USA (1918) 60 ASW vessels PE1-60. Ancestors of WW2 PC Boats: The ‘Eagle boat’ resulted from a request to Henry Ford by the US government to apply his techniques to deliver in record time a very large series of steel-hulled medium-range ASW patrol boats before the end of the war. Eagle Boats were also tailored … Read more
USA (1912) USS New York, Texas The New York class became the first American battleships with 14-in guns and the last with coal, twin turrets, no AA and classic 1900s scheme protection. BB34 New York after the 1926 refit. Behind her, BBs of the Nevada class. Note the livery of the time, light grey for … Read more
USA (1896-99) USS Kearsarge, Kentucky The tandem turreted battleships: The Kearsarge class was certainly not the best remembered of the USN’s battleships as they played a minor part in WW1 and were scrapped afterward, but from a design standpoint, they were out an interesting out-of-the-box solution to an old problem: That of cramming firepower in … Read more
Scout Cruisers (1907) – USS Chester, Birmingham, Salem The last American cruisers The title seems a bit exaggerating, but there were indeed no new cruisers construction since 1907 and 1920. An immense gap explained by a strong focus on battleships, and on the other hand, the new US fleet destroyers which filled that scouting role … Read more
USA (1910) Wyoming, Arkansas The Wyoming class: Last USN 12-in battleships: The Wyoming and Arkansas were a gradual improvement of the 12-in gun battleship formula, cumulating three pairs of superfiring turrets, all axial. They were completed before the Royal Navy revealed their first 13.5 in gun armed battleships, and would be the last of their … Read more
USA – 46 battleships The development of WW1 era American battleship really started with the USS Texas in 1890. Despite these humble beginnings, American policy to leave the traditional isolationism, combined to the ideas of Mahan and Sims, the (strong) will of President T. Roosevelt made for a rapid rise, from the obscurity to the … Read more
USA (1910) Florida, Utah The third American dreadnoughts: The USS Florida and Utah, very close to the Delaware, were distinguished by their turrets disposition aft. They were also slightly better protected. during the crisis of Vera Cruz in 1914 they landed marines and in 1917-18 they patrolled the North Atlantic, operating from Ireland. As a … Read more
USA (1917) – USS New mexico, Mississippi, Idaho The New Mexico, Idaho and Mississippi at Pearl Harbor in December 1943 Battling vets of two world wars: About nine classes of battleships went through both world wars, two from UK, Japan, France and Italy, and five from the USA. In the latter case, the two oldest … Read more
USA (1891) Protected cruisers: Montgomery, Detroit, Marblehead. The Montgomery class were ordered in 1888 and commissioned in 1893-94. Of questionable military value, they were slow, lightly armed and protected, to the point it was said the Congress only authorized a class of “glorified patrol gunboats”. Therefore they were barely engaged in the war against Spain … Read more
USA (1775-1921) – About 180 subs. From humble and daring Turtle in 1775 by inventor American David Bushnell, through the civil war, the 1870-80 experiments by visionary John Holland and Faidy, American ingenuity to explore the seas has a long and vibrant history. This endeavour traduced into the combined production of about 800 submarine throughout … Read more
