Lion class
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 6:45 pm
Does anyone know how much of the keel/hull was built before being scrapped?
There would have been 4 LION class, LION & TEMERAIRE from the 1938 programme, CONQUEROR & THUNDERER from the 1939.
Only the 2 1938 ships ordered on 21 Feb 1939 were laid down, dates below.
LION, Vickers Tyne, yno 16, 4 July 1939.
TEMERAIRE, Cammell Laird, yno 1045, 1 June 1939.
Progress was slow for a multitude of reasons, far too numerous to detail here.
The pair were duly suspended in 1941 but not until December 1942 was the order given to dismantle all steelwork from the slips which was done quite rapidly but even then they were not history. The pair were only officially cancelled on 15 October 1945.
Some of the 16" guns had also been manufactured, later used in tests and trials.
The 3rd ship CONQUEROR is probably more intriguing.
She did serve the RN in a technical way.
Built by John Brown yno 567, job J1567, re ordered 14 March 1941, better known as VANGUARD, both her Job and Yard numbers were re allocated from CONQUEROR to VANGUARD, a unique occurrence to my knowledge.
VANGUARD is well documented, but not that little snippet.
CONQUEROR & THUNDERER were cancelled in 1945.