Flower class Sloops (WWI) Royal Navy (1915-1919) – 134 ships The first “flowers” The WW2 ‘Flower’ class is famous from being basically a whaler adapted to ASW and delivered by myriads of small yards in the British isles and commonwealth, Canada in particular. Despite their slow speed and small size, they did their job well … Read more
The Netherlands East Asian Navy – Light Cruiser The pride of the Dutch Navy Although the De Ruyter was far from the most ambitious project of the Dutch Netherlands Navy intended for the Oostindies Marine (East Indies Navy), which were the De Zeven Provinzien class cruisers, cut short by the war, the best Dutch cruiser … Read more
USN Dive Bomber – 1935-42 Rough draft for the Dauntless Northrop is rarely associated with US Naval aviation, albeit being one of the most famous and innovative aviation company in history. Innovation was its trademark, and its contribution to the Navy during WW2 has been tremendous for a single reason. In 1933, Jack Northrop’s firm … Read more
Project 1134 Berkut (1964) Admiral Zozulya, Vladivostok, Vitse-Admiral Drozd, Sevastopol. Though considerably larger, more effective and reliable than the previous Kynda class, the Kresta I carried half the number of antiship missiles, with just a quarter in reserve. SS-N-12 Sandbox (P-500 Bazalt) protracted development meant they went into service with the obsolete SS-N-3 instead, but … Read more
USA (1936-41): USS Yorktown, Enterprise, Hornet (CV5, 6, 8) At the pinnacle of US carrier development before WW2 were the two Yorktown class aircraft carriers: Yorktown and Enterprise. The Hornet is of course associated, but she was ordered much later, as was broke out in Europe. In a sense she was a wartime carrier, and … Read more
Italian Guided Missiles Cruisers and Helicopter cruisers (1962) Andra Doria, Caio Duilio, in service 1964-1992 The first Italian helicopter missile cruisers: The Andrea Doria class became an important step in the reconstruction of the Italian Navy after WW2, following the modernization of former cruisers, such as the Garibaldi, reconfigured as a Terrier missile cruiser. Italian … Read more
HMS Ark Royal (1937) United Kingdom – Aircraft Carrier (1935-41) The large British fleet aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal in all her majesty in 1939 – colorized by irootoko jr. HMS Ark Royal was designed in 1934 to both fit Washington Naval Treaty aircraft carrier tonnage limits and carry a large air group, at least … Read more
Heavy Cruisers Takao, Atago, Maya, Chokai. The most formidable IJN heavy cruisers: The Takao heavy cruiser class (started 1927, launched 1930, completed 1932) included the Takao, Atago, Maya and Chokai. They were were among the very best and most active Japanese cruisers of the Second World War, really outshining all the others. Like the other … Read more
Type 024 Hoku class FAC (1965) PCFG Houku/Hegu Class, Type 024 aka Project 24/EM1A. Chinese PLAN (1968-77) – about 110 built The Chinese “Komar” The Type 6623 was one of the Type five boats transferred from the Soviet Union to China according to the “Twenty-Four Agreement” between China and the Soviet Union in 1959. It … Read more
USN 1935-41 Grumman F3F: The last fighter biplane of the US Navy The Grumman was the last USN biplane fighter indeed, but certainly not the last biplane of the Navy during WW2. Indeed, the Curtiss SBC Helldiver were still around well past 1942, although no longer frontline. It was replaced by the controversial Brewster Buffalo. … Read more
