United Kingdom (1921): 4 ships ordered 1921, cancelled 1922. The G3 class Battlecruiser were a project launched in 1920 and approved in 1921 but later cancelled due to the Washington Treaty. Displacing more than 55,000 tonnes fully loaded with a battery of nine 16-inches guns and a dual purpose and AA battery ahead of its … Read more
United Kingdom: Royal Navy CMB, MTBs, MA/SB, MBGs: c2,000 boats This is a Portal Page, long overdue, on British small crafts, boats of ships broadly assimilated to the “Motor Torpedo Boat” Family. In reality, MGBs and MA/SBs, used for ASW or general patrol would might to differ. This post starts with the WW1 CMB types … Read more
United Kingdom (1891) HMS Edgar, Endmyon, Hawke, Gibraltar, Crescent, Royal Arthur, St Georges, Theseus, Grafton Among the oldest cruisers in British service Pre-1890s cruisers were often sail/steam thing intended to safeguard the immense colonial trade roads of the Empire. By 1890s the concept of protected cruiser was well accepted as more “military” ships compared to … Read more
United Kingdom – Battlecruisers – Indefatigable, Australia, New Zealand The Indefatigable class Battlecruisers were the second generation, after the Invincible, wanted by Jackie Fisher, accepted into the 1908 naval plan. The artillery plan mirrored that of HMS Neptune, albeit with improved cross-deck arc of fire for their midships wing turrets. They also had a getter … Read more
United Kingdom (launched 1909) Dreadnought Battleship (service 1911-1921) HMS Neptune was a figurehead of a new class of dreadnoughts, but the two others were so heavily modified that they ended in their own class, the Colossus. The main difference resided in the artillery disposition, with two wing turrets staggered en echelon in order that all … 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
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
United Kingdom – (1943-45): 26 Loch converted to Bay class. The Bay class were 26 anti-aircraft frigates built for the Royal Navy under the 1943 War Emergency Programme (one cancelled, six completed as despatch vessels/survey ships). They were based on hulls of incomplete Loch class which were converted as AA frigates when it was decided … Read more
RN (Built 1896-1903): HMS Diadem, Amphitrite, Andromeda, Argonaut, Ariadne, Europa, Niobe, Spartiate The eight Diadem signed an attempt to stand out from the gigantic Powerful class, deemed too expensive. They had reduced size, armour and saved a total of 3,000 tons, shelving 100,000 pounds per ship, which was almost the cost of a light cruiser … Read more
British Royal Navy (1920): Hawkins, Frobisher, Effingham, Raleigh, Cavendish/Vindictive Named the “Elisabethan Corsairs” due to their names, the Hawkins-class cruisers were designed for hunting down commerce raiders in the open ocean, combining heavy armament, high speed and long range, to the detriment of armour. They were arguably less well armoured than some earlier protected cruisers … Read more
