The resulting battleships, the Royal Sovereign class, were authorized under the 1889 programme, itself the result of the realization of the growing threat from other navies. The seven ships of the class became the archetype of future battleship design, and were copied by navies throughout the world. Their greatly increased freeboard of 19ft 6in forward and 18ft aft compared very favourably with that of Trafalgar (completed 1890), 11ft 9in forward and aft. From this excellent high freeboard design, which was completed in 1892, slow but sure progress was made until by 1898 criticism was being voiced that the ultimate had been reached and that scope for future improvement was impossible if based on a design now ten years old. Since 1892, 29 British battleships had been built: Majestic class (nine ships); Formidable (three ships); Canopus (six); London and Queen (five); and the six Duncans. All these were along the lines of Royal Sovereign, and while new technology had been introduced into each successive class, improvements were confined to machinery and armament.
Towards the end of 1900, while White was absent because of illness, the Chief Constructor, Henry Deadman, put forward proposals for an extravagantly powerful battleship which would represent a marked advance on anything previously built. His proposals were not worked out in great detail and were rejected as impracticable, but the need for more powerful ships was clear, especially when the latest figures for foreign designs showed great advances over British counterparts. Details of the Italian Benedetto Brin, carrying four 12in, four 8in and twelve 6in on a displacement of 13,427 tons, and the American New Jersey class, sporting four 12in, eight 8in and twelve 6in on 14,948 tons, had become known during 1900 and, as the British Queen and Duncan classes of the current programme mounted only four 12in and twelve 6in on 15,000 tons, the Controller, Admiral Sir A. K. Wilson, called for a series of alternative designs embodying stronger secondary armaments. Constructor J. H. Narbeth prepared a series of sketches, based on Queen, with additional intermediate armaments of 9.2in or 7.5in guns. Dimensions varied according to length, stability and speed required. Work on this design, which was to emerge as the King Edward VII class, had not been completed by the time White returned to office early in 1901, and on his suggestion some modifications were made. White resigned on grounds of ill-health and left the Admiralty on 31 January 1902. The new design had been completed, however, and the drawings were approved by his successor, Philip Watts.
The first five ships of the King Edward VII class were laid down under the 1901–2 Programme. On a displacement of 16,350 tons normal load, they carried four 12in, four 9.2in and twelve 6in guns (and were, in fact, the last British battleships to carry 6in guns specifically for use against armoured ships). Although distinctly more powerful than the preceding classes, their actual fighting value on completion was rather less than had appeared on paper – the inherent disadvantages of the three mixed calibre armaments being accentuated by the developments in long-range firing that had occurred during their building period. Service opinion of the completed ships was critical; the multiplicity of calibres was disliked and it was considered that the ships were still undergunned for the displacement in comparison with foreign designs.
Dreadnought, ‘the cat amongst the pigeons’ as she anchors at the head of the pre-dreadnought battle fleet during the 1907 Fleet Review.
DESIGNS FOR DREADNOUGHT
‘HMS UNTAKEABLE’
Displacement (tons)
17,000 (normal).
Dimensions
Length: 555ft pp
Beam: 80ft
Draught: 24ft 6in (mean).
Armament
Twelve 12in 45cal*
Sixteen 4in QF.
Armour
Main belt: 10in–9in
Bulkheads: 10in
Barbettes: 10in–8in
Conning tower: 12in
Communications tube: 6in
Turrets: 10in
Decks: main 1½in–1in, middle 2in–1in, lower 2½in.
SHP: 23,000 = 21 knots (normal).