admin7126 Dansk marine – Ironclad (Panserbatteriet) (1864-1907) Rolf Krake was a Danish turret ironclad built in Scotland by Robert Napier in 1862-63, designed by Cowper Phipps Coles, the father of British turrets, and thus not only the first Danish Turret ship, but also one of the first in Europe that was sea-going and not just a … Read more
Germany: SM U19, 20, 21, 22 (1912) The U19-22 series were the first German U-Boat class fitted with diesel engines and other radical new improvements. They became a critical stepping stone in the development of world war one submarines, also also the first in German service fitted with 50 cm instead of 45cm torpedo tubes … Read more
Royal Navy, AA frigates: 15 ships Service 1955-1988+ RN: Blackwood, Duncan, Dundas, Exmouth, Grafton, Hardy, Keppel, Malcolm, Murray, Palliser, Pellew, Russell. RIN: Khukri, Kirpan, Kuthar The Type 14 Blackwood class were a more austere variant of the Type 12 purpose-built ASW Frigates of the Royal Navy, a minimal “second-rate” anti-submarine type built in 1950s to … Read more
Aéronautique Navale: 40 built total Few aircraft manufacturers have been as inextricably linked to the history of carrier-based aviation as was Levasseur in France. He focused his effort to provide the sole aircraft carrier Béarn, in service from 1927 to 1939. The “French Grumman” had largely fallen into oblivion despite some remarkable aircraft using purely … Read more
USA (1898): USS Illinois, Alabama, Wisconsin The Illinois class were three pre-dreadnought battleships built in 1896-1901, missing the Spanish-American war, and now seen by historians as transitional ships incorporating many advances over preceding designs, like modern gun turrets, new rapid-firing secondary guns, while retaining like fire-tube boilers and Harvey armour. Standard speed was 16 knots, … Read more
Italy (1885) Protected Cruiser Dogali, a very unique protected cruiser: Dogali was a protected cruiser built for the Regia Marina in Britain, and first warship equipped with triple-expansion engines. She was originally ordered by the Greek Navy as Salamis, but after a payment default, resold to the Regia Marina before completion, renamed for the Battle … Read more
HMS Erin (ex-Reshadieh) 1913 HMS Erin was a one-off dreadnought battleship ordered initially by the Ottoman from the Vickers Armstrong prior to the war, as “Reşadiye”, as part of a grand plan of modernization, and regain the advantage in the Ionian and Black seas. However, she was still not completed in August 1914, and Reşadiye … Read more
Regia Marina: 8 Built 1929-33: Italy: Dardo, Frecchia, Saetta, Strale Greece: Hydra, Spetsai, Psara, Kountouriotis The Freccia (or Dardo) class destroyer were a brand new league in destroyer design, with much streamlined and modern shapes, a clipper bow, initially beter speed and better range as a radical imporvements over the previous Turbine class. They however … Read more
Royal Navy (built 1936-39) British Tribals: Afridi, Ashanti, Bedouin, Cossack, Eskimo, Gurkha, Maori, Mashona, Matabele, Mohawk, Nubian, Sikh, Somali, Tartar, Zulu Canadian Tribals: Iroquois, Athabaskan, Huron, Haida, Micmac, Nootka, Cayuga, Athabaskan (II) Australian Tribals: Arunta, Warramunga, Bataan Before and during WW2, the ‘Tribals’ (named after peoples of the British Empire and beyond) were one of … Read more
French Navy – Contre-Torpilleurs de 2100 tonnes. 6 built 1922-1925, in service until 1943: Jaguar, Lynx, Tigre, Chacal, Leopard, Panthere With the Chacal, we start a new development tree, the very unique “big cats” of the French Navy, the “contr-torpilleurs”. In the interwar the French Navy decided to start on a blank page towards destroyer … Read more
