The Ships of Brawling Battleships Steel: Great Britain Battleship Orion

Laid down on November 29, 1909, launched on August 20, 1910 and commissioned on January 2, 1912, Orion carried a main armament of ten of the new 13.5 inch main guns mounted two per turret; two centerline superfiring forward, two centerline superfiring aft and one centerline amidships that fired to both sides. Because of the larger guns, these ships were considered to be the first British “super dreadnought” battleships and also the first British battleship class with all centerline turrets and superfiring turrets that could be fired without serious blast damage to each other. Orion was the name ship of a four-ship battleship class. They were powered by turbines with coal-fired boilers. When the Germans adopted their new 12 inch gun for their capital ships, the British countered by adopting the new 13.5 inch gun, which was first mounted in the Orion class. The Orion name, one of many taken from ancient mythology by Britain, had a long and distinguished history as a ship name in the Royal Navy. Prewar, the ship was involved in a collision with the old pre-dreadnought Revenge caused by a parted anchor chain. Like most British battleships, she spent the war with the Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow and participated in the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916. She was sold for scrap in December 1922.

See other British battleships: Iron Duke, Lion, Dreadnought