Howe-class Battleship

58,593 shp (43,710 kW)

4 x 4 in/45 QF Mark V

8 x 2 pdr QF Mark II

Barbettes: 14–3 in (356–76 mm)

Turrets: 15–8.2 in (381–210 mm)

Conning tower: 14 in (356 mm)

Torpedo bulkhead: 1.5 in (40 mm)

The ***Howe-class battleship*** was a single ship class, originally the hull of the uncompleted German *Mackensen-class* battlecruiser *Graf Spee* which was ceded to the United Kingdom as a war prize following WWI.

## Background

With the Treaty of Versailles coming into effect, the victorious powers noticed Germany had four incomplete Mackensen-class battlecruiser hulls, which were judged as effective platforms to use as experimental platforms for new technology. The United States, Japan, Britain, France and Italy eventually settled on making these ships WNT exempt (except for caliber, which was still 16.1 inches) and each nation started their conversions.

## Description

The Admiralty was in relative agreement for this ships conversion, she was to be turned into an experimental test ship which would also be able to serve in the fast battleship wing alongside the Queen Elizabeth class battleships. This involved lowering the speed somewhat drastically however, this ship was a first for many RN design choices. She was the first battleship of the RN to use the "All or Nothing" system of armoring, after the testing of *SMS Baden*. She also carried turreted 5.5 inch guns, similar to the model used on *HMS Hood* alongside a new prototype triple 15 inch gun mounting. She also was a test bed for the 6 inch twin secondary batteries of *HMS Nelson.*

This all gave the RN a very powerful ship, combining thick armor and an extremely heavy main battery however possibly due to her hastily converted nature and the extensive use of new technology, the ship was quite flawed and did not please the Royal Navy as a front-line warship, usually relegated to patrols or showing of the flag operations in the absence of *HMS Hood*.

The early triple turrets barrels all were designed to be loaded and fired together, this negatively affected shot accuracy by making uneven spreads or unequal salvos and make the reloading sequence much longer than the *Queen Elizabeth class*. This was largely due to the cramped working space and loading equipment, which slowed the reload per gun down to roughly 40 seconds compared to the 25 seconds for the twin 15 inch gun mounting.

Another major issue was the triple turret had problems with the diameter and arrangement of the roller race due to the limited amount of testing and fast implementation of the system on *HMS Howe*, this led to frequent jamming throughout her career which was largely never fully addressed even later into their career with the Australian Navy.

## Service History

Joined the fleet in May 1923, while *Howe* proved to be a somewhat flawed ship, she was still a stout and impressive vessel and was used to lead squadrons on cruises throughout the interwar period. This, while growing her fame similar to Hood (who was still generally seen as the greater vessel), earned her the nickname of "Big Mac", a reference to her previous fate as a German battlecruiser.

Somewhat unfortunately due to the ships performance (known by the Admiralty and crews but largely unknown to the public to not tarnish her name) and the scheduling of refits, repairs and rebuilds of other Royal Navy assets, *Howe* did not receive any boiler work or general repairs for her entire service life in the Royal Navy, only being docked pier-side for the fitting and testing of new weaponry. By 1933, *Howe's* hull and boilers were fouled to the point where her top speed was similar to the *Revenge-class* alongside many other miscellaneous issues such as vastly outdated equipment, weaponry and fire control systems.

Australia approached Britain to acquire the ship and the British who lacked any open dockyard space to modernize the questionably useful ship, were more than happy to hand over the ship with minimal payment. In 1934, the Australians docked the ship with a radical rebuild planned similar to their own *HMAS Australia* and the planned rebuild for *HMS Warspite.*

Entering drydock in 1935, the rebuild was rather extensive with a 10m bow graft featuring a more modern raked bow for improved seakeeping and a 9m stern extension to improve the ships length, allowing greater speeds. Similarly to *Warspite*, *Howe* received a complete propulsion overhaul with her old Yarrow boilers being replaced with modern Admiralty Three Drum versions, bringing her top speed up to 28 knots. Both the rear and forward main masts/superstructure were enlarged with a two aircraft hanger placed alongside the rear most funnel. The full arrangement of six 6 inch twin turrets (the same found on *Nelson*) was fitted alongside four twin 4.5 inch turrets for anti-aircraft duties. Her AA armament was heavily reinforced with numerous quadruple Pom Pom mounts and .50 caliber gun mounts. She was recommissioned as the *HMAS Victoria* upon her return to service.