c120 ASW Frigates 1947-1990 A general overview: During the cold war, the Soviet Union developed the most formidable naval force in the world, second after the US Navy. However aside its strategy of “carrier-killers”, the high command was also aware of the threat of US submarines that could jeopardize its very long coastline and communication … Read more
United Kingdom – Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes was the first (or second depending on the authors) purpose-built aircraft carrier. Indeed the Imperial Japanese Navy claimed to have the first, IJN Hosho. However, the latter was started AFTER the British carrier, but launched and completed before. Engineers and yard’s team were in a rush as a … Read more
UK – 1885-90 – 4 submersibles. The earliest military torpedo submarines: In 1886, Ottoman submarine Abdülhamid (1886) was the first in history to fire a torpedo while being submerged. Why it fell on Turkey ? It was due to a Swedish Company better known than Bofors, also of the Maxims/Vickers Empire and Hotchkiss. The firm … Read more
IJN Yūbari (1923) Japanese light cruiser, 1923 An innovative light cruiser: Hiraga’s IJN Yūbari Yubari in 1923, Sasebo IJN Yūbari (夕張) was not only the very first IJN post-WW1 design, but it was an experimental light cruiser whose idea dated back from 1917 and started in 1922, and when she was completed in 1923 for … Read more
United Kingdom (1941-45), about 4700 vessels Foreword: British amphibious warfare in WW2 D-Day was retrospectively the most visible amphibious operation of WW2, but in this game the British were by far the most experienced of the allies, starting operations in the Mediterranean as far as 1940. As we commemorate today Operation Overlord and the 2,700 … Read more
Bogue class (1941) USA – Escort Aircraft Carriers (1941-50) Bogue, Breton, Card, Copahee, Core, Croatan, Nassau, Altamaha, Prince William, Barnes, Block Island The C3 Cargo-based mass produced Carriers USS Hercules, the first C3 cargo in 1940 The Bogue class represented in absolute terms under USN service only ten vessels, but in reality no less than … Read more
Aquila nearly completed, Impero 1940-43 The Aquila and Sparviero aircraft carriers were among the well-known unfinished ships of WW2. Both proceeded from ideas developed in 1928-1930 as a faction milited for their development, in the country which invented the concept of strategic bombardment, by General Douhet.The uncompleted 1916 Carraciolo class super-dreadnoughts were broken up due … Read more
USA (1918) 60 ASW vessels PE1-60. Ancestors of WW2 PC Boats: The ‘Eagle boat’ resulted from a request to Henry Ford by the US government to apply his techniques to deliver in record time a very large series of steel-hulled medium-range ASW patrol boats before the end of the war. Eagle Boats were also tailored … Read more
Borodino class battleships (1901) Russia (1901) Borodino, Knyaz Suvorov, Imperator Aleksander III, Orjol, Slava The Russian battleships of Tsushima Built in a rush to be sent to the newly-acquired Pacific harbour named Port Arthur, on the Chinese coast, the five Borodino class battleships built from 1899 entered service just after the Russo-Japanese war broke out, … Read more
Germany (1890-1919) 17 dreadnoughts, 20 pre-dreadnoughts ww1 german battleships in a nutshell In 1890, there was little concern for the German Navy, let alone for German battleships. There were only a few coastal vessels and old ironclads. However the situation changed dramatically in little more than 15 years, more than just raising eyebrows in the … Read more
