Queen Elizabeth class (Warship monographs ; [2])

The ships of the Queen Elizabeth class were perhaps the most famous of all British steam propelled battleships, and as originally completed with two well-proportioned funnels they were among the most handsome." Queen Elizabeth Class, Warship Monographs, Monograph Two by John Campbell. at page 1. The Royal Navy opened bidding for construction of the new design of the four ships of the class in June 1912 and all four were laid down by February 1913. In November 1912 the Federated Malay States offered to pay for the construction of a capital ship and the Admiralty decided to use this donation to build a fifth member of the class. This fifth battleship became HMS Malaya and was laid down in October 1913, eight months after her four sisters. A sixth unit of the class, to be named Agincourt, was to be built at Portsmouth under the 1914-1915 estimates but was cancelled with the start of World War One and the name given to a battleship that was just completed for Turkey and was seized by the British. The Royal Navy has often been characterized as a very conservative organization. In the past it was known to let foreign navies indulge in the expense of dramatic experiments or sweeping innovations with the RN adopting successful experiments and simply outbuilding the competition. That philosophy was not employed with the Queen Elizabeth. The class represented a huge gamble on an unprecedented scale for the Royal Navy. Even though the design was closely patterned from a lengthened Iron Duke, the two crucial differences, speed and armament, were leaps of blind faith for the Admiralty. To achieve 25 knots, the Queen Elizabeth needed 2 ½ times the horsepower of the 21-knot Iron Duke. The larger machinery spaces provided by the elimination of the fifth turret was still not sufficient for achieving the proposed 25-knot speed. With coal supplemented by oil, the best that could be achieved was 22-knots, without sacrificing armor or armament. Something new had to be tried...