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L3 18in Gunned Battleship
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Original line specifications
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| NAME | BUILDER | LAID DOWN | LAUNCHED | COMPLETED |
| ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | --------- |
| Specifications | |
| Displacement | 51,100 tons |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 850 ft |
| Beam | 106 ft |
| Draught | 33 ft |
| Machinery | 2 shaft Possible 9 boiler rooms and 2 engine rooms power generating 70,000 shp. |
| Speed | est 25 kts |
| Armour | belt 15 in (inclined 25 degree) bulkheads 11 in turrets 15 in face 12 in sides 9 in rear 8 inch roof barbettes 12 in -10 in conning tower 12 in to 10 in roof 8 in Torpedo bulk head 1.75 in deck armour 6 in - 3in aft 6 in - 2 in forward. |
| Armament | 9 x 18 in /45 in 3 triple turrets 16 x 6 in in 8 twin turrets 6x 4.7 in AA 32 x 2 pounder in 4 octuple mountings 2 submerged torpedo tubes. |
| Complement | unknown. |
| History
In the evolution of capital ships in the period 1921 -22 just prior to the Washington treaty the L class were probably the oddest and seemed to be designed to show the impossibility of providing adequate protection from 18 in shells if docking restrictions of the then present day British ports and naval facilities. The L3 design was governed by the size of the Portsmouth and Rosyth docks ,in appearance they would have been fine ships with bows resembling those of the Hood but with the forecastle deck continued to a wide transom stern. There was a tower bridge with director 93 ft from the water line as well a tripod foremast and main mast and one large funnel. In the end these ships were considered to large to continue with and the design moved on to the M3 design which the Nelson class evolved from.
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