Modifying King George V class after 1945

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uk 75

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I noted with interest JFC Fuller's comment about the new Friedman British Battleships book that material exists in the National Archives about proposed modifications to the remaining King George V class battleships between 1945 and their withdrawal in the 50s.
I have browsed the new Friedman book in Waterstones and will probably buy a copy in due course, but as my main interest is in the postwar Royal Navy it does not help me much.
If JFC or anyone who has used the NATO material could give a short description of what sort of projects were considered (missile ships or helicopter ships?) I would be very grateful.
 
It is known that Vanguard and the remaining KGV's to be armed with missiles, with that time frame GWS.1 Seaslug and later the replacement of Bofors mounts with quad GWS.20 Seacat launchers.

Though there are 3 weird GW missile ship designs which could or could not the conversion projects of these ships:
GW.78A:
Deign date: 1956
Dimensions: 225,55m x 48,15m x 8,84m
Displacement: 34.000tons standard
Engine Power: 135.000shp, 3 shafts
Maximum Speed: 57km/h (31knots)
Range: 9.200km at 37km/h (5.000nm at 20knots)
Armour: Unknown
Crew: 2.400
Armaments:
4x1 Bristol 1,3/4 (40 missiles) (Predecessor of the Bloodhound Mk.II)
4x2 76m Guns

GW.78B:
Deign date: 1956
Dimensions: 231,34m x 48,15m x9,44m
Displacement: 36.000tons standard
Engine Power: 135.000shp, 3 shafts
Maximum Speed: 57km/h (31knots)
Range: 9.200km at 37km/h (5.000nm at 20knots)
Armour: Unknown
Crew: 2.400
Armaments:
2x1 Bristol 1,3/4 (20 missiles) (Predecessor of the Bloodhound Mk.II)
4x2 76m Guns

GW.78C:
Deign date: 1956
Dimensions: 225,85m x 48,15m x 8,84m
Displacement: 34.000tons standard
Engine Power: 135.000shp, 3 shafts
Maximum Speed: 57km/h (31knots)
Range: 9.200km at 37km/h (5.000nm at 20knots)
Armour: Unknown
Crew: 2.400
Armaments:
4x1 Bristol 1,3/4 (100 missiles) (Predecessor of the Bloodhound Mk.II)
4x2 76m Guns
 
I very much doubt the GW.78 series were KGV conversions.
The dimensions (especially the beam) do not match and the KGVs were not 3-shaft ships. In addition, by 1956 all were destined for the scrap merchant.

Given the experience of the DNC designers since 1951 in designing ships to fit Sea Slug and Blue Envoy and associated radars and electronic equipment I am sure they would have ruled out rebuilding nearly 30 year old ships. The size of these missiles alone would have driven the size of the of these ships to quite large proportions for the magazines etc. The last conversion I'm aware of was the Fiji conversion which was shown to be impractical and shelved by 1954.
 
Without getting into weird and wholly impractical rebuilds to take Sea Slug there were a range of modifications considered for the KGV class between 1945 and 1948 that I am aware of, much of this was an extension of the modernisation work that had been done on various ships in the latter stages of the war, notably Anson. Where this work was undertaken on one or more ship I will highlight it.

Main armament:

RPC: I have found one reference that suggests work was underway on RPC for the main armament
New Shells: Work was underway on new shell designs for 14" guns (and 15" and 16") through to about 1948
Fire Control: Addition of Type 931 splash spotting radar for ranging fall of shot and as a backup to Type 274

Secondary Armament:

RPC: RPC for the 5.25 inch guns (undertaken on Anson)
Fire Control: Mk.VI Directors in place of HACS Mk.V (undertaken on Anson)

Tertiary armament:

Guns: Replacement of all existing weapons (Oerlikons, Pom-Poms and US Bofors) with UK Bofors. Octuple pom-pom to be replaced with Sextuple bofors, STAAG mountings on forward twin and aft quad 14" turret roofs, all other weapons replaced with a combination of single and twin Bofors mountings
Fire Control: Replacement of existing pom-pom directors and Mk.51 sights (for the US quad bofors being deleted) with Close Range Blind Fire Directors, Simple Tachymetric Directors and (un-numbered) MRS directors

I assume there would have been some desire to improve the air warning radar fit further (perhaps along the lines of Vanguard) but I have yet to find any evidence.
 
There's a short memo in ADM 1/26924 which says:

'A ship launched Ballistic Weapon might well be half the size of a land-based weapon for the same warhead weight, if the range to the target could be halved by taking the launching platform halfway to that target.
…
DGD considers that the suggestion for using a submersible launching platform is probably in the realms of fantasy, even beyond the next 20 years, but furtherance of this project with a Naval application may well imply the preservation of the K. G. V hulls for many years to come.

23 November 1953.'

Interesting comment about the submersible!
 
CNH said:
There's a short memo in ADM 1/26924 which says:

'A ship launched Ballistic Weapon might well be half the size of a land-based weapon for the same warhead weight, if the range to the target could be halved by taking the launching platform halfway to that target.
…
DGD considers that the suggestion for using a submersible launching platform is probably in the realms of fantasy, even beyond the next 20 years, but furtherance of this project with a Naval application may well imply the preservation of the K. G. V hulls for many years to come.

23 November 1953.'

Interesting comment about the submersible!
Click to expand...

Indeed. If I recall correctly the sub ballistic missile was seen as a promising future technology in Vanguard to Trident. Can't recall the general time that was stated - mid 50s perhaps?

Also, Tzoli noted the following on the GW Series of British Cruisers thread:

there seems to be some sort of small Ballistic ship of the GW.65-68 series of mostly slow speed and 6-6-4-6 missiles (SRBM - Short Range Ballistic Missile I assume)
Click to expand...

Ref: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,8124.msg251202.html#msg251202

So new and old ships were considered for the ballistic missile role.
 
These are the data on the GW.65/66/67/68 series of small ballistic missile ship designs:

GW.65:
Deign date: 1955
Dimensions: 209,1m x 22,55m x 5,71m
Displacement: 14.700tons standard
Engine Power: 105.000shp, 4 shafts
Maximum Speed: 61km/h (33knots)
Range: 8.300km at 37km/h (4.500nm at 20knots)
Armour: 38mm Belt and 38mm Deck
Armaments:
6x1 S.R.B.R. (Probably PGM-11 Redstone???)
4x2 40mm AA Guns

GW.66:
Deign date: 1955
Dimensions: 173,73m x 22,55m x 5,81m
Displacement: 12.592tons standard
Engine Power: 60.000shp, 2 shafts
Maximum Speed: 53km/h (28,75knots)
Range: 8.300km at 37km/h (4.500nm at 20knots)
Armour: 38mm Belt and 38mm Deck
Armaments:
6x1 S.R.B.R. (Probably PGM-11 Redstone???)
4x2 40mm AA Guns

GW.67:
Deign date: 1955
Dimensions: 167,64m x 21,67m x 7,31m
Displacement: 18.800tons standard
Engine Power: 15.000shp, 1 shaft
Maximum Speed: 31km/h (17knots)
Range: 12.700km at 31km/h (4.850nm at 17knots)
Armour: 38mm Belt and 38mm Deck
Armaments:
4x1 S.R.B.R. (Probably PGM-11 Redstone???)
1x2 102mm Guns
4x2 40mm AA Guns

GW.68:
Deign date: 1955
Dimensions: 190,5m x 26,21m x unknown, maybe the same as GW.67?
Displacement: unknown, maybe the same as GW.67?
Engine Power: 12.500shp, 1 shaft
Maximum Speed: 28km/h (15knots)
Range: unknown, maybe the same as GW.67?
Armour: unknown, maybe the same as GW.67?
Armaments:
6x1 S.R.B.R. (Probably PGM-11 Redstone???)
4x2 40mm AA Guns
 
.

At various times the KGVs were looked at for possible conversion to "G.W. Ships" (Guided Weapons Ships), but they all failed on the basis of cost versus the relatively small number of missiles to be carried.

More effort was expended on looking at aircraft carriers (especially the Implacables) and Vanguard. It was thought (1954) that for a KGV the removal of Y-turret would allow a splinter protected magazine of approx. 90-100 missiles, with a twin launcher and two sets of guidance radars.

.
 

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