The original design of the first British “town” consisted, in essence, a slightly increased “scout” earlier series “Bodice” and “Blonde”. His armour was copied from the German opponents and consisted of twelve chetyrehluchevoy. However unpleasant for the British “secret” was that their weapon much inferior to chetyrehochkovym the enemy by the weight of the projectile and accuracy and also had absolutely no protection, as on our “Varyag”. But inspired by new trends Fisher offered immediately to replace a couple of them in the bow and stern, on six-inch guns, as well as provide all the installation of shields to gain the upper hand over the enemy. The project “swell” on the eyes, but the urgent need for innovative new ships that it was impossible to design an infinitely long time, did not give extravagant first Lord and designers turn out in full force. Despite the rather impressive size — nearly five tons — the protection of the “town” had no advantage over German “cities” and only consisted of 51-mm armor deck, covering the cellar of ammunition and mechanisms and uttanasana in other places to a very modest 19 mm. This deck is absolutely not protected from 6-inch and larger shells, which are to pierce unarmored Board. When you Bang them on the deck of their large splinters in delicate places. It turned out that as a result of the firing on the old battleship “Edinburgh”, unfortunately, after the construction of the English “town” began.
Weak protection was not the only disadvantage of the first true light cruisers “mistress of the seas”. To reduce roll, which could easily arise from flooding of compartments through holes in undisguised Board, the designers made them very stable. But the flip side of this commendable quality was very sharp pitching that prevented the gunners to aim. Another setback was the idea of Fisher to move the officers ‘ cabins with the traditional place in the stern forward to the bow room. It really allowed commanders to quickly take their seats with anxiety, but with “life on life’s terms” this decision is a little tougher. The next: and the officers received the usual (albeit relative) comfort, and sailors, which it was not in sight, but had to make room even more. To serve away from the mother country on “Bristol” and its sistership it was not sweet, but almost the entire First world war they had to do just that.
But if the domestic inconveniences, it was possible to somehow come to terms, the defects of the weapons have worsened the fighting qualities of the ships. The most curious that the cause of this decline lay in the fact that “like the best”. “Bristol” has mounted a new long-barreled four – and six-inch guns. However, to balance the long and heavy barrel had to be made more massive and breech. The installation was difficult to the problem because no actuators have deck guns were not. As a result, six-inch guns just couldn’t follow at small distances a high-speed objective, for example, the same destroyers. It is clear that these cruisers have not been very useful in the protection of their squadrons. (These considerations were one of the reasons their links to overseas stations.)
Despite all the shortcomings of the “town” became a marked step forward compared to the weak scouts and, especially, old small cruisers, which have a not-so-strong arms was aggravated by the slow-moving. So less than a year on the stocks of private firms (as in construction units of the first series involved only “private traders”, including such masters of the shipping industry as “Elswick” and “Vickers”) set out the following four elements: “Dartmouth”, “Falmouth”, “Yarmouth” and “Weymouth”. The main innovation was uniform and strong arms of the eight six-inch guns, of which the Board could fire five. This gave the British an overwhelming advantage in the duel with the German cruisers, which could oppose only the same number of 105-millimetrovogo. At the same time, the designers have improved seaworthiness, a forecastle extending to almost half length of the ship. It is clear that these improvements were not free. Displacement jumped more than 10 percent, to 5250 so Curious that the linear dimensions of the body remained practically unchanged, only the width is increased by 30 cm So it was not necessary to increase the capacity of the turbines to provide the same 25-knots speed. Although the six-inch guns are still heavy dlinnostebelchatye, “the small ports of England” (that’s their names got four) felt very good.
In essence, to create a fundamentally new type of cruiser just had to address its remaining deficiencies — small (as too heavy guns) and more serious. These included, above all, lack of protection, consisting of only a thin armor deck, the thickness of the plates which does not exceed 50 mm, and then only in the most important areas. The Board remained absolutely unprotected, presenting a perfect target for the German rapid-fire 105-millimetrovogo.
The designers felt that the next series can provide better side protection, and with a slight increase in displacement, but the armored deck will have to sacrifice. Horizontal cover had to limit 15-19 mm leaves and armor-that can hardly be called, since their main purpose was to provide overall structural strength and watertightness of the deck. But vertical belt went pretty high and covered the Board throughout its length. The thickness of the plates of Nickel-steel armour in the middle portion was 51 mm and they were mounted on a reinforced trim Board thickness of 25 mm, made of steel of higher quality, only slightly inferior in strength to the present armor. Therefore, usually the belt on the “Southampton” in all directories indicated as 76 mm. For the first time in the British Navy armor became part of the hull structure, providing its strength. But in those days the production of curved, repeating the complex contours of cruisers slabs, even thin, have been a major problem, so the whole middle part of the body looked like a steel rectangular box. It was pricipales tip, which had smooth contours.
Finally, the gunners got a better 45-caliber six-inch guns, which although had a lower initial velocity, but provides the best accuracy and great maneuverability of the units. In between extended and forecastle, now stretching 2/3 of the body. Again sizes are increased slightly: a width of only 30 cm, that is slightly larger than the increase due to the hinged plates. The appearance of the side protection can reduce the stability of a strong roll from the flooding of side compartments now become less likely. The result is smoother pitching allowed you to shoot faster and more accurately.
New “town” was so successful the combination of qualities that drew the attention of the Australian government, which decided on the creation of a modern Navy. British dominion ordered as many ships as England itself, three. They got the names of the capitals of the major States of the country. While one of the cruisers, “Brisbane”, built in Australia. However, it responded to its construction is not the best way, especially from the point of view of time. And so laid nearly two years later than their counterparts, “Brisbane” was built three years instead of about two and entered into a system only to a new 1917 when the First world war entered the final phase, and the British fleet completely dominated the sea.
But the British also refused for more good ships and a year later after the first series of these “armored” light cruisers laid the second three — “Birmingham”, “Lowestoft” and “Nottingham”. Their distinctive features are even slightly large width and an additional, ninth piece mounted in the nose next to the already existing Bakov. This increased the number of shoots in the pursuit of guns to four. The last “city” ripe just in time, entering into operation shortly before the war, in the first months of 1914. Curiously, Australia did not want to lag behind from the mother and after the launching of “Brisbane” in the same slipway there laid another cruiser, named “Adelaide” — in honor of the capital of another state, South Australia. However, building the ship even slower; the Australians realized that obviously don’t get ready to complete the work before the end of the war, and completed the ship is quite slow. In the story “Adelaide” was included only in 1922, after more than seven years after laying, becoming the last “city” in stretching for almost a decade a successful series.
However, when the Navy took the first ships, it has become clear that these very decent cruiser not quite suitable for the role, gradually coming to the fore: joint action with a rapidly growing Grand Fleet. They primarily lacked speed. Intelligence clash with German linear cruiser could end this tragedy. Could “the town” and to lead their flotilla of destroyers, the maximum stroke of which exceeded 30 knots. But the main problem was the quantity: in 1911, the Admiralty considered a small number of modern cruisers one of the main disadvantages of the fleet. The “hole” that needed urgently to be plugged. The case was assigned to the new first Lord of the Admiralty, in the future the famous Winston Churchill. He has created a special “Cruising Committee”, zealously engaged in business. In the Committee’s work all the time interfered with John Fisher, who continued to insist on their idea of a “great leader.” Young Churchill, generally very esteeming Fisher, whom he regarded as his teacher, however, supported the supporters of these cruisers. There remained the question of money, very sharp, because the rate of construction of ships of all classes increase. Therefore, as the prototype took increased the scouts, which gave savings of nearly 20% compared to “town”. We must pay tribute to Churchill, specialist in shipbuilding: he insisted that future leaders-scouts got side armor as the last “city”. To emphasize this fact, in his speech on the programme to Parliament for the first time he used the phrase “light armored cruiser”, having thus the emergence of a new class that actually already existed for several years, starting with the “Southampton” and it sisterships.
127. Light cruiser “Royalist” (England, 1915)
It was built by the company William Bigmore in Glasgow. A displacement of 3750 tons, the maximum length 132,9 m, width of 11.91 m, draught 4,1 m. Power chetyrehbalnoy steam turbine 40, OOO HP, a speed of 28.5 per node. Armament: two 152/45-mm and four 102/45 mm guns, one 47-mm anti-aircraft gun, and four 533-mm torpedo tubes. Reservation: 76 — 37 mm, 25 mm deck, the cabin 102 mm. Only in 1913 and 1915, built eight units: “Aretusa”, “Aurora”, “Galatea”, “Inconstant”, “Penelope”, “Phaeton”, “Royalist” and “Undaunted”. “Arethusa” was lost on a mine in February 1916, others scrapped in 1922 — 1927.
128. Light cruiser Bristol (England, 1910)
It was built by “John brown.” A displacement of 4800 tons, the maximum length 138,1 m, width of 14.31 m, draft 4,72 m. Power chetyrehbalnoy steam turbine 22 000 HP, speed 25 knots. Armament: two 152/50-102/50 mm and ten mm guns, four 47-mm small-caliber, two 457-mm torpedo tubes. Booking: deck 51-19 mm, cutting 76 mm Only in 1910 built five units: “Bristol”, “Glasgow”, “Gloucester”, “Liverpool” and “Newcastle”. All but Glasgow, scrapped in 1921, Glasgow in 1927.
129. Light cruiser Southampton (England, 1912)
It was built by “John brown.” A displacement of 5400 tons, the maximum length 139,61 m, width of 14.92 m, draft 4.9 m Power chetyrehbalnoy steam turbine 25 000 HP, speed of 25.5 knot. Armament: eight 152/45 mm guns, four 47-mm small-caliber, two 533-mm torpedo tubes. Reservations: the Board of the 76 — 51 mm, deck 37 — 15 mm, cutting 102 mm. Only in 1912 — 1913 was built five units: “Chatham”, “Dublin”, “Southampton”, “Sydney” and “Melbourne”, the sixth “Brisbane” was commissioned in 1916, All except him, scrapped in 1926-1927, “Brisbane” — in 1936
The designers tried to use when creating a naval cruiser all new items, primarily armor, which was part of the housing as a power element. In a 3750-ton ships were almost the same side protection as the “town”. In addition, the “Arethusa” have established a very powerful turbine, the nominal power of which was equal to 30 thousand HP, plus tens of thousands of “horses” managed to squeeze in crossing. The result is the stated rate reached a historic 30-node line. However, as usual, the project is in the finalization continuously “swell”, at the same time growing weight of the structure and in the service of the cruiser did not reach the sacred number of “node” and more. But 28.5 per node in 1914 was an excellent result.
The increase, however, had its meaning, because the additional mass was used primarily for weapons. It was originally planned to install ten 102-millimetrovogo as the scouts prototypes. But the specter of a stronger “German” encouraged to take steps to increase firepower. Initially, the admirals somewhat overdone and offered to replace the feeble five six-inch guns, but it is reasonable to place such heavy guns on a narrow (less than 12 m — slightly more than the width destroyers during the Second world war!) the deck was not possible. Stopped at the mixed version of the first “town”: one 152-mm in the nose and aft plus six 102-mm guns on the sides. The four-inch switchblade stiletto tried to make a semi-automatic, which, however, became more of a minus: shooting was often interrupted due to jamming automatics. In addition, a cursory fire two different calibers with ballistics was difficult to control the fire, as to distinguish the bursts was a challenge. The British had to be tormented with these very ships actively fought almost the entire war, so in 1918, to remove the aft pair 102-millimetrovogo and replace them with third restituirovat in the diametrical plane. Earlier cruiser was devouroil 76 mm or 102-mm anti-aircraft guns and an extra pair of torpedo tubes. In addition, the deck paved rails for laying mines, and fast ships repeatedly used for minefields in enemy waters. Over the past six years of war, they sent more than 2.5 thousand sinister “floats”.
Combat capabilities have undoubtedly increased, but seaworthiness already fairly Descoberto craft from it has not improved. Useful in the North sea, high-speed “Aretusa” little suited to the boring daily work on the ocean waves that impact on the final fate of the “fleet leaders.”
But the fate of them as “cities” turned out to be very fighting. The modern light cruiser was indeed very popular. And exam they stand. “Aretusa” immediately after the entry into operation became the flagship of the light forces stationed at Harwich. In the first big battle in the German Bay, she received a hefty dose of German “Goodies”, but side armor saved the ship. The flagship of Admiral Truita participated in the battle of Dogger Bank and the sinking of the German mintage “meteor”, but in February 1916, he ran into an enemy mine. Although the cruiser was taken in tow, to carry it to the database it failed and he finished his career by jumping on the shore.
General appearance slender and “skinny”, “Arethusa” was quite steady: “Penelope” survived a torpedo hit from a submarine, although he lost the wheel, “Undaunted” remained afloat after a heavy collision with the cruiser “Cleopatra”; not just “applied” to each other and other ships and other units, but all except the head, have successfully passed numerous military campaigns and mine-laying. (They all scored more “Royalist”, set alone is almost 1200 min). However, the fact that he could not do the enemy, completed post-war surplus of military units. Elegant, but of little use in the open ocean cruiser went under the knife almost immediately after the war, served only from 7 to 10 years.
And more old and slow “town” remained in service longer, some indefinitely, and after a similarly difficult career. Bristol and Glasgow were involved in the pursuit of the German squadron of Admiral Spee off the coast of South America, and Glasgow in both battles: Coronel tragic and triumphant at the Falkland Islands. And in both its commander captain G. Lewis tried to stay away from the German 105-millimetrovogo. More brave was the commander of the “Gloucester” Kelly, a few hours alone pursuing battlecruiser “goeben” and light “Breslau”. Then, “Gloucester”, as the same type of “Liverpool” and “Newcastle”, thoroughly reviled throughout the oceans in search of German raiders. To the “reduction” began with the first armored five. Seven or eight years longer lasted the next four. The most successful of these was “Falmouth”, alovivi and sink within the first month of the war the four German ships. A couple caught “Yarmouth”, “Weymouth” was noted in the Mediterranean in the battle against the light forces of the Austrians.
However, in the most serious battles more than any other part of the “town” with improved side protection. Perhaps the most famous “Southampton”, flagship of Garlicky of light forces under the command of Commodore Godinata. He began with the fact that fearlessly paraded in dangerous proximity to the high seas Fleet in the battle of Jutland plot, being able to explore the composition of forces, course and speed of the enemy. Then in the same battle he managed to drown artillery destroyers S-35 and to put on the bottom of the torpedo cruiser “Frauenlob”. At night, at Southampton fell down a hail of German shells, but the side armor saved him, and he kept running and management.
Not behind the glorious flagship Godinata and “Sydney”, who managed to shoot in the match from Cocos Islands famous “Emden”, despite the fact that he began with the destruction of the control tower fire at the “Aussie”. Birmingham had two sunken German ship and one submarine destroyed by ramming attack in the beginning of the war. Armored “town” remained in service until the early 1930-ies, and “late” “Brisbane” and “Adelaide” has served even longer. “Adelaide”, not ripened to the First world war, managed to war in the Second and went for scrapping only in 1949.
The only victim among those lucky and successful ships was the “Nottingham”. At the exit of the Grand fleet in August 1916, the German submarines ambushed, the victim of which was the cruiser. In “Nottingham” hit three torpedoes — an obvious excess, but a solid “box” stay afloat long enough to destroyers managed to shoot the team.
In General, the decision of the lords of the Admiralty were quite successful, and its implementation by designers and builders — on top. Representatives they created a new class of fast light cruisers were much more popular and effective than the armored colossi, served mainly the purpose for large-caliber shells and torpedoes of submarines.
A. COFFMAN
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