WW1 Italian Cruisers Regia Marina (1886-14) approx. 29 cruisers Foreworld about ww1 Italian cruisers Italy started with a motley collection of ships in 1861, coming from an array of regional Royal navies. There will be a fully-blow post about Italian ships in 1870. After a serie of corvettes, starting in 1869, the third, Colombo, was … Read more
Pervozvanny class Battleships (1908) Russia (1908) – Andrei Pervozvanny, Imperator Pavel I The last Russian pre-dreadnoughts: The Andrei Pervozvanny class were the last Russian Imperial Navy pre-dreadnought battleships, tailored for the Baltic Fleet. They conceptualized by the Naval Technical Committee in 1903 deriving from the Borodino-class battleships but massive displacement and a secondary armament that … Read more
Greek cities vs. Persian Empire (480 BC) Introduction Salamis (its Greek name) certainly the largest and most decisive naval battles of all times, and is often cited as the most preeminent naval battle of the antiquity. It is often associated in that regard to the sea peoples battles of the bronze age, Actium, Lepanto, Trafalgar, … Read more
Spain 1925-1950 – Principe Alfonso, Almirante Cervera, Miguel de Cervantes The interwar Spanish Cruisers Called different names by historians according either to their launching or completion date, these three Spanish cruisers were a departure of WW1 design, and built in Spain, at Ferrol NyD (Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval). They were light cruisers with strong … Read more
USA (1914) USS Nevada, Oklahoma The Nevada class: First “standard battleships” The Nevada and Oklahoma marked a milestone in US Battleship design. Launched just before WW1 broke out, they were the world’s first to adopt the famous “all or nothing” armor scheme, quite a rationalization of armor protection tailored for long-range engagements. Two years later, … Read more
United Kingdom – Battlecruisers The Courageous Class were three light battlecruisers intended for an Operation in the Baltic in 1917 which never materialized and instead, they were partly converted as aircraft carrier after the war and signing the Washington treaty. Both helped pioneer the interwar fleet air arm but had short careers during WW2, Courageous … Read more
Germany (1885-1918) 71 cruisers SMS Hertha in Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania). German cruisers – The Kaiserliches Marine’s cavalry: When the great war broke out, the situation of the Kaiserliches Marine was such that there were relatively few cruisers compared to battleships, and a part of them was far from home, in Asia, Egypt, or South … Read more
Nagato, Mutsu. The last IJN dreadnoughts: The Nagato and Mutsu (長門型戦艦, Nagato-gata senkan) were the first and at the same time of their kind. Built as dreadnoughts, the fourth Imperial Japanese Navy class, they were also the fastest, largest, and best armed, so far, and represented a new generation illustrated by the “6-6 plan”. They … Read more
United States Navy – 51 cruisers WW1 USN cruisers POSTER When the USA entered war on April, 6, 1917, the fleet comprised about 40 cruisers, the older ones being relegated as costal gunboats, a part made of obsolete masted cruisers, veterans of 1898, 1900’s armoured and protected cruisers, and the most recent were the Chester … Read more
Italy – Regia Marina San Giorgio, San Marco Cuniberti’s cruisers The San Giorgio class were a counterpoint to the previous unsatisfactory Pisa class. The latter impressed enough the Greeks however to become the Giorgios Averoff, flagship of the navy, with a very long career. Engineer Edoardo Masdea was entrusted with improving the design, but on … Read more
