Orion-class battleship

Uncommon card · No. 185901

The Orion-class battleships were a group of four dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the early 1910s. The first 13.5-inch-gunned (343 mm) battleships built for the RN, since the 1890s Royal Sovereign-class, they were much larger than the preceding British dreadnoughts and were sometimes termed "super-dreadnoughts". The sister ships spent most of their careers assigned to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Home and Grand Fleets, sometimes serving as flagships. Aside from participating in the failed attempt to intercept the German ships that had bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in late 1914, the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and the inconclusive action of 19 August, their service during World War I generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea. The Orions were deemed obsolete by the end of the war in 1918 and were reduced to reserve the following year. Orion and Conqueror were sold for scrap in 1922 while Monarch was hulked for use as a...

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