Heavy Cruisers Tone, Chikuma. The last IJN heavy cruisers The Tone class cruisers, IJN Tone and Chikuma were part of the 1932 supplemental plan. However, in 1938-39, Japan tore off all treaties and reconsidered a new naval plan. It was decided for example to complete them as heavy cruisers, with their initial 155 mm (6-in) … Read more
WW1 French Submarines About 80 submersibles 1865-1919 Introduction As a matter of fact, submarines like aviation had many fathers. Although Clement Ader claimed to have “flown” his Eole in 1890, a small hop of about 50 m at 20 cm off the ground, it remained unofficial. The feat would have to wait 1903’s Wright brothers … Read more
Union Navy USS New Ironsides after reconstruction in 1864 The American sea-going ironclad (1862-66) The USS New ironsides was the sole true sea going ironclad of the entire Secession war, and the first of the united states. As soon as the Union admiralty had clues about a new confederate ironclad, future CSS Virginia, requirements for … Read more
Chinese PLAN (1973) 2 ships The Type 053 frigates (NATO Jianghu, Jiangwei and Jiangdong) formed the backbone of Chinese PLAN frigate force from 1977, until recently. They were all derived from an attempt to make a better design than 1950s Riga-class Type 065 Chengdu and its attempted modified copy, the Type 065 jiangnan. The same … Read more
Umbria class cruisers (1891) Italy (1891-98) – Umbria, Lombardia, Etruria, Liguria, Elba, Puglia The “Regionali” class, first Italian-designed protected cruisers In 1887, Chief Engineer Edoardo Masdea designed a serie of lightweight protected cruisers designed to perform a variety of roles with a limited budget. The first, Umbria, was started in 1888 in Orlando (Leghorn NyD), … Read more
A-90 Orlyonok 5 Ekranoplanes (1972-79) Landing tanks on a beach at 400 kph: The A-90 Orlyonok series are the only crafts of any type worldwide capable of landing a full Marine batallion on any beach, complete with armored vehicles and heavy equipment, after crossing 1500 km at 400 kph. This miracle had been done back … Read more
Herzherzog Karl class battleships Erzherzog Karl, Ferdinand Max, Friedrich (1902) The previous Herzherzog Ferdinand Max in 1900, former famous Ironclad distinguished at the battle of Lissa in 1865. KuK battleships still on budget… As soon at they were allowed larger budgets, the Admiralty shipbuildings’s director Friedrich Popper was found ready to develop a series of … Read more
United Kingdom (1898) Formidable, Irresistible, Implacable, London, Bulwark, Venerable, Queen, Prince of Wales. The improved Canopus This “superclass” of eight pre-dreadnought battleships was a same time very close to the Majestic and Canopus, yet they had true turrets and were enlarged Canopus essentially. Design changes were made during construction, so that two-subclasses appeared, the London … Read more
USA (1775-1921) – About 180 subs. From humble and daring Turtle in 1775 by inventor American David Bushnell, through the civil war, the 1870-80 experiments by visionary John Holland and Faidy, American ingenuity to explore the seas has a long and vibrant history. This endeavour traduced into the combined production of about 800 submarine throughout … Read more
Bayan class Cruisers (1905) Russia (1899-1905) Bayan, Admiral Makarof, Bayan (ii), Pallada (ii) Bayan and Makaroff in 1914 (Baltic Fleet) The first Bayan (1899) The Bayan class had a total of 4 units, although the first, Bayan first of the name remained unique, built at the Seyne in Toulon NyD, but more Russian than French … Read more
