 Tiger at anchor in her 1916–1917 configuration with only aforemast | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators |  |
| Preceded by | Queen Mary |
| Succeeded by | Renown class |
| Built | 1912–1914 |
| In commission | 1914–1931 |
| Completed | 1 |
| Scrapped | 1 |
| History | |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Tiger |
| Builder | John Brown and Company,Clydebank |
| Laid down | 20 June 1912 |
| Launched | 15 December 1913 |
| Commissioned | 3 October 1914 |
| Decommissioned | 15 May 1931 |
| Fate | Sold forscrap, February 1932 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Battlecruiser |
| Displacement | 28,500long tons (29,000 t) (normal) |
| Length | 704 ft (214.6 m) (o/a) |
| Beam | 90 ft 6 in (27.6 m) |
| Draught | 32 ft 5 in (9.9 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 4 × shafts; 2 ×steam turbine sets |
| Speed | 28knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) |
| Complement | 1,112 (September 1914) |
| Armament |
|
| Armour | |
HMSTiger was abattlecruiser built for theRoyal Navy during the 1910s. The ship was the most heavily armoured British battlecruiser at the start of theFirst World War in 1914, but was not yet ready for service. The ship was assigned to the1st Battlecruiser Squadron (1st BCS) for the duration of the war and participated in theBattle of Dogger Bank in early 1915, though she was stillshaking down and did not perform well.Tiger next participated in theBattle of Jutland in 1916, where she was only lightly damaged despite suffering many hits by German shells. Apart from providing distant cover during theSecond Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917, she spent the rest of the war on uneventful patrols in theNorth Sea.
The ship was the oldest battlecruiser retained by the Royal Navy after the tonnage limits of theWashington Naval Treaty came into effect in 1922. She became a gunnery training ship in 1924 and then joined the Battlecruiser Squadron in 1929 when itsflagship,Hood, underwent a lengthy refit. UponHood's return to service in 1931,Tiger wasdecommissioned and sold forscrap in 1932 in accordance with the terms of theLondon Naval Treaty of 1930.
In his book,The Price of Admiralty, British military historianJohn Keegan described her as "certainly the most beautiful warship in the world then, and perhaps ever[.]"[1]
Tiger was the sole battlecruiser authorised in the 1911–12 Naval Programme. According to naval historian Siegfried Breyer, a sister ship namedLeopard was considered in the 1912–13 Programme and deferred until 1914 as a sixth member of theQueen Elizabeth class,[2] but there is no record of any additional battlecruiser being provided for in any naval estimates before 1914.[3][4][5]
Tiger had anoverall length of 704 feet (214.6 m), abeam of 90 feet 6 inches (27.6 m), and a meandraught of 32 feet 5 inches (9.88 m) atdeep load. She normally displaced 28,430long tons (28,890 t) and 33,260 long tons (33,790 t) at deep load. AlthoughTiger was only 4 feet (1.2 m) longer and 1 foot 5.5 inches (0.4 m) wider than the previous battlecruiser,Queen Mary, she displaced almost 2,000 long tons (2,000 t) more than the older ship. She had ametacentric height of 6.1 feet (1.9 m) at deep load.[6] In September 1914, her complement consisted of 1,112 officers andratings; in April 1918, they totalled 1,459.[7]
Tiger had two paired sets ofBrown-Curtisdirect-drivesteam turbines housed in separate engine-rooms. Each set consisted of intermediate-pressure ahead and high-pressure astern turbines driving the outboard shaft; high-pressure ahead turbines and low-pressure ahead and astern turbines, housed in the same casing, drove the inner shaft.[8] Her three-bladedpropellers were 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m) in diameter.[9] The turbines were powered by 39Babcock & Wilcox boilers in fiveboiler rooms at a working pressure of 235 psi (1,620 kPa; 17 kgf/cm2).[7] The turbines were designed to produce a total of 85,000shaft horsepower (63,000 kW) and a maximum of 108,000 shp (81,000 kW) when forced, but only achieved 104,635 shp (78,026 kW) during hersea trials, although she managed to exceed her maximum designed speed of 28knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) by over a knot.[10]
The ship's fuel stowage capacity was 3,800 long tons (3,900 t) offuel oil and 3,340 long tons (3,390 t) of coal, giving a total fuel supply of 7,140 long tons (7,250 t)—much more thanQueen Mary's total of 4,800 long tons (4,900 t). The sole (unofficial) figure forTiger's daily fuel consumption of 1,245 long tons (1,265 t) a day at 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph)[11] would have given a maximum endurance of 3,300nautical miles (6,100 km; 3,800 mi). The equivalent figure forQueen Mary was roughly 2,400 nautical miles (4,400 km; 2,800 mi).[12] Fourdirect current electricdynamos with a total capacity of 750kilowatts (1,010 hp) supplied the commonring main at 220volts.[13]
Tiger mounted eight 45-calibreBL 13.5-inch Mk V guns in four twin hydraulically powered turrets, designated 'A', 'B', 'Q' and 'X' from front to rear. The guns could be depressed to −5° and elevated to +20°, although the directors controlling the turrets were limited to 15° 21' until superelevating prisms were installed before theBattle of Jutland in May 1916 to allow full elevation.[14] They fired 1,400-pound (635 kg) projectiles at amuzzle velocity of 2,491 ft/s (759 m/s); at 20° elevation, this provided a maximum range of 23,740 yards (21,710 m). The rate of fire of these guns was approximately 2 rounds per minute.[15] The ship carried a total of 1040 rounds during wartime for 130 shells per gun.[7]
Her secondary armament consisted of twelveBL 6-inch Mk VII guns incasemates.[16] The guns could depress to −7° and had a maximum elevation of 14°. They fired 100-pound (45 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of approximately 2,770 ft/s (840 m/s); this gave a maximum range of 12,200 yd (11,200 m) at +14° elevation.[17] They were provided with 120 rounds per gun.[7] The ship mounted a pair ofQF 3 inch 20 cwt[Note 1] Mk Ianti-aircraft guns on high-angle Mark II mounts.[16] The gun had a maximum elevation of +90° and fired a 12.5-pound (5.7 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,604 ft/s (794 m/s). It had a maximum effective ceiling of 23,000 ft (7,000 m).[18] Originally,Tiger carried 300 rounds per gun, but this was reduced during the war to 150 rounds per gun.[19]
Four21-inch (530 mm) submergedtorpedo tubes were fitted on the beam, one pair port and starboard forward of 'A' barbette and aft of 'X' barbette.[19] The ship carried 20 Mark II*** torpedoes,[Note 2][16] each with a warhead of 400 pounds (181 kg) ofTNT. They had two speed settings which governed their range; at 45 knots (83 km/h; 52 mph), they could reach 4,500 yards (4,100 m), or 10,750 yards (9,830 m) at 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph).[20]
The main guns ofTiger were controlled from either of the twofire-control directors. The primary director was in thefore-top on the foremast and the other was mounted on the aft superstructure in the torpedo control tower.[7] Data from 9-foot (2.7 m)rangefinders in the armoured hood above theconning tower and in 'B' and 'Q' turrets was transmitted to the Mk IVDreyer Fire Control Table located in the transmitting station below thewaterline. The observations were then plotted and converted into range and deflection data for use by the director and guns.[21] A Mark VII*Dumaresq in the armoured tower was trained on the target to supply bearing data to one transmitting station for use in plotting and calculations, and a second station was fitted for the ship's secondary armament,[22] although a pair of fire-control directors for those guns, one for each broadside, were not fitted until 1915.[23]
Fire-control technology advanced quickly during the years immediately preceding the First World War and the development of the director firing system was a major advance. This consisted of a fire-control director mounted high in the ship which electrically provided elevation and training angles to the turrets via pointers, which the turret crewmen had only to follow. The director layer fired the guns simultaneously by an electrical trigger which aided in spotting the shell splashes and minimised the effects of the roll on the dispersion of the shells.[24]
During the war,Tiger's rangefinders had increased in number and in size. By the end of the war, 'A' and 'Q' turrets mounted 25-foot (7.6 m) rangefinders while 'X' turret, the armoured hood above the conning tower (also known as the gun control tower), and the torpedo control tower had 15-foot (4.6 m) instruments. A 12-foot (3.7 m) rangefinder was fitted in the fore-top and three 9-foot (2.7 m) instruments were fitted on 'B' turret, the gun control tower and above the compass platform. A high-angle 6-foot-6-inch (2.0 m) rangefinder was mounted above the roof of the fore-top for use by the anti-aircraft guns.[7]
Tiger's armour protection was similar to that ofQueen Mary; her waterlinebelt ofKrupp cemented armour measured 9 inches (229 mm) thick amidships. It thinned to four inches towards the ship's ends, but did not reach either the bow or the stern. The depth of the main belt below the waterline was reduced from 36 to 27 inches (914 to 686 mm), although astrake of three-inch armour 3 feet 9 inches (1.14 m) tall was added below the main belt that stretched from the front of 'A' barbette to the rear of 'B' barbette. It was based on that used on theVickers built Japanese battlecruiserKongo,[25] the only design influence onTiger that can be attributed to that ship.[26][Note 3]
Like theLion-class ships andQueen Mary,Tiger was given an upper armour belt with a maximum thickness of six inches over the same length as the thickest part of the waterline armour and thinned to 5 inches (127 mm) abreast the end turrets. Unlike those ships,Tiger had an additional strake of 6-inch armour above the upper belt protecting her secondary armament. Four-inch transversebulkheads closed off the ends of thearmoured citadel. High-tensile steel was used for the protective decks. They generally ranged from 1 to 1.5 inches (25 to 38 mm) in thickness.[28]
The gun turrets had 9-inch front and sides while their roofs were 2.5 to 3.25 inches (64 to 83 mm) thick. Thebarbettes were protected above the citadel by 8 to 9 inches (203 to 229 mm) of armour, thinning to three to four inches inside the citadel. The main conning tower had a three-inch roof and sides 10 inches (254 mm) thick. The walls of thecommunication tube were three to four inches thick. The aft conning tower had 6-inch walls and a 3-inch cast steel roof. High-tensile steeltorpedo bulkheads 1.5 to 2.5 inches (38 to 64 mm) thick were fitted abreast themagazines and shell rooms.[28] After the Battle of Jutland revealed the ship's vulnerability to plunging shellfire, around 295 long tons (300 t) of additional armour was added to the turret roofs, the decks over the magazines, and the bulkheads separating the 6-inch guns.[23]
Tiger was laid down at theJohn Brown and Company shipyard inClydebank on 6 June 1912. She was launched on 15 December 1913 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 3 October 1914,[29] at the cost of £2,593,100, including armament.[16][30] The ship was still under construction when theFirst World War broke out in August 1914. On 3 August 1914,[31] CaptainHenry Pelly[32] was appointed to command the incomplete ship. Beatty described Pelly at the time as "a very charming person and, what is more important just now, a very efficient officer".[33]
Tiger was commissioned for the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron (1st BCS) on 3 October.[31] After theBattle of Coronel and the deployment of three battlecruisers to hunt for the GermanEast Asia Squadron in November,Tiger was ordered to cut short her firing trials off Berehaven.[34] Beatty describedTiger to the First Sea Lord, Admiral of the FleetLord Fisher of Kilverstone, as "not yet fit to fight. Three out of her four dynamoes are out of action for an indefinite period, and her training is impeded by bad weather, which might continue for many weeks at this time of year, and at present is quite unprepared and inefficient."[35]
On 23 January 1915, a force of German battlecruisers under the command of AdmiralFranz von Hipper sortied to clear the Dogger Bank of any British fishing boats or small craft that might be there to collect intelligence on German movements. However, the British were reading their coded messages and sailed to intercept them with a larger force of British battlecruisers under the command of Admiral Beatty. Contact was initiated at 07:20[Note 4] on the 24th, when the British light cruiserArethusa spotted the German light cruiserKolberg. By 07:35, the Germans had spotted Beatty's force and Hipper ordered a turn to the south at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), believing this would suffice if the ships he saw to his north-west were British battleships and that he could always increase speed toBlücher's maximum speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) if they were British battlecruisers.[36]
Beatty ordered his battlecruisers to make all practicable speed to catch the Germans before they could escape. The leading ships,Lion,Princess Royal andTiger, were doing 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph) in pursuit andLion opened fire at 08:52 at a range of 20,000 yards (18,000 m). The other ships followed a few minutes later but, hampered by the extreme range and decreasing visibility, they did not score their first hit onBlücher until 09:09. The German battlecruisers opened fire themselves a few minutes later at 09:11, at a range of 18,000 yards (16,000 m), and concentrated their fire onLion. At 09:35, Beatty signalled "Engage the corresponding ships in the enemy's line", but Captain Pelly, believing thatIndomitable was already engagingBlücher, fired atSeydlitz, as didLion, which leftMoltke free to continue attackingLion without risk.[37]
In the meantime,Blücher had been heavily damaged by fire from all the other battlecruisers; her speed had dropped to 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) and her steering gear had been jammed. Beatty orderedIndomitable to attack her at 10:48. Six minutes later, Beatty spotted what he thought was a submarineperiscope on the starboard bow and ordered an immediate 90° turn to port to avoid the submarine, although he failed to hoist the "Submarine Warning" flag because most ofLion's signal halyards had been shot away. Shortly afterward,Lion lost her remaining dynamo to the rising water which knocked out all remaining light and power. He ordered "Course north-east" at 11:02 to bring his ships back to their pursuit of Hipper. He also hoisted "Attack the rear of the enemy" on the other halyard, although there was no connection between the two signals. Rear-Admiral SirGordon Moore, temporarily commanding inNew Zealand, thought that the signals meant for him to attackBlücher, which was about 8,000 yards (7,300 m) to the north-east, which he did, turning away from Hipper's main body. Beatty tried to correct the mistake, but he was so far behind the leading battlecruisers that his signals could not be read amidst the smoke and haze.[38]
He transferred his flag to the destroyerAttack at 11:50 and set off in pursuit of his battlecruisers. He caught up to them shortly beforeBlücher sank and boardedPrincess Royal at 12:20. He ordered the pursuit of the German battlecruisers to be resumed, but rescinded the order when it became clear that too much time had been wasted sinkingBlücher and Hipper's ships would be able to reach German waters before the British could catch them.Lion was headed home at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) when the rest of the battlecruisers caught up with her around 12:45.[39]
During the action,Tiger was hit by six German shells, the most significant of which was a 28-centimetre (11 in) shell that burst on the roof of 'Q' turret. Although most of the shell was deflected overboard, fragments penetrated the roof, damaged the left gun'sbreech mechanism and jammed the training gear, knocking the turret out of action. Ten men were killed during the battle and 11 wounded.Tiger's repairs were completed on 8 February. Like the rest of the battlecruisers,Tiger's own gunnery was rapid, but inaccurate, and she achieved only two hits out of 355 13.5-inch (340 mm) shells fired, scoring one hit each onSeydlitz andDerfflinger.[40] Her performance was noted and commented upon by the senior leadership of the Royal Navy: Lord Fisher criticised Pelly's performance, calling him a "poltroon"[41] and adding "TheTiger's gunnery seems to have been villainously bad on January 24, yet she seems to have had a lot of practice."[42] In a memorandum of 11 February 1915, Beatty explained to Pelly where the latter had misconstrued the standing orders, going throughTiger's part in the battle blow by blow and comparing it to that of other ships. His final paragraph was conciliatory however: "In making these remarks I have no wish to express censure in any form. I realise that a newly-commissioned ship in her first action has many difficulties to contend with, and I am quite ready to make the fullest allowance for them. My chief aim is to ensure that our next action shall be a complete success."[43] The ship was given a refit in December 1915.[31]
On 31 May 1916,Tiger and the 1st BCS had put to sea with the rest of the Battlecruiser Fleet, under Beatty's overall command, to intercept a sortie by theHigh Seas Fleet into the North Sea. The British had decoded the German radio messages, and left their bases before the Germans put to sea. Hipper's battlecruisers spotted the Battlecruiser Fleet to their west at 15:20, but Beatty's ships did not see the Germans to their east until 15:30. Two minutes later, Beatty ordered a course change to east-southeast, positioning the British ships to cut off the German's line of retreat, and signalledaction stations. Hipper ordered his ships to turn to starboard, away from the British, to assume a south-easterly course, and reduced speed to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) to allow three light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group to catch up. With this turn, Hipper was falling back on the High Seas Fleet, 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) behind him. Beatty altered course to the east, as he was still too far north to cut Hipper off.[44]
This was later characterised as the "Run to the South" as Beatty changed course to steer east-southeast at 15:45, now paralleling Hipper's course less than 18,000 yards (16,000 m) away. The Germans opened fire first at 15:48, followed by the British. The British ships were still in the process of making their turn as only the two leading ships,Lion andPrincess Royal, had steadied on their course when the Germans opened fire. The 1st BCS wasecheloned to the right withTiger in the rear and the furthest to the west, closest to the Germans.Tiger missed Beatty's fire distribution order, as hadQueen Mary, andTiger engagedMoltke, instead ofSeydlitz as Beatty intended.[45] The German fire was accurate from the start, withTiger hit six times byMoltke within the first seven minutes; although two of these hits temporarily disabled both 'Q' and 'X' turrets, she was not seriously damaged.[46] By 15:54, the range was down to 12,900 yards (11,800 m); Beatty ordered a course change twopoints to starboard to open up the range at 15:57.[47]Around 16:00,Indefatigable was hit around the rear turret by two or three shells fromVon der Tann. She fell out of formation to starboard and started sinking toward the stern and listing to port.[48] Her magazines exploded at 16:03 after more hits destroying the ship with the loss of all hands but three.[49]The range gradually increased until the distance between the British and German ships was too great for accurate fire, so Beatty altered course four points to port between 16:12 and 16:15 to close the range. By 16:25, the range was down to 14,400 yards (13,200 m) and Beatty turned two points to starboard to open the range again. Around this time,Queen Mary was hit multiple times in quick succession and her forward magazines exploded.[50]Tiger, following inQueen Mary's wake at a distance of only 500 yards (460 m), had to put her helm hard-a-starboard to avoid colliding with the wreckage.[51] At 16:30, the light cruiserSouthampton, scouting in front of Beatty's ships, spotted the lead elements of the High Seas Fleet coming north at top speed. Three minutes later, she sighted the topmasts ofVice-AdmiralReinhard Scheer's battleships, but did not report this for another five minutes. Beatty continued south for another two minutes to confirm the sighting before ordering his force to turn north.[52] By this time,Tiger had been hit a total of 17 times, all but one fired byMoltke, but she remained fit to fight.[53]
The German battlecruisers made their own turn north in pursuit,[54] but Beatty's ships maintained full speed, and gradually moved out of range. The British battlecruisers turned north, then north-east, to try to rendezvous with the main body of theGrand Fleet, and at 17:40 opened fire again on their German counterparts. The setting sun blinded the German gunners and they could not make out the British ships and turned away to the north-east at 17:47.[55] Beatty gradually turned toward the east so his ships could cover the Grand Fleet as it deployed into battle formation, but he mistimed his manoeuvre and forced the leading British division further from the Germans. By 18:35, Beatty was following the 3rd BCS as they were leading the Grand Fleet east-southeast, and continuing to engage Hipper's battlecruisers to their south-west. A few minutes earlier, Scheer had ordered a simultaneous 180° starboard turn, and Beatty lost sight of them in the haze.[56] At 18:44, Beatty turned his ships south-east, then south-southeast four minutes later, to find Hipper's force. He then ordered the two surviving ships of the 3rd BCS to take position astern ofNew Zealand, while slowing to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) and altering course to the south to stay close to the Grand Fleet. At this moment,Lion'sgyrocompass failed, and she—followed by the rest of the battlecruisers—made a complete circle before her steering was brought back under control.[57] At 18:55, Scheer ordered another 180° turn, which put the German ships on a converging course again with the Grand Fleet. However, the British had altered course to the south, allowing the Grand Fleet tocross Scheer's "T" and inflict damage on the leading German ships. Scheer ordered yet another 180° turn at 19:13, and successfully extricated the High Seas Fleet from the trap his manoeuvring caused.[58]
The British lost sight of the Germans untilCastor spotted smoke to the west-northwest at 20:05, then identified and engaged several German torpedo boats. On hearing the sound of gunfire, Beatty ordered his ships west, and spotted the German battlecruisers only 8,500 yards (7,800 m) away.Inflexible opened fire at 20:20, followed almost immediately by the rest of the battlecruisers.[59] Shortly after 8:30, thepre-dreadnought battleships of Rear AdmiralFranz Mauve's II Battle Squadron were spotted. The British battlecruisers and German pre-dreadnoughts exchanged fire; the Germans fired only a few times before turning away to the west because of poor visibility and the more accurate British gunnery, and disappeared into the mist around 20:40. Beatty's battlecruisers sailed south-southeast, ahead of both the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet, until the order to reverse course for home was given at 02:55.[60]
Tiger and the rest of the battlecruisers reachedRosyth Dockyard in Scotland on the morning of 2 June. Docked the next day for repairs which took until 1 July, she was the first of the "Splendid Cats" to be repaired.Tiger was hit a total of 18 times during the battle, mostly by shells fired byMoltke, suffering 24 men killed and 46 wounded. The battlecruiser fired 303 shells from her main guns during the battle and is credited with one hit onMoltke and two onVon der Tann. The ship also fired 136 rounds from her 6-inch guns at the light cruiserWiesbaden and Germandestroyers.[46]
After her repairs were completed,Tiger served as the temporary flagship of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron whileLion was under repair.[61] In the meantime, on the evening of 18 August the Grand Fleet put to sea in response to a message deciphered byRoom 40 which indicated that the High Seas Fleet, less the II Squadron, would be leaving harbour that night. The German objective was to bombardSunderland on the 19th, with extensive reconnaissance provided by airships and submarines. The Grand Fleet sailed with 29 dreadnought battleships and six battlecruisers, includingTiger. Throughout the 19th, Jellicoe and Scheer received conflicting intelligence, with the result that having reached its rendezvous in the North Sea, the Grand Fleet steered north in the erroneous belief it had entered a minefield before turning south again. Scheer steered south-eastward pursuing a lone British battle squadron reported by an airship, which was in fact theHarwich Force under CommodoreTyrwhitt. Having realised their mistake, the Germans then steered for home. The only contact came in the evening when Tyrwhitt sighted the High Seas Fleet, but he was unable to achieve an advantageous attack position before dark, and broke off contact. Both the British and the German fleets returned home; the British had lost two cruisers to submarine attacks, and a German dreadnought had been damaged by a torpedo.[62][63]
The ship received a lengthy refit from 10 November 1916 to 29 January 1917 at Rosyth[28] where her deck and turret roof armour were reinforced and additional rangefinders were added over her conning tower and the rear of 'X' turret.[61] For the remainder of the war,Tiger uneventfully patrolled theNorth Sea, as both fleets were essentially forbidden to risk any more losses. She provided support for British light forces involved in theSecond Battle of Heligoland Bight on 17 November 1917, but never came within range of any German forces.[64] The same year saw her undergo a minor refit during which a flying-off platform for aSopwith Camel was mounted on 'Q' turret and a searchlight platform was added to her third funnel. She underwent a more extensive refit in 1918 which saw her topmast shifted to the top of the derrick-stump and a more substantial observation platform added to the foremast. Some of her short rangefinders were replaced by longer ones as well.[65]
.jpg)
Tiger remained in service with the Royal Navy after theArmistice with Germany and she had a flying-off platform added on 'B' turret's roof in 1919. The ship collided with the battleshipRoyal Sovereign in late 1920 while assigned to theAtlantic Fleet.[61]Tiger survived the culling of older capital ships following theWashington Naval Treaty, although she was placed inreserve on 22 August 1921.[31] The ship was refitted in March 1922 with a 25-foot (7.6 m) rangefinder fitted on 'X' turret, her original pair of 3-inch AA guns replaced by four 4-inch (102 mm) guns, and the flying-off platform on 'Q' turret was removed.[66] On 14 February 1924,Tiger was recommissioned and became a seagoing training ship, a role she served in throughout the 1920s. Her last major period of activity came in 1929, whenHood went into dockyard hands for refit. WhileHood was out of commission,Tiger returned to active service to keep the Royal Navy's three-shipBattlecruiser Squadron (normally made up ofHood plus the smallerRenown andRepulse) up to strength. Although by the 1930s,Tiger was still in reasonable condition, the decision was taken to discard her following theLondon Naval Conference 1930 as part of an overall reduction in world battleship fleets. Under the command of CaptainKenneth Dewar in 1928 to 1929, her final commander wasArthur Bedford, and she remained in service with the fleet untilHood came out of refit in early 1931, at which time she was taken out of commission in accordance with the terms of theLondon Naval Treaty.[67]
Tiger took the cheers of the Atlantic Fleet on 30 March 1931 atDevonport.[68] Shepaid off on 15 May 1931 at Rosyth, before being sold toThos. W. Ward ofInverkeithing for breaking up in February 1932.[31]
Media related toHMS Tiger (ship, 1913) at Wikimedia Commons