British Battleship HMS Resolution

HMS Resolution

HMS Resolution was one of five Revenge-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Completed in December 1916, Resolution saw no combat during the war as both the British and German fleets adopted a more cautious strategy after the Battle of Jutland in May owing to the increasing threat of naval mines and submarines.

With the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Resolution was assigned to the Channel Force before being transferred to convoy escort duties in the North Atlantic. In May 1940, she participated in the Battles of Narvik until German air attacks drove her off.

In June 1940, the ship was transferred to Force H, where she took part in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir in July after the French surrender to Germany. She was also involved in the Battle of Dakar, an attempt to neutralise the French battleship Richelieu that ended with Resolution’s torpedoing by the French submarine Bévéziers. Badly damaged, Resolution was repaired first in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and then the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard under Lend-Lease. Thereafter assigned to the Eastern Fleet, her age kept her from seeing action against the Japanese fleet, and she instead escorted convoys off the eastern coast of Africa. She returned to Britain in September 1943 and was decommissioned, thereafter seeing service with the training establishment HMS Imperieuse, a role she filled until February 1948, when she was paid off, sold for scrap, and broken up at Faslane.

General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Revenge-class battleship
Displacement	25,750 long tons (26,160 t) 31,130 long tons (31,630 t) (deep load)
Length	620 ft 7 in (189.2 m)
Beam	88 ft 6 in (27 m)
Draught	33 ft 7 in (10.2 m) (deep load)
Installed power	18 Yarrow boilers 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 steam turbine sets
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Range	7,000 nmi (12,960 km; 8,060 mi) at 10 knots
Crew	910
Armament	4 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns 14 × single 6 in (152 mm) guns 2 × single 3 in (76 mm) AA guns 4 × single 3-pdr (47 mm (1.9 in)) guns 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Waterline belt: 13 in (330 mm) Deck: 1–4 in (25–102 mm) Barbettes: 6–10 in (152–254 mm) Gun turrets: 11–13 in (279–330 mm) Conning tower: 3–11 in (76–279 mm) Bulkheads: 6 in (152 mm)