HMS Renown (1895)

“Rinaun” became the first British battleship with a convex protective deck, the first with casemates on the upper deck, the first protected exclusively with steel armor ^[2] .

At first, Rinaun was supposed to be the lead ship of the next series of battleships with 12-inch guns of a new type, but after it became clear that the gun would not be designed, manufactured and tested in time, the project was quickly converted to 10-inch guns Centurion.

Powerplant

The main power plant included eight cylindrical steam engines with an operating pressure of 155 psi (1.069 kPa, 11 kG / cm²) and two triple expansion steam engines , the power plant design capacity: 10,000 liters. with.

Design speed - 17 knots (31 km / h). The power plant turned out to be more powerful than expected, and the Rinaun reached 18.75 knots (34.73 km / h) during acceptance tests during blasting into boilers. Coal stock: 1890 dl. tons (1920 tons), which allowed 6400 nautical miles (11,900 km, 7,400 miles) to travel 10 knots (19 km / h).

Armament

The main caliber included four 254-mm guns Marks IV with a barrel length of 32 caliber ^[3] , mounted in two towers and equipped with hydraulic guidance. The design of the fighting compartment of the towers was almost the same as on the Centurion, but the back was already protected by armor. The loading of guns was carried out only when the towers were turned along the diametrical plane ^[4] .

Medium caliber - out of 10,152-mm guns, four were placed on the upper deck in casemates of 102-mm armor at the corners of a battery of 76-mm guns and could fire both at the ends and on the beam. The remaining six 6 "guns were placed under the upper deck and were protected from the sides by 152 mm armor - in comparison with the Royal Sovereign, the Rinauna auxiliary armament was turned upside down, the combat effectiveness of the 6" guns as a result significantly decreased.

Booking

The design of the armor protection of the ship had two innovations:

1. the deck received bevels to the lower edge of the belt instead of just overlapping it along the upper edge, as before;
2. the thickness of the reservation on the waterline has been reduced, the protection of the extremities has been increased.

The combination of the harness deck with belt reservation led to a decision that was approved in the Royal Navy for the next 20 years and was borrowed by many fleets ^[5] .

The projectile piercing the waist plate still had to deal with three inches of steel inclined at an angle of 45 °, above and below which were coal pits - a nominally similar combination was recognized as equivalent to 150 mm of vertical armor. As the experiments showed, the chances of defeating the freeboard increased as its height increased, so considerations regarding the concentration of side protection in the form of a narrow thick belt along the waterline were a big question. In the Rinauna project, this concept was further developed - the waterline belt was reduced in thickness to 203 mm, and the released weight was used to make a thick bevel on the lower deck behind it and the thickening of the upper belt to 152 mm. The upper belt was designed to protect against medium-caliber fire.

The French battleships Carnot and Charles Martel had a narrow belt of 460 mm armor (it was only 0.5 m above the design waterline of the ship in normal load), which was covered by a 70 mm steel deck. Above this belt there was only a strip of 100 mm armor 1 m wide, above which there was no vertical protection. As a result, it turned out that the entire freeboard above the 1.7 m mark from the waterline could be turned by a fire of modern quick-firing guns into a sieve, through which already at 9 ° heel angles water could freely pour in, spreading over the armored deck. In contrast, the 152-mm side armor "Rinauna" brought the height of the surface protected side to 2.8 m - to the level of the middle deck ^[6] .

It was commissioned in June 1897 as the flagship of the Anniversary Review , then became the flagship of the North American and West Indies station of Vice Admiral J. Fisher . Two years later, Fisher was appointed commander of the Mediterranean squadron and moved to the Mediterranean Sea with the Rinaun, which thus continued to be a flagship until February 1902. The ship was well kept at sea, was agile and had smooth rocking, ideally matching the concept of a battleship-yacht, which was used as one in 1902-1905. Equipped for the travel of their highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Connaught to India; 6 "guns on the middle deck were removed in October 1902. Upon returning, it was put into the Fleet Reserve in Portsmouth until July 1904, when it was again commissioned for maneuvers. It underwent a major renovation in 1904-1905. It entered the reserve in February 1905. Again equipped for the travel of their highnesses the prince and princess of Wales to India in April-October 1905 (all the remaining 6 "guns removed). In 1907 he was included in the 4th Division of the Metropolitan Fleet. The Victory tender from October 1909, then the stoker training ship (received a blow from Aquarius Eid on September 26, 1911, causing minor damage). In January 1913, he was determined to be scrapped and towed to Mother Bank in December 1913. Sold in 1914.

• All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 / R. Gardiner. - London: Conway Maritime Press, 1979.- 448 p. - ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .
• Parks, Oscar. Battleships of the British Empire. Volume 4. His Majesty the standard. - SPb. : Galeia Print, 2005 .-- 120 p. - ISBN 5-8172-0099-6 .