United Kingdom (1889) HMS Blake, Blenheim HMS Blake in the 1890, in typical peacetime livery, black hull, white superstructures and canvas sand funnels, masts and apparels. The oldest cruisers in British service In 1914 indeed, the oldest 1st class cruisers in service were the two Blake, designed by William White from Chatham Dyd. They were … Read more
Orion class Battleships (1911) United Kingdom (1911) Orion, Monarch, Conqueror, Thunderer. Built in emergency Built in the emergency plan of 1909 (due to public pressure “we want eight and we won’t wait” the programme was raised to six dreadnoughts and two battlecruisers), these four battleships innovated by their main artillery, with a 343 mm caliber … Read more
United Kingdom (1901) Drake, Good Hope, King Alfred, Leviathan. A new class of large armoured cruisers The 1897 Powerful class marked its era as the most impressive cruisers in the Western Hemisphere, but they has been considered since as one of a kind “white elephants”, leading to the construction of more reasonable series of the … Read more
HMS Repulse, Renown (1916) Veterans of two wars: The Renown class battlecruisers were initially planned as two extra battleships of the Revenge class, or which five were already in construction. Admiral Sir Jackie Fisher was rebuffed by the admiralty for more battlecruisers, but after the first battles of 1914, opinion changed, and Fisher convinced Churchill … Read more
WW1 British Submarines United Kingdom (1890-1918) About 350 subs 1885-1921. Overview of British ww1 submarines In the general sense, the very conservative Royal Navy always considered surface warfare like the only “honorable way” to do battle on the seven seas. Submarines were either not considered as to be trusted (not proven) in the 1890s, and … Read more
United Kingdom (1897) Canopus, Albion, Glory, Goliath, Ocean, Vengeance Successors of the Majestic Five ships of a new class of battleships were ordered on the 1896 plan. A sixth was on the 1897 plan. They were defined as faster versions of the Majestic, and at the same time to operate in the Far East to … Read more
United Kingdom (1894) Majestic, Caesar, Hannibal, Jupiter, Illustrious, Magnificient, Mars, Prince Georges, Victorious The Majestic class were barbette pre-dreadnough battleships, the largest of their time, with the most numerous class of their day. The idea was still to be ahead of the next two major navies combined at the time when planned in 1888, Russia … Read more
United Kingdom (1911) Iron Duke, Marlborough, Benbow, Emperor of India The last prewar dreadnought class Last dreadnoughts before the revolutionary Queen Elisabeth class largely completed during the war, the Iron Dukes were the last of a lineage started with the HMS Dreadnought a few years ago. The class consisted in four ships which design was … Read more
United Kingdom (1895) – HMS Powerful, HMS Terrible The Anglo-Russian naval arms race Before the better known anglo-german naval arms race of 1906, the British press were scared, as the government and ultimately the Navy that had no apparent answer, to the known construction in 1890 of a massive Russian cruiser, Rurik, specifically intended in … Read more
RN (1911): Active, Amphion, Fearless The last prewar scout cruisers: The Active class were three ships closely derived from previous Blonde/Boadicea scout cruisers. This third group only counted HMS Amphion and HMS Active, as HMS Fearless was built on similar plans a few months later. These three units were operational in 1913. With a few … Read more
