France (1886-1908) The Milan is an important ship in the French cruiser development: She was both its first modern steam-only unprotected cruiser, would-be torpedo-cruiser and Bertin’s masterpiece as the world’s fastest warship in 1884. It impressed Jeune Ecole’s guru Admiral Aube that as minister of the Navy, ordered six follow-up cruisers, the Forbin and Troude … Read more
Ironclad Corvette, in service until 1876. HMS Favorite, 7th of the name, was an ironclad screw corvette launched in 1864, one of the three small wooden warships with HMS Research and HMS Enterprise selected by Sir Edward Reed for conversion to ironclads, as part of the French-British ironclad race of the early 1860s. In her … Read more
Royal Navy (1940-42) O class: Onslow, Offa, Onslaught, Oribi, Obdurate, Obedient, Opportune, Orwell P class: Pakenham, Paladin, Panther, Partridge, Pathfinder, Penn, Petard, Porcupine menu The O and P class were wartime destroyers of the British Royal Navy ordered in 1939, and first ships in the War Emergency Programme. The O was the first, and the … Read more
Japanese Self Defence Naval Force – Escort Destroyer (1966-2005): Yamagumo, Makigumo, Asagumo, Aokumo, Akigumo, Yugumo The Yamagumo class were developed for the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force as six ship usually classified as a destroyer, but classed as destroyer escort given their nature, succeeding to the Akizuki class. They were planned as the new generation ASW … Read more
Svenska Marinen Two destroyers: Ehrensköld, Nordenskjöld 1927-63. Today we start a new cycle of Swedish Destroyers from the interwar to the end of WW2. By building its own designs and bringing many classes, the Swedish Navy copied no one and none copied them. They completed enough destroyers to fulfill a variety of roles aside their … Read more
Ironclad Sloop (1862-1864), service until 1885. HMS Enterprise (7th of the name) was an armoured sloop launched in 1864 at Deptford Dockyard, laid down originally as a wooden screw sloop of the Camelion class, like her near sister and box battery USS Research. She was designed by Edward Reed as a central battery ironclad to … Read more
Dansk Marine F348 Hvidbjørnen, F349 Vædderen, F350 Ingolf, F351 Fylla Built 1961-63, service until 1992 The Hvidbjørnen class were four inspektionsskibe (“inspection ships”) later classified by NATO as Frigates despite being 1700 tonnes, built for the Danish Navy in 1961-1963. They were the first post-WW2 large vessels of the Danish Navy to be ordered. Their … Read more
Frigates: Baleares, Andalucia, Cataluna, Asturias, Extremadura F71-75 (1968-2009) Spanish Day ! The renewal of the Spanish fleet, from Franco’s inheritance to the modern force we known today, went though an important step, the Balears class Frigates. They marke as reset of Spanish shipyard’s expertise with a modified version of the American Knox-class frigates. Albeit very … Read more
IJN Type D Modified class Escort Destroyer (松型駆逐艦): 32+ 80 Kai-Tachibana planned, 14 completed 1945. The Tachibana class was approved under the Modified 5th Naval Armaments Supplement Program, laid down 1944-45, completed between January and June 1945. Like the Matsu, they were pure escort vessels designed for simplicity and rapid construction, but simplification was pushed … Read more
2 built 1942-43 for the Regia Aeronautica The CANT Z.511 is one of these fascinating “what if” of history. Initially planned as a transatlantic aicraft to link Italy and South America for Ala Littoria, the national company, the model came from a September 1937 request. For this, the Adriatic Shipyards (CANT) built the Cant.Z.511 A … Read more
