United Kingdom: 5 light fleet aircraft carriers: HMS Majestic, Terrible, Powerful, Magnificient, Hercules, Powerful, 1 more cancelled (1944-1999) The majestic class were part of the 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier programme, the most ambitious of the Royal Navy in WW2. This planned for a total of sixteen unprotected fleet carriers, thought at notably as second … Read more
Scouts (Cruisers, then destroyers) Alessandro Poerio, Cesare Rossarol, Gugliemo Pepe 1915-1937 Huesca and Teruel (1937-1957) The Alessandro Poerio class were on paper three scout cruisers (“esploratore”) built before World War I and in 1921 given their small size, the two surviving ships were reclassified as destroyers. They were capable of 30 kts and at least … Read more
Japanese Ironclad 1869-1908. The first large sea-going Japanese Ironclad A controversial origin Ryūjō (龍驤, Prancing Dragon), was a British-built ironclad corvette purchased on behalf of a Japanese daimyo (clan lord) in 1870, who donated her to the fledgling IJN shortly after receiving her. She became thus the largest ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, shortly … Read more
RNAS/FAA 1917-19: 62 built all types combined. The Fairey Campania: Tailored for a first carrier The Fairey Campania was a ship-borne, patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, single-engine, two-seat with two main floats, backward-folding wings, the first aeroplane ever designed specifically for carrier operations. Naturally after seeing HMS Campania, here is the RNAS bird named after her: … Read more
Royal Navy Former 1892 Cunard RMS Campania. Converted Aircraft/Seaplane Carrier 1914-1918. HMS Campania was the former Cunard transatlantic, blue ribbon winner and record holder in 1897 with already a well filled and prestigious civilian carrer in 1914. She served at first as troopship and auxiliary cruiser due to her high speed when purchased by the … Read more
Cunard Line (1891-1914): RMS Campania, Lucania R.M.S Lucania and Campania were British ocean liners of the Cunard Line built by Fairfield of Govan in Scotland. Campania was launched on 8 September 1892 and her sister Lucania on 2 February 1893. Campania became the largest and fastest passenger liner afloat in 1893. By crossing the Atlantic … Read more
German Empire – 200 submarines, 96 comp. UB-48 to UB-155 The UB-III became the mainstay of the the German submarine force in WWI. They were also arguably the best of the whole lineage, albeit not coming from 1st class boats from from a coastal type lineage. If the UB-I and UB-II had been successful on … Read more
Benson class Destroyers (1939-41) US Navy Fleet Destroyers (1938-70s) – 30 destroyers: Benson, Mayo, Madison, Lansdale, Hilary P. Jones, Charles F. Hughes, Laffey, Woodworth, Farenholt, Bailey, Bancroft, Barton, Boyle, Champlin, Meade, Murphy, Parker, Caldwell, Coghlan, Frazier, Gansevoort, Gillespie, Hobby, Kalk, Kendrick, Laub, MacKenzie, McLanahan, Nields, Ordronaux USS Benson (DD-421) as completed. The Benson class were … Read more
27-knotters class destroyers United Kingdom (1894-1899) A class Destroyers, 36 built. The lineage of British Destroyers started with the experimental “26-knotters” in 1892 when Yarrow, Thornycroft and Laird were ordered ships tailored to hunt down torpedo boats. But as they were built, the naval programme of 1893-94 saw further orders of a type defined also … Read more
Tupolev MR-6 (1932) 1932-36: 150 converted. Inspired by Heinkel models, the all-metal cantilever monoplane twin engine reconnaissance Tupolev R-6 was also used by the Navy as the MR-6, equipped with floats. MR-6 stands for Morskoj razvyedchik, maritime reconnaissance (also sometimes called “KR-6P”). It was also used as a torpedo bomber version from 1932 and still … Read more
