admin7126 France. Central Battery Ironclad Built 1869-76, service until 1900 The French ironclad Richelieu was a wooden-hulled central battery ironclad started before the Franco-Prussian war and completed after a redesign in 1875. She was named after the 17th century statesman and Cardinal, designed by Dupuy de Lôme as an improved Ocean class, with her main guns … Read more
Dutch Netherlands Navy. Ironclad turret ram ship (1867-1899). Another early turret design also built in Britain for another naval power was HNLMS Prins Hendrik der Nederlanden. It was called an ironclad “ramtorenschip” or “turret ram ship”. She was laid down at Laird & Sons in Birkenhead by August 1865 and transferred to the Dutch East … Read more
USA – USS Tennessee, Washington, North Carolina, Montana (renamed Memphis, Seattle, Charlotte, Missoula) ACR-10-13. The Tennessee-class were four armored cruisers built for the United States Navy in 1903-1906 and very close in concept to the Pennsylvania class launched in 1903. By oulook, output and general dimensions, they were near-sisters and completely different from the Saint … Read more
Submarine-carried Seaplane (1922), 4 made. The Caspar U.1 (in some publications Caspar-Heinkel U.1) was a 1922 German patrol seaplane tailored for use on board a submarine. It was the world’s first of its kind, tailor designed by Ernst Heinkel and built by Caspar-Werke. The U.1 was indeed designed to fit inside a cylindrical container carried … Read more
Sjøforsvaret, Torpedo Boats (1896-1900): HNoMS Hval, Delfin, Hai, Trods, Storm, Brand, Laks, Sild, Sael, Skrei 1896-1901 This class of ten 1st class (100 tons) Norwegian torpedo boats are often separated in two different sub-classes, Hval, Storm and Laks. They were built over a long period, from 1895 to 1902, from the first laid down to … Read more
Oceanic Submersibles: 1939-40: Console Generale Liuzzi, Alpino Bagnolini, Reginaldo Giuliani, Capitano Tarantini. The Liuzzi class were four submersibles all built by Tosi NyD in Taranto for the Regia Marina just before the war. They were an extrapolation of the Brin class design, albeit with their main gun relocated on the deck. They were completed as … Read more
Royal Navy (1907) – Bellerophon, Superb, Temeraire By December 1906, after the famous battleship was launched, 1st lord of the Admiralty sir Jackie Fisher was so confident over the design, that three sister-ships were already ordered respectively on similar plans. They were laid down at Portsmouth for HMS Bellerophon on 6 December 1906 and 1 … Read more
US Navy Landing Craft (1938-45): 500 LCM(1), 8,631 LCM(3), 2,513 LCM(6). Operated 1943-1945 D-Day Special ! The Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) was the third major Allied Landing Craft type, mixing troops, tanks and vehicles or payloads depending on the need. The type was developed by the British, and became the basis for modern Landing Crafts … Read more
The Atlantic Wall was a massive system of coastal fortifications built by Germany during World War II, along the western coast of Europe, to defend against an anticipated Allied invasion from Britain. It was built between 1942 and 1944 by Organization Todt, stretching from Norway through Denmark down to to the Spanish border but strenght … Read more
Type 540. In service 1976-2002: Gal, Tanin, Rahav The Israeli Gal class submarines were based on a modified German HDW Type 206 submarine class (Type 540), with significant differences to make them a class of their own, as they were built in Britain, not in Germany, and took part in the Lebanon crisis notably. Now … Read more
