Fleet Aircraft Carrier 1939-1969: WW2 Veteran HMS Victorious, last of the 1936 carrier program, was the only armoured carrier of the famous Illustrious class postwar considered worth a complete modernization, over seven years. When she re-emerged by the end of the 1957 amidst budget cuts and revisions, she was indeed brand new (even her powerplant … Read more
Bundesmarine, Type 120. Built 1957-64, in service until 1989: Köln, Emden, Augsburg, Karlsruhe, Lübeck, Braunschweig These were all built in Stülcken, Hamburg, as Type 120 Frigates, ordered in March 1957, designed in 1955-57 under program ‘Geleitboot 55’ (Escort 55). They were the worlds’ first warships to feature a combined diesel and gas propulsion system (CODAG). … Read more
Spanish Broadside Ironclad (1863-1873) Tetuán was the first Spanish-built Ironclad, the second in service with the Armada (Spanish Navy), designed on French plans but built at Ferrol, and faster than her sister Numancia. Her career included the Cuban squadron, the Glorious revolution, and the Canton of Carthagena uprizing, the Naval Battle of Portmán in which … Read more
Project 658 nuclear missile attack submarines 8 submarines, Project 658, 658M, 701, 658S, 658U (Hotel I-III, 1959-1962) К-19, К-33/54, К-55, К-40, К-16, К-145, K-149, K-178 Hotel class submarines (Project 658) – were the first Soviet SSBNs and world’s second class, five months after the Georges Washington class. They were not indeed of a design that … Read more
Nuclear-Powered Guided Missile Cruiser (CGN-35) 1967-1995. USS Truxtun was a nuclear-powered single-ended guided-missile cruiser (all aft) as she was a stretched and modified Belknap-class, and third nuclear cruiser in the USN after Bainbridge and Long Beach, sporting with the same D2G reactors as the former. USS Truxtun was originally designated, like the Belknaps as a … Read more
Carrier Based Torpedo Bomber Imperial Japanese Navy, 1,268 B6N1 and B6N2 built Development: Replacing the “Kate” In 1942 at Midway and before that at Cora Sea and in many other operations including Pearl Harbor, the Nakajima B5N (allied code “Kate”), proved to be the successful first line aircraft carrier torpedo bomber of the Imperial Japanese … Read more
Protected Colonial Cruisers: Campania, Basilcata 1913-1937 The Campania class were two small protected cruisers built for the Regia Marina close to WWI. Campania and Basilicata were the very last built of their kind, before being replaced by far more faster scouts. The Campania class was indeed tailored for overseas colonies, to replace the 1890s Calabria. … Read more
3(10) cruisers – Atlant-class, Project 1164 (1972-today): Moskva (ex-Slava), Marshal Ustinov, Varyag (ex-Chervona Ukraina), Ukraina (ex-Komsomolets, ex-Admiral Flota Lobov), Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya (Cancelled, BU), Admiral Gorshkov, Varyag, Sevastopol, one more (all planned, cancelled) The Slava-class missile cruisers (Project 1164, for early NATO Black Com-2, then Krasina) were anti-ship units scheduled to the four Kynda, reaching their … Read more
US Navy 19 Escort Aircraft Carriers (1943-45) 35 planned, 16 cancelled) CVE-105 – CVE-123: Commencement Bay, Block Island, Gilbert Islands, Kula Gulf, Cape Gloucester, Salerno Bay, Vella Gulf, Siboney, Puget Sound, Rendova, Bairoko, Badoeng Strait, Saidor, Sicily, Point Cruz, Mindoro, Rabaul, Palau There were two types of mass-produced escort carriers during WW2: Those based on … Read more
Project 641 (NATO “FOXTROT”) conventional attack submarines 58 (75 with other countries) submarines (1957-2014), B-series (random numbers). Development To replace the first post-war ocean-going boats of Project 611 (NATO Zulu), in the late 1950s, TsKB-18 developed a new project, designated 641. The chief designer of the project was S. A. Egorov, then this post was … Read more
