admin7126 Marine Nationale, Protected cruiser, 1889-1907 Tage was a protected cruiser, second one of the type entering service with the Marine Nationale. Her design was based on the previous Sfax, and like her, she had a dual role of commerce raider in wartime and station cruiser in colonies. To travel ling distances she had a barque … Read more
Russian Imperial navy, 183 (300 until 1923*) built 1915-1917. The Grigorovich M-5 (Or Shchetinin M-5) was the best Russian World War I seaplane by far. It led to a mass production with multiple variants, for a lineage that lived on until the late 1920s, and later lost to Beriev. The Grigorovitch M5, which followed two … Read more
United Kingdom: Experimental torpedo ram (1881-1903) The Victorian Freak Among the “oddballs” of the Royal Navy, HMS Polyphemus is many’s favourite. She was unlike any other vessel in the Royal Navy. This “Victorian Freak” was born from 1872 studies from the “Torpedo Committee”. Initially a much larger and faster version of Vesuvius. But it was … Read more
Germany: SM U9, U10, U11, U12 (1910-1911) The U9 was the first in a series of four submersibles built at Danzig and closely derived from the U5. Their length was unchanged, but their width was increased by 40 cm while their draft was 50 cm lower. Their surface speed was increased from 13.4 to 14.2 … Read more
USA – paper projects Among the most outlandish project seriously prepared by the Bureau of Construction and Repair (C&R) of the United States Navy from late 1916 were a series of battleships proposed by Senator “Pitchfork” Benjamin Tillman. This was the concept of “maximum battleship”, seeing how much technology can allow in terms of realistic … Read more
Royal Navy – 10 ships converted, service 1951-1967 HMS Orwell, Paladin, Petard, Teazer, Tenacious, Termagant, Terpsichore, Tumult, Tuscan, Tyrian The early cold war saw a new threat emerging, the rise of a formidable submarine fleet by USSR, the Project 613 or Whiskey-class submarine. Derived from the late war revolurionary German Type XXI, they imposed a … Read more
French Navy – Contre-Torpilleurs de 3000 tonnes. 2 built 1934-1939, in service until 1942: Mogador, Volta. The Mogador-class destroyers were a pair of large French destroyers (also called “contre-torpilleurs”) built for the French Navy before World War II. They were designed in the 1930s as powerful warships with size and armament comparable to light cruisers. … Read more
Germany (1944), Coastal Subs, 16 planned, 7 completed The Type-XVII U-Boat was the only attempt of the Kriegsmarine to run operational submarines with a very early type of “AIP” or “air independent propulsion”, a graal of underwater propulsion we now now and use, but which was sitll in its infancy in 1939. This was a … Read more
Regia Marina: 8 Built 1925-1928, all lost in action before Sept. 1944: Aquilone, Borea, Espero, Euro, Nembo, Ostro, Turbine, Zeffiro The Turbine-class destroyer was a group of eight destroyers of the Regia Marina built in the late 1920s. They were an extrapolation of the previous Sella/Sauro but with more steam power for greater top speeds … Read more
Light Submersibles 1932-1945: S-class Group III: 50 +11 cancelled, War Emergency Programmes 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, built 1940-1945 The S-class are generally associated with the wartime Group III, by far the most numerous (50 boats, 11 cancelled). They followed the interwar Group I (Swordfish) and Group II (Sealion) with a 1939 mass construction war … Read more
