Navistory Monarch, Wien, Budapest The Coastal Battleships: This type of “pocket” battleship existed in any second or third-rate navy alongside torpedo boats for shoreline self-defense purposes. Still wielding relatively big guns and decent armour, they were a potent deterrent in 1914. But in the 1890s they were the cornerstone of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The Monarch class … Read more
United Kingdom (1894) Majestic, Caesar, Hannibal, Jupiter, Illustrious, Magnificient, Mars, Prince Georges, Victorious The Majestic class were barbette pre-dreadnough battleships, the largest of their time, with the most numerous class of their day. The idea was still to be ahead of the next two major navies combined at the time when planned in 1888, Russia … Read more
Heavy Cruisers of the IJN (1924-27): Aoba, Kinugasa The two Aoba class thus followed the Furutaka a year apart as heavy cruisers, and their development did not took into account the serious issues of the two previous ships. They had from the start three twin turrets for their main armament. On the other hand, their … Read more
United Kingdom (1911) Iron Duke, Marlborough, Benbow, Emperor of India The last prewar dreadnought class Last dreadnoughts before the revolutionary Queen Elisabeth class largely completed during the war, the Iron Dukes were the last of a lineage started with the HMS Dreadnought a few years ago. The class consisted in four ships which design was … Read more
Baltimore class (1942) Heavy cruisers (1942-46): USS Baltimore, Boston, Camberra, Quincy, Pittsburgh, St. Paul, Columbus, Chicago, Bremerton, Fall River, Los Angeles, Macon. The standard USN heavy cruisers (1942-46) The Baltimore class cruisers were splendid battle wagons that arrived too late in the pacific to make a difference. Better than the Clevelands on all accounts, they … Read more
Petr Velikiy Russian Ironclad (1877) The ironclad babochka: The Petr Velikiy (Peter the Great) was undoubtedly the oldest Russian battleship in service in 1914, the babochka (“Grandma”) of the Russian navy. This battleship knew several lives. It was in its day the very first Russian battleship with turrets and steam alone, a fashion launched by … Read more
USA (1909) USS Delaware, North Dakota USS North Dakota The Delaware class in short Dreadnought battleships of the Delaware class were launched in 1909 and completed in 1910, and can be seen as the first “true” dreadnoughts of the American Navy, since the preceding South Carolina were a bit of compromise between the old and … Read more
Northampton class heavy cruisers (1929) USA (1928-30) – USS Northampton, Augusta, Chicago, Houston, Chester, Louisville Back to the drawing board Basically engineers used the previous Pensacola class to start over on a more stable, more balanced and roomier design with better seaworthiness by adding a forecastle and choosing three triple turrets. The basic design became … Read more
Soviet Navy, c150 ships The immensity of the Russian territory and the vast and deep rivers which traversed its land from the Urals or the Caucasian chains played the same role as the Mississippi and its tributaries during the American civil war: Convoying troops and carrying out missions Fire support and surveillance. As a result, … Read more
Type II U-Boats (1935) Germany (1935), 50 Submarines Types IIa, IIb, IIc, IId The Type II U-Boats were the first mass-produced submersibles of the Kriegsmarine. They were derived from the CV 707 design, better known as the Vesikko, Finnish submarine designed by IvS, the famous covert submarine design bureau of the Hague, Netherlands, in operation … Read more
