Two of these guns were each installed on the roofs of the fore and aft centreline turrets and the wing turrets in unshielded mounts, and the other ten were positioned in the superstructure. The secondary, or anti- torpedo boat armament, comprised twenty BL 4-inch (102 mm) Mk VII guns. The centreline turrets were designated 'A', 'X' and 'Y', from front to rear, and the port and starboard wing turrets were 'P' and 'Q' respectively.

The St Vincent class was equipped with ten breech-loading (BL) 12-inch (305 mm) Mk XI guns in five twin- gun turrets, three along the centreline and the remaining two as wing turrets. Vanguard 's starboard aft side, showing her rear 12-inch gun turret and anti- torpedo net booms, around 1914 In 1910 her crew numbered 753 officers and ratings. She displaced 19,700 long tons (20,000 t) at normal load and 22,800 long tons (23,200 t) at deep load. Vanguard had an overall length of 536 feet (163.4 m), a beam of 84 feet (25.6 m), and a normal draught of 28 feet (8.5 m). The design of the St Vincent class was derived from that of the previous Bellerophon class, with a slight increase in size, armour and more powerful guns, among other minor changes. It was designated as a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, and diving on the wreck is generally forbidden. The wreck was heavily salvaged after the war, but was eventually protected as a war grave in 1984. She sank almost instantly, killing 843 of the 845 men aboard. Shortly before midnight on 9 July 1917 at Scapa Flow, Vanguard suffered a series of magazine explosions.

Aside from participating in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and the inconclusive action of 19 August several months later, her service during World War I mostly consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea. She spent her career assigned to the Home and Grand Fleets.

HMS Vanguard was one of three St Vincent-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

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