Moltke class Battlecruisers Germany (1910) Battlecruisers – SMS Moltke, SMS Goeben Development and Design A May 1907 conference already defined the path that would lead to the decision of building two ‘all big guns capital ships’ when the German Naval Office decided make a follow-up of the Von der Tann, with an enlarged design and … Read more
United Kingdom (1913) Battlecruiser The HMS Tiger: Feline beauty and hard shell Described by historian John Keegan as “certainly the most beautiful warship in the world then, and perhaps ever”, the Tiger was also better protected, yet cheaper than the older Lion class, the “big cats” disliked by the admiralty. Despite of her merits, no … 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
Nassau class battleships (1908) SMS Nassau, Rheinland, Posen, Westfalen Germany’s first dreadnoughts The four Nassau (Nassau, Westfalen, Rheinland, Posen) were the first monocaliber battleships of the German Navy. They were not however ordered or designed in response to the HMS Dreadnought as often assumed but predated her in the Admiralstab. Another confirmation the monocaliber type … Read more
Lion class Battlecruisers (1910) HMS Lion, Princess Royal, Queen Mary Beatty’s “splendid cats” at Jutland were a source of pride in 1914… but a source of embarrassment in June 1916. The fatidic day of the battle the admiral said famously “what is wrong with our b… ships today ?” after seeing Queen Mary blowing out. … Read more
RN (1907) Battlecruisers: HMS Invincible, Indomitable, Inflexible The Invincible class were the world’s first battlecruisers. A rare breed, since it was only tried by four nations, UK, Germany, Japan and the US (attempted, the converted to CVs). The way that lead to them was as fascinating as for the Dreadnought, and also entirely due to … Read more
13 RN Destroyers (1914): HMS Matchless, Murray, Myngs, Milne, Moorsom, Morris, Mansfield*, Mento*, Mastiff**, Meteor**, Miranda***, Minos***, Manly***. The Admiralty M were the first British (and world’s) mass-built destroyer class ever. They were an improvement of the L (Laforey) class but at the insistance of Winston Churchill, first lord of the admiralty, they were planned … Read more
United Kingdom (1906) HMS Colossus, HMS Hercules The Colossus-class battleships were 1st generation dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy built at Palmers and Scott shipyard in 1909-1911. They were also the last with 12-inch gun for the RN, but with a different configuration of turrets mounted amidship en echelon. They spent time at the Home … Read more
Royal Navy (launched 1906), single battleship built An historical landmark HMS Dreadnought in auld English “fear nothing”, is certainly one these vessels that changed history, creating a whole new class after its launch. There was a “before” and an “after” Dreadnought. This ship indeed was the first to step up the battleship concept to a … Read more
