Huáscar (1865) Peruvian Ironclad (1864-79) Chilean ironclad (1879-94), museum ship since 1934 The first American turret ironclad The legendary battle of Angamos between Huascar and Esmeralda BAP Huáscar was the first sea going turret ironclad in the Americas, a true naval landmark. Until then (she was started on 4 August 1864 at Laird Bros. in … Read more
Coast Defence Ships (panserskipet) – Norwegian Navy 1896-1948 HNoMS Tordenskjold, Harald Haarfagre The Norwegian Capital Ships of two wars Brassey’s engraving, Brassey’s naval annual 1900 HNoMS Tordenskjold and Harald Haarfagre constituted for 50 years the bulk of Norwegian naval defence. They were ordered as part as the general rearmament until the 1905 union separation from … Read more
First of the ambitious 1942 light Fleet Carrier United Kingdom – 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier (1944) Colossus, Glory, Ocean, Venerable, Vengeance, Pioneer, Warrior, Theseus, Triumph, Perseus The 1942 light fleet carrier program The Colossus class also called 1942 Design Light Fleet Carriers, was the last British fleet carriers to be completed in WW2. They … Read more
USS Enterprise (1960) Nuclear-powered Fleet Aircraft carrier The Nuclear aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (1960), probably the most famous ship of the contemporary US Navy, was also in her time the largest ship in the world, exceeded only by the Super-tankers born from the first oil crisis. She remains the largest warship afloat ever built before … Read more
Gourdou-Leseurre GL-800 HY series (1926-1938) Aéronautique Navale. L2, L3, GL-810, 811, 812, 813, 830, 831, 832 HY (108 built) The French Catapulted Plane 1930-40 The interwar saw the development of catapulted aviation throughout Europe and France was no exception. After signing the Washington Treaty, France was forbidden to built more battleships and concentrated on cruisers: … Read more
Imperial Ming Navy – Transport Gunboats Fu Po was the lead ship of six armed transports, built by and for the Imperial Chinese Navy, at the Foochow Arsenal shipyard, all between 1870 and 1876. They were an important milestone, as the first home-built Western-style ships, although stil with wooden hulls. The shipyard at the time … Read more
HSwMS Clas Fleming (1912) Swedish Navy – Minelayer cruiser 1911-1960 Commissioned in 1914, Clas Fleming was among the first Swedish warships using Parsons steam turbines. Faitly small for cruiser standards in WWI with just 1550 tons of displacement, she was still armed with four 120 mm (4.7 in) guns, had some armor in vital spaces and could … Read more
Destroyer Dubrovnik (1931) Royal Yugoslav Navy 1932-1945 (Also Premuda, TA 32) Dubrovnik was a British-built flotilla leader and one of the largest destroyers of the time. Although having some strong resemblance to British designs, she was entirely armed with Škoda 140 mm (5.5 in) guns, and the first of three, which ended the only one completed. While … Read more
French Navy Pre-Dreadnought Battleship (1899-1916) Design of the class The Suffren was the last “classic” French pre-dreadnought. The next Republique class would indeed be of a modernized design, leaving no trace of the Jeune Ecole theories. Suffren was designed amost as a sister ship of Iéna, and improved Charlemagne design, whereas Suffren was at first … Read more
IJN Heavy Cruiser 1942-45: Oyodo, Niyodo (cancelled), 11 more. The last IJN cruiser She was the last cruiser class of the Imperial Japanese Empire (the fourth Agano class was really the last one), and by extension, the last Japanese cruiser since none was built since in the JMSDF. Initially designed she was designed as a … Read more
