"HMS Furious. One 18" gun. What was that all about?" Topic
6 Posts
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| 4th Cuirassier | 30 Nov 2015 6:08 a.m. PST |
Has the point of this ship ever been fathomed? It almost makes more sense in the original spec, with two 18" guns. At least that made it possible to straddle the target. Big ask to do so with a one-gun broadside. What was Fisher thinking? |
| Chokidar | 30 Nov 2015 6:18 a.m. PST |
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| 4th Cuirassier | 30 Nov 2015 6:36 a.m. PST |
well, yes, except most monitors didn't do 30 knots and weren't 700 feet long. |
| JimDuncanUK | 30 Nov 2015 7:07 a.m. PST |
HMS Furious was one of the ships intended for a 'special' mission namely the Royal Navy penetrating into the Baltic during WW1. Fast, shallow draft, heavy guns (suicide mission at the end of the day). Fortunately the idea was abandoned before she was completed and built with only one 18" gun in the X position and a forward air landing deck in the A position. I think the gun was fired a few times and rivets were falling out here and there. The X turret was removed and a second air landing deck fitted before she was completely rebuilt after the war as a 'proper' aircraft carrier. link link |
| wminsing | 30 Nov 2015 8:10 a.m. PST |
Yea, the bottom line was that once the original 'special mission' was canned the RN just wasn't sure exactly *what* to do with the Furious. That's why it was selected for carrier conversion, but since at the time no one had all that great an idea of how carriers were going to work they wanted to retain some of the big guns. Remember it was the rear turret that was retained, presumably so it could ward off opposing scouts trying to follow it. Bad idea in practice, but the RN worked that out eventually. -Will |
| Bozkashi Jones | 01 Dec 2015 1:47 p.m. PST |
The Baltic proved a bit of a fixation for Churchill, no doubt a legacy of his bromance with Fisher. Out of the ashes of this bonkers idea came an even more bonkers one in WW2. I'm no fan of Dudley Pound, but his handling of Churchill's desire to pursue Operation Catherine is a master-stroke; what Sir Humphrey Appleby would refer to as "masterly inactivity". Operation Catherine:
link Sir Humphrey Appleby
link Nick |
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