USA (1917) – USS New mexico, Mississippi, Idaho The New Mexico, Idaho and Mississippi at Pearl Harbor in December 1943 Battling vets of two world wars: About nine classes of battleships went through both world wars, two from UK, Japan, France and Italy, and five from the USA. In the latter case, the two oldest … Read more
USA (1891) Protected cruisers: Montgomery, Detroit, Marblehead. The Montgomery class were ordered in 1888 and commissioned in 1893-94. Of questionable military value, they were slow, lightly armed and protected, to the point it was said the Congress only authorized a class of “glorified patrol gunboats”. Therefore they were barely engaged in the war against Spain … Read more
USA (1775-1921) – About 180 subs. From humble and daring Turtle in 1775 by inventor American David Bushnell, through the civil war, the 1870-80 experiments by visionary John Holland and Faidy, American ingenuity to explore the seas has a long and vibrant history. This endeavour traduced into the combined production of about 800 submarine throughout … Read more
Armoured Cruiser (1895) The USS Brooklyn in a few lines Recognizable by her three very tall funnels, the USS Brooklyn (ACR3) built in Cramp, New York and named after a famous quarter of the City was completed in 1896. She embodied grace and might, bing the tallest, fastest cruiser in the American arsenal. She had … Read more
USA – 347 ships (1899-1921) Overview of American destroyers in ww1: Mothballed Flushdeckers at San Diego in 1928 – USN Archives The United States built more destroyers than any other nation on earth during the first world war. But when they started in 1914, they only had 50 ships, whereas the Royal Navy had 300 … Read more
USA (1888) USS Baltimore, Philadelphia Although you are probably more familiar to the WW2 Baltimore class heavy cruisers, there was already a class of this name in the 1880s. These were excellent ships built in Cramp on an English design (Eltswick), which served during the Spanish-American War of 1898, but placed in reserve in 1904. … Read more
USA (1890) Protected Cruiser. The last of mixed cruisers: The USS Newark was a mixed cruiser (steam and sail), and because of this one of the last of her kind. She was very close to the USS Chicago and the last of the “ABC” cruisers. The ‘ABC’ were the USS Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago, among … Read more
USA – Armoured Cruiser The first USN Armoured Cruiser: The USS New York, later Saratoga, is certainly not as well-known as the aircraft carrier that fought in ww2 “lady sara”, but she will remains the first of a kind, the first armoured cruiser built in the USA (ACR2). She was born USS New York and … Read more
USA – 35 boats Prologue: Early precursors (1800-1870s) The invention of the “Torpedo” While the torpedo was invented only in 1866 by Robert Whitehead, just a year after the end of the Civil War, the prototype was first created in 1863 by the Austro-Hungarian officer Ivan Lupis. Called salvacoste it had many shortcomings that were … Read more
WW1 American Gunboats 42 ships (1889-1914) Overview of American Gunboats in ww1 Among the first ships built for the “new navy”, the “old” one being the one built by the Union to blockade the Confederate states in 1861-65, the Dolphin and the ships that followed has been seen as cheap alternative to cruisers. They were, … Read more
