Navistory FAA 1923-31: 62 built. Another forgotten naval warbird, and arguably renown for its… interesting looks, was the most Blackburn of all, inventively named after the company. Answering the Specification 3/21 of 1921, this was to be solely a carrier-based reconnaissance and spotting aircraft. The company designed a fuselage optimized for that mission while wing and … Read more
Royal Navy Emergency Destroyer (built 1940-42) Q class: Queenborough, Quadrant, Quail, Quality, Quentin, Quiberon, Quickmatch, Quilliam R class: Rotherham, Racehorse, Raider, Rapid, Redoubt, Relentless, Rocket, Roebuck HMS Rapid (H53), standard War Emergency Programme, 4th flotilla. In a nutshell, Q and R were sixteen War Emergency Programme destroyers ordered by the Royal Navy as the 3rd … Read more
Coastal Submersibles (1931-48): Marcantonio Bragadin, Filippo Corridoni The Bragadin-class were four submarines built for the Regia Marina in 1927-31 by Cantieri navali Tosi di Taranto, Taranto. The class comprised two boats, and they were essentially minelaying versions of the earlier Pisani class, sharing the latter’s stability issues and needed to be modified to correct those … Read more
Versatile RN Type 12 Improved Batch 3 Frigates (1967)Class: HMS Hermione, Andromeda, jupiter, Bacchante, Charybdis, Diomede, Achilles, Apollo, Ariadne. The “Broad Beam” Leander are the last evolution (and 3rd batch) of the Leander class Frigates, tha really defined a standard and met export success. They went to be the most successful (arguably) British frigate design … Read more
Seawolf class submarine (1995) Nuclear-powered attack submarines (1995), in service: USS Seawolf, Connecticut, Jimmy Carter (SSN-21 to 23). The Seawolf class was the last cold war fast attack submarines (SSN) design for the United States Navy, intended successor to the Los Angeles class. Design work began indeed began in 1983 and initially 29 were planned … Read more
Soviet SSGN: K-222 1970-1988 K-222 was the unique Project 661 “Anchar” (NATO “Papa class”), a nuclear-powered cruise-missile submarine developed and bult by the Soviet Navy during the Cold War. She was developed before the Alfa class SSNs as a new generation titanium-built record speed submarine. Development and construction took a decade, but she was successful … Read more
Project 1241.2 Molniya-2: 42 ASW corvette planned (3 cancelled) 1976-1991 The Pauk class (NATO reporting name) were small patrol corvettes of for the Soviet Navy, exported also between 1977 and 1989, official designation Project 1241.2 Molniya-2. Partly inspired by the Tarantul class, they were designed for coastal patrol and inshore ASW warfare. They differed from … Read more
Marina Militare, Built 2001-2008. Active. Conte di Cavour is the current STOVL carrier of the Italian Navy and flagship, replacing in that role Garibaldi. CVH 55 was built at Fincantieri at La Spezia, and commissioned in March 2008, based since at Taranto. Its 232 meters flight decks ends with a ski-jump ramp for STOVL aircraft … Read more
Germany: SM U63 to U-65 (1916-17) The U63 class U-Boats were basically a repeat of the U51 mobilization boats by Germaniawerft in, Kiel. These were only three submersibles launched in February-March 1916 with a rounded prow, rewroked tail, separated deck and double hull, Germanierft diesels and two 8.8 cm guns, although this was changed later … Read more
Royal Navy – 16 ships, service 1963-1990Leander, Ajax, Dido, Penelope, Aurora, Euryalus, Galatea, Arethusa, Naiad, Phoebe, Cleopatra, Minerva, Sirius, Juno, Argonaut, Danae. The Leander-class, or Type 12I (Improved) frigates comprised twenty-six ships, the most numerous and long-lived Frigate class of the Royal Navy in its modern history. It was built in three batches between 1959 … Read more
