HMS Vanguard (23)

Profile view of Vanguard underway
Class overview
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Lion class (planned) King George V class (actual)
Succeeded by	None
Built	1941–1946
In commission	1946–1960
Completed	1
Scrapped	1
History
United Kingdom
Name	Vanguard
Ordered	14 March 1941
Builder	John Brown and Company, Clydebank, Scotland
Cost	£11,530,503
Yard number	567
Laid down	2 October 1941
Launched	30 November 1944
Commissioned	12 May 1946
Decommissioned	7 June 1960
Identification	Pennant number: 23[1]
Motto	We Lead[2]
Fate	Scrapped, 1960
Badge	On a field blue, issuing from barry of four white and green a demi-lion gold supporting a spear issuing white[2]
General characteristics (as completed)
Type	Fast battleship
Displacement	44,500 long tons (45,200 t) (standard) 51,420 long tons (52,250 t) (deep load)
Length	814 ft 4 in (248.2 m) (o/a)
Beam	108 ft (32.9 m)
Draught	36 ft (11 m) (deep load)
Installed power	8 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 130,000 shp (97,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 steam turbine sets
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range	8,250 nautical miles (15,280 km; 9,490 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	1,975
Sensors and processing systems	1 × Type 960 early-warning radar 1 × Type 293 search radar 1 × Type 277 height-finding radar 2 × Type 274 15-inch fire-control radar 4 × Type 275 5.25-inch fire-control radar 11 × Type 262 40 mm fire-control radar
Armament	4 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns 8 × twin 5.25 in (133 mm) dual-purpose guns 10 × sextuple, 1 × twin, 11 × single 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors AA guns
Armour	Belt: 4.5–14 in (114–356 mm) Deck: 2.5–6 in (64–152 mm) Barbettes: 11–13 in (279–330 mm) Gun turrets: 7–13 in (178–330 mm) Conning tower: 2–3 in (51–76 mm) Bulkheads: 4–12 in (102–305 mm)

HMS Vanguard was a British fast battleship built during the Second World War and commissioned after the war ended. She was the largest and fastest of the Royal Navy's battleships,^[3] and the only ship of her class. Vanguard was the last battleship to be built in history.^[4]

The Royal Navy anticipated being outnumbered by the combined German and Japanese battleships in the early 1940s, and had therefore started building the Lion-class battleships. However, the time-consuming construction of the triple-16-inch (406 mm) turrets for the Lion class would delay their completion until 1943 at the earliest. The British had enough 15-inch (381 mm) guns and turrets in storage to allow one ship of a modified Lion-class design with four twin-15-inch turrets to be completed faster than the Lion-class vessels that had already been laid down. Work on Vanguard was started and stopped several times during the war, and her design was revised several times during her construction to reflect war experience. These stoppages and changes prevented her from being completed before the end of the war.

Vanguard's first task after completing her sea trial at the end of 1946 was, early the next year, to convey King George VI and his family on the first Royal Tour of South Africa by a reigning monarch.^[5] While refitting after her return, she was selected for another Royal Tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1948. This was cancelled due to King George's declining health and Vanguard briefly became flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet in early 1949. After her return home in mid-1949, she became flagship of the Home Fleet Training Squadron. Throughout her career, the battleship usually served as the flagship of any unit to which she was assigned. During the early 1950s, Vanguard was involved in a number of training exercises with NATO forces. In 1953 she participated in Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Review. While she was refitting in 1955, the Admiralty announced that the ship was going to be put into reserve upon completion of the work. Vanguard was sold for scrap and was broken up beginning in 1960.