by JHS » Mon May 11, 2026 2:55 pm
You need to do a better than the competition to do a genuine May 31, 1916 HMS Lion. Note: all the published plans are either wrong or for the ship prewar. The Burt plan is fine, but it is prewar. The famous Ough plan is a vast accumulation of inaccuracies. I searched the online NMM data bank for 1916 plans of Lion. There was only a prewar hold plan, and two general arrangement plans unavailable at this time.
---The rangefinder in the hood on top of the conning tower was not 15 foot, it was 9 foot, and the arms just peeked out of the sides of the hood.
---The spotting top's sides, the director's screen, and the compass platform screen were all padded with splinter mattresses.
---The height of the screens around the compass platform were approximately twice the height of the other bridge screens.
---The width of the torpedo net platform should be wider.
---The life line posts were not like ocean liner railings, thick and heavy. They need to be very fine.
---The spotting top in May 1916 had windows, like every battlecruiser in the fleet. It was not open as it was in 1914-15. The open spotting top used in the Dogger Bank battle in 1915 was extremely uncomfortable for the personnel. The screen on top of it was not heavy armor plate, but a canvas screen. The purpose of the canvas-screened position on top of the roof of the spotting top is unkown to me at this time. It might have been a "crow's nest."
---There were no boats of any kind between the two forward funnels. This area was an empty space.
---There were two 3-inch high-angle guns, one on each side of the forward superstructure. The 4-inch high angle gun you have on the after superstructure was fitted after Jutland.
---There were two large Carley rafts against the aft 4-inch gun screens, one on each side. There were probably two Carleys against the bridge structure.
---The forward bridge was more complicated than you show (you have basically the 1914 state). On the conning rower deck there were observation casemates for torpedo lookouts at the base of the bridge, and a shuttered structure below them.
---The rangefinder hood on top of Q turret was taller, and of a different shape than the rangefinder hoods on all the other turrets.
---The spotting top was square, not tapered.
I can prove all these things with photos taken shortly after the battle, and in the battle. The Wyllie paintings are a goldmine. He had access to the Battlecruiser Fleet throughout the war. His paintings of the Jutland ships was based on observation from life in Rosyth and Scapa Flow.
What you have now is of no use to produce an accurate Jutland Lion.
You need to do a better than the competition to do a genuine May 31, 1916 HMS Lion. Note: all the published plans are either wrong or for the ship prewar. The Burt plan is fine, but it is prewar. The famous Ough plan is a vast accumulation of inaccuracies. I searched the online NMM data bank for 1916 plans of Lion. There was only a prewar hold plan, and two general arrangement plans unavailable at this time.
---The rangefinder in the hood on top of the conning tower was not 15 foot, it was 9 foot, and the arms just peeked out of the sides of the hood.
---The spotting top's sides, the director's screen, and the compass platform screen were all padded with splinter mattresses.
---The height of the screens around the compass platform were approximately twice the height of the other bridge screens.
---The width of the torpedo net platform should be wider.
---The life line posts were not like ocean liner railings, thick and heavy. They need to be very fine.
---The spotting top in May 1916 had windows, like every battlecruiser in the fleet. It was not open as it was in 1914-15. The open spotting top used in the Dogger Bank battle in 1915 was extremely uncomfortable for the personnel. The screen on top of it was not heavy armor plate, but a canvas screen. The purpose of the canvas-screened position on top of the roof of the spotting top is unkown to me at this time. It might have been a "crow's nest."
---There were no boats of any kind between the two forward funnels. This area was an empty space.
---There were two 3-inch high-angle guns, one on each side of the forward superstructure. The 4-inch high angle gun you have on the after superstructure was fitted after Jutland.
---There were two large Carley rafts against the aft 4-inch gun screens, one on each side. There were probably two Carleys against the bridge structure.
---The forward bridge was more complicated than you show (you have basically the 1914 state). On the conning rower deck there were observation casemates for torpedo lookouts at the base of the bridge, and a shuttered structure below them.
---The rangefinder hood on top of Q turret was taller, and of a different shape than the rangefinder hoods on all the other turrets.
---The spotting top was square, not tapered.
I can prove all these things with photos taken shortly after the battle, and in the battle. The Wyllie paintings are a goldmine. He had access to the Battlecruiser Fleet throughout the war. His paintings of the Jutland ships was based on observation from life in Rosyth and Scapa Flow.
What you have now is of no use to produce an accurate Jutland Lion.