Design
The Indefatigable class was not a significant improvement on the preceding Invincible class; the main difference was the enlargement of the dimensions to give the ships' two wing turrets a wider arc of fire. The ships were smaller and not as well protected as the contemporary German battlecruiser SMS Von der Tann and subsequent German designs. While Von der Tann's characteristics were not known when the lead ship of the class, HMS Indefatigable, was laid down in February 1909, the Royal Navy obtained accurate information on the German ship before work began on New Zealand and her sister ship HMAS Australia.
New Zealand had an overall length of 590 feet (179.8 m), a beam of 80 feet (24.4 m), and a draught of 29 feet 9 inches (9.1 m) at deep load. She displaced 18,500 long tons (18,800 t) at load and 22,130 long tons (22,490 t) at deep load. The battlecruiser's Parsons direct-drive steam turbines were designed to produce 44,000 shaft horsepower (33,000 kW), propelling the ship at 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph). However, during trials in 1912, the turbines produced over 49,000 shp (37,000 kW), which allowed New Zealand to reach 26.39 knots (48.87 km/h; 30.37 mph). The ship carried approximately 3,200 long tons (3,300 t) of coal, and an additional 850 long tons (860 t) of fuel oil; this was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. This gave her a range of 6,690 nautical miles (12,390 km; 7,700 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
The ship carried eight BL 12-inch Mk X guns in four twin gun turrets. Two turrets were mounted fore and aft on the centreline, identified as 'A' and 'X' respectively. The other two were wing turrets mounted amidships and staggered diagonally: 'P' was forward and to port of the centre funnel, while 'Q' was situated starboard and aft. Each wing turret had a limited ability to fire to the opposite side. Her secondary armament consisted of sixteen 4-inch BL Mk VII guns positioned in the superstructure. She mounted two 18-inch submerged torpedo tubes, one on each side aft of 'X' barbette, and twelve torpedoes were carried.
New Zealand's 'A' turret was fitted with a 9-foot (2.7 m) rangefinder at the rear of the turret roof. It was also equipped to control the entire main armament in the event that the normal fire control positions were knocked out or communication between the primary positions and the gun layers was disabled.
Read more about this topic: HMS New Zealand (1911)
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