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A good image of KGV, but it is far earlier than 1944, if you look closely at the top of B turret you can see a box type structure at an angle, this is the cassette launcher for a UP mounting, she had four, one on B two on X turret and a further one right aft on the quarter deck.
These AA weapons were fitted from new, she was commissioned in October 1940, they were removed in 1941 probably after the encounter with the Bismarck in May 1941, these awful weapons were thought to have been a contributary factor in the Loss of the Hood which also carried them, they are thought to have contrributed to the fire aft which lit the ship up making her a better target.
The UP mounting or Unrotated Projectile was the brain child of a chap called Alwyn Crow and fired twenty 7" three-foot long rockets to a height of about 1000 feet, here the rocket ejected a small parachute mine and trailing wires , the idea being a an attacking plane woulf fly into the wires and pulled the parachute mine into itself and thus blow itself up, propelled by unstable and highly inflammable solid fuel these weapons were more dangerous to the carrier than the target and to make matters worse the reloads were stowed on deck as they were so risky to carry.
So back to the picture as she is a bit tatty this is not a new ship but a few months old in 1941 possibly just after the Bismarck sinking and will be at Scapa Flow, note that abreast A gun she has two derricks ready for loading munitions.
The KGV class althought slightly under-gunned with 14" weapons ( Mk1 14" C45) firing a shell weighing a tad under 1500 lbs were fine and very well armoured ships, there chief problem was the two quadruple 14" turrets, the twin turret seldome gave any trouble but the quadruple had in excess of 3,000 working parts and over 50 safety interlocks, during the Bismarck sinking she had frequent stoppages of both the quadruple turrets - at very best they worked at 80% efficiency at worst far less, because of this she inflicted far less damage than the Rodney, herself beset by reliablity problems, although to a lesser extent than KGV, in her triple 16" turrets ( just over 2,000lb shell).
Steve
These AA weapons were fitted from new, she was commissioned in October 1940, they were removed in 1941 probably after the encounter with the Bismarck in May 1941, these awful weapons were thought to have been a contributary factor in the Loss of the Hood which also carried them, they are thought to have contrributed to the fire aft which lit the ship up making her a better target.
The UP mounting or Unrotated Projectile was the brain child of a chap called Alwyn Crow and fired twenty 7" three-foot long rockets to a height of about 1000 feet, here the rocket ejected a small parachute mine and trailing wires , the idea being a an attacking plane woulf fly into the wires and pulled the parachute mine into itself and thus blow itself up, propelled by unstable and highly inflammable solid fuel these weapons were more dangerous to the carrier than the target and to make matters worse the reloads were stowed on deck as they were so risky to carry.
So back to the picture as she is a bit tatty this is not a new ship but a few months old in 1941 possibly just after the Bismarck sinking and will be at Scapa Flow, note that abreast A gun she has two derricks ready for loading munitions.
The KGV class althought slightly under-gunned with 14" weapons ( Mk1 14" C45) firing a shell weighing a tad under 1500 lbs were fine and very well armoured ships, there chief problem was the two quadruple 14" turrets, the twin turret seldome gave any trouble but the quadruple had in excess of 3,000 working parts and over 50 safety interlocks, during the Bismarck sinking she had frequent stoppages of both the quadruple turrets - at very best they worked at 80% efficiency at worst far less, because of this she inflicted far less damage than the Rodney, herself beset by reliablity problems, although to a lesser extent than KGV, in her triple 16" turrets ( just over 2,000lb shell).
Steve
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