Type 051b Luhai class (1996) Chinese PLAN (built 1996-1999): DDG167 CNS Shenzhen Designated by NATO Type 051B Luhai class, this PLAN’s 1999 destroyer is considered an important developmental step towards the best balanced guided missile destroyer China could afford as of 2026. Leading to a single ship, CNS Shenzhen, made in Dalian. She was larger … Read more
Russian Empire/Soviet Navy 1910-1941 The next big tree for WW2 in 2026 is about Russian, then Soviet Destroyer, from 1910 and the Novik class up to the early cold war ships (Skoryy). Before even world war one for what Russia was concerned, the Russo-Japanese war caused a great train of reforms in the Navy and … Read more
United Kingdom (1905-1910): Cricket, Dragonfly, Firefly, Sandfly, Spider | Gadfly, Glowworm, Gnat, Grasshopper, Greenfly | Mayfly, Moth | TB-13 to TB-36. The Cricket class were thirty-six coastal destroyers imagined by First sea Lord John “Jackie” Fisher as a complement to the Tribal class destroyer. They were small flush deck vessels with steam turbines and oil-fired … Read more
Sovietsky Flot Project 1241 Molniya: 80 ships built, most exported. The Pr.1241 “Lightning” were 80 large missile cutters in Soviet classification, “Tarantul class” corvettes in NATO classification, initially built 1979-1984 for the Soviet Navy, and also massively for export afterwards. They were designed to replace the Project 205M Tsunami missile cutter (NATO: Osa-class). They were … Read more
Regia Aero. 10* built 1939-43 The Z.515 was another CANT CRDA project ruined by bad timing. This Zapatta’s reycling of its Z.514 Leone bomber, rejected by the Regia Aeronautica, was a modified floatplane variant with inline engines. It answered a 1937 specification for a replacement to the obsolescent Z.501 Gabbiano. It was ready by 1939 … Read more
Japan 1922-24: RO-60 to RO-68 Here is the next big lineage for 2026-27: IJN submarines. First entry: The L class. The last were still active in WW2: The Type L4 (L4型（呂六十型）, Ro-roku-jū-gata, Ro-60-class) were a license production model of the British L class, submarine Group 3. The IJN was quite satisfied with them and stopped … Read more
Coastal Submersibles (1930-47): Luigi Settembrini, Ruggiero Settimo The Settembrini-class were a pair of submersibles designed by engineer Cavallini and built for the Regia Marina in 1928-31 by Cantieri navali Tosi di Taranto shipyard. They were a development of the previous Mameli class of partial double hull saddle tank type that made for a simpler construction. … Read more
Soviet Navy Project 602F: 17 Planned, 11 completed. 9 lost, 2 retired 1950. A.G.11-15, 21-26. Metallist, Trotskogo, Lunacharskogo, Marxist, Politrabotnik. For the start of 2026, exactly 110 years ago, a brand new lineage was born. We will epxlore the entire Soviet Submersible class tree from the AG class to the series XVI, so fourteen entries, … Read more
Finnish Fast Gunboats (Turunmaa-luokan tykkivene) Finnish Day ! TURUNMAA, built in Wartsila and KARJALA at Wartsila were launched in 1967 but ordered in 1965 as ASW gunboats, in service by 1969 and among the most interesting and the largest designs of the cold war Finnish Navy. One quirky detail was their engine exhausts taken astern … Read more
Thai Light Cruisers (1938-43): HTMS Taskin, Naruesan. Thailand Day ! A first post about very special cruisers… The Taksin class are an interesting “what if” in WW2 naval history. In the interwar Thailand started its own naval programme in order to become a regional power, and this comprised monitors, torpedo boats, submarines, sloops, minelayers, and … Read more
