Kingdom of Italy (1937-40) – Battleships Littorio, Veneto, Roma, Impero The Duce’s mighty battleships: Italy had to wait after the expiration of the Washington treaty ban to start its first modern battleship class, and accommodations by the treaty of London. The Littorio class was designed to answer another ship’s class specifically, the French Dunkirk class, … Read more
German Empire – Irene, Prinzess Wilhelm The first German protected cruisers: Irene and Prinzessin Wilhelm (Prince William) were built respectively at Vulcan (Stettin) and Germaniawerft. They were the first cruisers (“Kreuzer”) in the German Navy. And the first protected cruisers in Germany. Still second class as they appeared, they were quite an improvement over the … Read more
Cold War USN Missile Cruisers 41 missile cruisers 1955-1964 USN Missile cruisers developed in the 1950s testing brand new weapons systems on existing hulls. The Boston, Cleveland and Albany classes are forgotten today, but these eleven missile cruisers formed the base of a lineage that is still going on today. Howeve the most impressive of … Read more
Japan, 1919. Kuma, Tama, Kitakami, Oi, Kiso The five cruisers of the Kuma class were first planned in 1916, but entered into service after WW1, the last one in 1921. Enlarged versions of the Tenryu, they had three more main guns, were more powerful and faster, but only for an increased displacement of 1500 tons, … Read more
Hai Tien class protected cruisers (1898) Chinese Empire/Republic – Hai Tien, Hai Chi (1898) The largest Chinese cruisers in 1900 – The Hai Tien class were two 4,300 tons armoured cruisers built in Great Britain, at the Armstrong yard, and on a popular model pioneered by the Esmeralda. Steel-hulled, two funnels, two masts with fighting … Read more
Conventional SSK attack submarines (Project 633, 1957) 21 submarines (1958-62) Introduction: Perhaps not the best-known cold war conventional submarine of Soviet naval forces, the Romeo class as known in the Western world were the Project 633. They were nevertheless known for two reasons: -First, they took the succession of the Project 613 (Whiskey class), the … Read more
United Kingdom (1917-1945), 400+ destroyers Introduction In 1939, 184 destroyers were in service, dating back for a large part from 1917-18, in particular the large V-W classes, some destroyers leaders, and interwar vessels, from the “A” class to the “Battle” class. It would take too long to detail the career of all ships from all … Read more
WW1 Japanese Battleships Japan (1890-1919) About 30 capital ships Introduction: Japan was introduced the the idea of an ironclad very soon: Its spectacular defeats in face of Image result for korean admiral Yi Sun-sin, the Korean Admiral which deployed a few Geobukseon or “turtle boats” to win against a far superior force, was probably still … Read more
New Orleans class cruisers (1933) USA (1933-37) USS New Orleans, Astoria, Minneapolis, Tuscaloosa, San Francisco, Quincy, Vincennes New Orleans class: Veterans of Guadalcanal Faithful to the peacetime principle of improving small classes of cruisers or battleships, the numerically important New Orleans class was in reality three sub-classes, with each time small improvements: Design #1: New … Read more
Germany (1928-35), Leipzig, Nürnberg The last light German cruisers: The Leipzig class represented the last two light cruisers of the German Reichsmarine (and Kriegsmarine). Same class but the second, KMS Nürnberg, was built to a slightly modified design and is sometimes seen separately by some authors. They clearly had sets of improvements over the “K” … Read more
