HMS Lion WWI Battlecruiser Information

[Ian_Grant]

Back in the 70's I made an RC model of this ship which has been on a shelf for decades. With retirement I have the notion of overhauling her to add detail the teenage me omitted (and modernizing the speed control from rheostatic to ESC).

 

I have two sheets of plans from David MacGregor, "lines" and overall views. Details on hatches etc are hard to make out, plus there are some dotted additions of searchlight platforms that were added in 1916 which are illegible to me. Also I have read she had several Lewis guns and something like 8 or 9 rangefinders (some in the turrets) which are not evident in the drawings.

 

Does anyone know of a book which might have on-board photos of Lion? I see plenty of photos of Lion steaming along but very few on board.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

Ian

 

Edited September 26 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

Hello again. While looking through the Naval Encyclopedia entry on the "Lion" class, I noticed the bibliography list. I've ordered "British Battleships of World War One" by one R.A. Burt, 2nd edition, 2012.

 

This heavy tome covers the dreadnoughts through to battlecruisers and others, and purports to have many photos added compared to the 1st edition.

 

I've found quite a few undated photos of Lion and her sister and near-sister ships, which raise questions as they were all modified from time to time. I did find one of Princess Royal with the searchlight towers added in 1916, and a few deck shots revealing some details. There is even a colour diagram of Lion in dazzle paint, which I did not think was used in WWI. Apparently they experimented with different schemes on different ships but the brass must not have liked the nontraditional look since without exception they were all repainted to grey after a few months. Apparently this book has detail on this, and diagrams of the different dazzle schemes tried.

 

Just closed the pool so without a test tank progress on my other RC models is stalled, so I will start work on Lion soon. Good winter project.