HMS Temeraire

History: HMS Temeraire was the second ship of the Lion class to be laid down at the start of WWII. The ships were intended for Pacific service. It wasn't long before the Royal Navy realized they needed escort ships and carriers a lot more than they needed more battleships. The ships were canceled on the ways. The "battleship crowd" was able to push through HMS Vanguard as an alternative by designing it to use the existing 15" guns pulled off of the battlecruisers Glorious and Courageous when they were converted to aircraft carriers. We know a lot of people wanted the Lions to be "Friederich der Grosse" killers. Unfortunately for gamers, the Royal Navy never planned to build 45,000 ton or larger battleships. They didn't have the budget or the desire. Instead, the British spent their efforts in the 30's trying to talk the other nations out of building the behemoths through the naval treaty process - to no avail.

Class: The Lion-class battleships were a class of six fast battleships designed for the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. They were a larger, improved version of the King George V class with 16-inch (406 mm) guns. Only two ships were laid down before World War II began in September 1939 and a third was ordered during the war, but their construction was suspended shortly afterwards. Their design changed several times in response to the removal of treaty restrictions on size and in light of war experience. None of the other ships planned were laid down, although there was a proposal to modify one of the suspended ships into a hybrid battleship/aircraft carrier with two 16-inch gun turrets and a flight deck. The two ships already begun were scrapped after the end of the war.

Nationality: The United Kingdom, made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is an island nation in northwestern Europe. England – birthplace of Shakespeare and The Beatles – is home to the capital, London, a globally influential centre of finance and culture. England is also site of Neolithic Stonehenge, Bath’s Roman spa and centuries-old universities at Oxford and Cambridge.