RAN Light Fleet Aircraft Carrier (R21), ex-HMS Majestic (1942-82) Australia Day ! HMAS Melbourne (R21) was a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier, modified to be operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), from 1955 to 1982. She was the third and last Australian aircraft carrier with the reputation of having sank two friendly warships in peacetime … Read more
Scouts (Cruisers, then destroyers) Carlo Mirabello, Carlo Alberto Racchia, Augusto Riboty 1916-1951 The Mirabello class were a group of three scout cruisers built for the Regia Marina in WWI. Very active in the Adriatic, they survived it. Carlo Alberto Racchia hit a mine in the Black Sea during the Allied intervention (Russian Civil War) by … Read more
United Kingdom – Escort Aircraft Carrier HMS Activity is one of the many one-off converted British escort carrier converted from the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was a merchant vessel requisitioned on slip and converted (pennant D94), recommissioned in late 1942 and only carrying ten aircraft, mostly Swordfish and Martlets of the … Read more
Project 629 (NATO “GOLF”) conventional ballistic missile submarines 23 submarines, Projects 629, 629B, 629A, 601, 605, 619, 629R, 6631/031 (1956-1990) The first soviet strategic submarines The Golf class submarines (Project 629) were the first Soviet SSBs and world’s only Conventional class of ballistic armed strategic submarines (The Zulu V were experimental), commissioned one year before … Read more
9 cruisers (1964-1995): Belknap, J. Daniels, Wainwright, Jouett, Horne, Sterett, William Standley, Fox, Biddle (DLG-26 to 34). The Belknap class cruisers were initially conceived as smaller, cheaper version of the Charles F Adams. However as the project evolved they ended as single-ended guided-missile cruisers (missile forward) unlike the previous Leahy class, but borrowed their hull … Read more
Standard Observation Seaplane Aviazione Ausiliaria per la Regia Marina 356 built 1937-43 The CANT Z.506 Airone (“Heron”) was a trimotor floatplane designed and manufactured by CANT from 1935. It emerged as a transport and postal aircraft with “Ala Littoria” and established 10 world records in 1936, 10 in 1937, becoming an asset for Mussolini’s propaganda. … Read more
Conventional Cruise Missile Attack Submarines: USS Grayback, Growler SSG-574, 577. 1958-1964. The first US cruise missile submarines Development In the leading up to the first ballistic submarines, both the USA and USSR experimented with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, which easier to build. The impetus were the first V-1 missiles obtained from Germany, as well as blueprints … Read more
WW1 Soviet Minesweepers, and Minelayers Russian Navy – 900+ minesweepers 1914-19 Introduction: Soviet Mine warfare WWI About early Russian naval mines & tactics: The Russians appeared to be pioneers of mine warfare. Earliest use was during the Crimean War, to face the might of the combined Royal Navy and French Marine Impériale. In the baltic … Read more
Finnish Navy – Merivoimat 2 Coastal Battleships (1929-1945) Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen were both built at the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku, launched in 1931 and 1933 and soon nicknamed in the international press the “Lighthouse Battleships”. Ilmarinen completed her trials and was commissioned on 17 April 1934, joining her sister ship Väinämöinen already in … Read more
Project 1135 Burevestnik (Bditelnyy class) ASW Frigates 33 ASW Frigates, NATO Krivak I, II, III and IV, 1975-1990 Bditelnyy, Bodryy, Svirepyy, Silnyy, Storozhevoy, Razumnyy, Raziashchiy, Druzhnyy, Dostoynyy, Doblestnyy, Deyatelnyy, Bezzavetnyy, Dnipropetrovsk, Bezukoriznennyy, Ladnyy, Poryvistyy, Zharkiy, Retivyy, Letuchiy, Pylkiy, Zadornyy, Pytlivyy, Rezvyy, Liogkiy, Rezkiy, Razitelnyy, Sevastopol, Groziashchiy, Neukrotimyy, Gromkiy, Bessmennyy, Gordelivyy, R’yanyy, Revnostnyy, Pytlivyy The Krivak … Read more
