General Admiral class armoured cruisers (1875) General-Admiral, Gerzog Edinburgski The first armoured cruisers ? This pair of Russian Imperial ships are considered by John Francis Beeler (p. 222, British Naval Policy in the Gladstone-Disraeli Era, Stanford U 1997) to be the world’s first armoured cruisers. At that time, the Baltic has been pacified and now … Read more
Germany (1889) Siegfried, Beowulf, Frithjof, Heimdall, Hildebrand, Hagen, Odin, ägir A first step for a young navy The Siegfried class battleships were a bit of a testimony of the humble beginnings of the German Navy. The young Kaiserliches Marine emerged in 1870 from the aggregation of several navies, inherited from various political entities which went … Read more
Union Navy USS Alligator The first operational USN submersible The real first military submarine ever buit by an American was the “Turtle”, from David Bushnell, during the war of independance. Before him, Fulton’s Nautilus was often considered to be the first practical submarine, offered to Napoleon, which considered but rejected it after a fail trial. … Read more
United Kingdom (1926-1929) – 13 heavy cruisers: Berwick, Cumberland, Suffolk, Kent, Cornwall, London, Devonshire, Sussex, Shropshire, Norfolk, Dorsetshire, Surrey (cancelled, +1), Australia (RAN), Canberra (RAN) The staple of Interwar British cruiser Force With their three funnels, large and tall hull these cruisers were difficult to miss in the Royal Navy, or in any recoignition book … Read more
Fast Battleships: FS Richelieu, Jean Bart, 2 more French top battleship Ordered in response to both the German Scharnhorst and the Italian Littorio, the Richelieu and jean Bart took up the essence of the previous design, but incorporated a much more powerful machinery to cope with a much higher armor. They definitely draw a line … Read more
Austro-Hungarian Destroyers (1909-1918) Introduction Destroyers in Austro-Hungary were a logical development of sea-going torpedo-boats, like in other navies. This lineage went to three stages, the third one being the result of war lessons and confined to the drawing board and then archives of the successors states. Speaking of Torpedo Boats, the old empire started early … Read more
For the Control of the Channel Dover strait, which commands the southern Atlantic passage for the German Navy. The first battle (26–27 October 1916) The Channel was a very tempting passage, especially in Winter, for the nearby German Navy after the capture of the coast of Belgium and the Netherlands. Behind the strait were the … Read more
For 3D artists Do you you create 3D models ? Did you know you can find some extra exposure, on a growing website with a targeted audience dedicated to ships ? Naval Encyclopedia now offers you a first class display experience, richer, better, than the confined space of a sketchfab embed: A dedicated VR page … Read more
Japan (1898) – Chitose, Kasagi The US-built IJN Cruisers: Chitose and Kasagi were built in the USA, at the Union Works shipyards in San Francisco and at Cramp in Philadelphia. These were enlarged versions of the Takasago built in UK. Both served during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and at Tsushima, being hit hard. … Read more
Vettor Pisani class armoured cruisers (1895) Italy (1895) – Vettor Pisani, Carlo Alberto These two armoured cruisers succeeded the unique Marco Polo. Criticisms of the latter (armament and armor too light) led the engineers under the direction of Edoardo Masdea to design much heavier ships (7000 tons at full load against 4800 to house a … Read more
