By the end of the Second World War, the class of high-speed battleships had reached the limit in its development, having favorably combined the destructive power and security of dreadnoughts with the high speed of battlecruisers, these maritime models performed many amazing feats under the flags of all warring states.
It is not possible to compile any "rating" of the battleships of those years - four favorites claim the first place at once, and each of them has the most serious reasons for this. As for the other places on the honorary pedestal, it is generally impossible to make any conscious choice here. Only individual tastes and subjective preferences. Each battleship is distinguished by its unique design, chronicle combat use and often tragic deaths.
Each of them was created for its specific tasks and conditions of service, for a specific enemy and in accordance with the chosen concept of using the fleet.
Different theaters of operations dictated different rules: inland seas or the open ocean, the proximity or, conversely, the extreme remoteness of the bases. Classic squadron battles with the same monsters or a bloody mess with repelling endless air attacks and shelling fortifications on the enemy coast.
Ships cannot be considered in isolation from the geopolitical situation, the state of the scientific, industrial and financial spheres of states - all this left a significant imprint on their design.
A direct comparison between any Italian "Littorio" and the American "North Caroline" is completely out of the question.
Nevertheless, the contenders for the title of the best battleship are visible to the naked eye. These are Bismarck, Tirpitz, Iowa and Yamato - ships that even those who have never been interested in the fleet have heard of.
Life According to Sun Tzu
... Her Majesty's battleships Anson and Duke of York, aircraft carriers Victorias, Furies, escort aircraft carriers Sicher, Empire, Passuer, Fancer, cruisers Belfast, Bellona , Royalist, Sheffield, Jamaica, destroyers Javelin, Virago, Meteor, Swift, Vigilent, Wakeful, Onslot ... - a total of about 20 units under the British , Canadian and Polish flags, as well as 2 naval tankers and 13 carrier-based aviation squadrons.
Only in this composition in April 1944 did the British dare to approach the Alta Fjord - where, under the gloomy vaults of the Norwegian rocks, the pride of the Kriegsmarine, the Tirpitz super-battleship, rusted.
The results of the Wolfram operation are estimated as controversial - carrier-based aircraft managed to bomb the German base and cause serious damage to the battleship's superstructures. However, the next Pearl Harbor did not work out - the British could not inflict mortal wounds on the Tirpitz.
The Germans lost 123 men killed, but the battleship still posed a threat to shipping in the North Atlantic. The main problems were caused not so much by numerous bomb hits and fires on the upper deck, but by newly opened leaks in the underwater part of the hull - the result of a previous British attack using mini-submarines.
... In total, during the stay in Norwegian waters, the Tirpitz withstood dozens of air strikes - in total, during the war years, about 700 British and Soviet aircraft took part in raids on the battleship! In vain.
Hiding behind an anti-torpedo net, the ship was invulnerable to Allied torpedo weapons. At the same time, aerial bombs proved ineffective against such a well-defended target; it was possible to smash the armored citadel of the battleship for an infinitely long time, but the destruction of the superstructures could not critically affect the combat capability of the Tirpitz.
Meanwhile, the Britons stubbornly rushed to the parking lot of the Teutonic beast: mini-submarines and man-torpedoes; deck raids and strategic aviation. Informant agents from the locals, regular surveillance of the base from the air ...
"Tirpitz" became a unique embodiment of the ideas of the ancient Chinese commander and thinker Sun Tzu ("The Art of War") - without firing a single shot at enemy ships, he fettered all the actions of the British in the North Atlantic for three years!
One of the most effective warships of the Second World War, the invincible Tirpitz turned into an ominous scarecrow for the British Admiralty: the planning of any operation began with the question “What to do if
Will the Tirpitz leave her anchorage and go out to sea?
It was the Tirpitz that scared away the escort of the PQ-17 convoy. All battleships and aircraft carriers of the metropolitan fleet in the Arctic latitudes hunted him. The boat K-21 fired at him. For his sake, the Lancasters from the Royal Air Force settled at the Yagodny airfield near Arkhangelsk. But everything turned out to be useless. The British were able to destroy the super-battleship only towards the end of the war with the help of the monstrous 5-ton Tallboy bombs.
Tallboy ("Big Boy")
The impressive success of the Tirpitz battleship is the legacy left over from the legendary Bismarck, a battleship of the same type, a meeting with which forever instilled fear in the hearts of the British: a funeral pillar of flame froze before their eyes, which shot up over the British battlecruiser HMS Hood. During the battle in the Danish Strait, the gloomy Teutonic Knight took only five volleys to deal with the British "gentleman".
"Bismarck" and "Prinz Eugen" in a military campaign
And then came the hour of reckoning. The Bismarck was chased by a squadron of 47 ships and 6 submarines of Her Majesty. After the battle, the British calculated: in order to sink the beast, they had to fire 8 torpedoes and 2876 shells of the main, medium and universal caliber!
What a tough guy!
Hieroglyph "fidelity". Yamato-class battleships
There are three useless things in the world: the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the Great Wall of China and the battleship "Yamato" ... Really?
This is what happened to the battleships Yamato and Musashi: they were undeservedly slandered. Around them there was a stable image of "losers", useless "wanderwaffles" who shamefully died at the first meeting with the enemy.
But the facts are:
The ships were designed and built on time, managed to make war, and finally accepted a heroic death in the face of numerically superior enemy forces.
What else is required of them?
Bright victories? Alas, in the situation in which Japan was in the period 1944-45, even the sea king Poseidon himself could hardly have acted better than the battleships Musashi and Yamato.
Disadvantages of super battleships?
Yes, first of all, weak air defense - neither the monstrous fireworks "Sansiki 3" (anti-aircraft shells of 460 mm caliber), nor hundreds of small-caliber magazine-fed assault rifles could replace modern anti-aircraft guns and control systems with fire adjustment according to radar data.
Weak PTZ?
I beg of you! "Musashi" and "Yamato" died after 10-11 torpedo hits - no battleship on the planet would have survived so much (for comparison, the probability of the death of the American "Iowa" from being hit by six torpedoes, according to the calculations of the Americans themselves, was estimated at 90%) .
Otherwise, the battleship "Yamato" corresponded to the phrase "most, most"
The largest battleship in history and, concurrently, the largest warship that took part in World War II.
70 thousand tons of full displacement.
The main caliber is 460 mm.
Armored belt - 40 centimeters of solid metal.
The walls of the conning tower - half a meter of armor.
The thickness of the frontal part of the GK tower is even greater - 65 centimeters of steel protection.
A grand spectacle!
The main miscalculation of the Japanese is the veil of extreme secrecy that shrouded everything that was connected with the battleships of the Yamato type. To date, there are only a few photographs of these monsters - mostly taken from American aircraft.
It was worth being proud of such ships and seriously frightening the enemy with them - after all, until the last moment the Yankees were sure that they were dealing with ordinary battleships, with 406 mm guns.
With a competent PR policy, the very news of the existence of the battleships Yamato and Musashi could cause panic fear among the commanders of the US Navy and their allies - just as happened with the Tirpitz. The Yankees would rush to build similar ships with half a meter of armor and guns of 460 or even 508 mm caliber - in general, it would be fun. The strategic effect of Japanese super-battleships could be much greater.
Museum "Yamato" in Kure. The Japanese cherish the memory of their "Varyag"
How did the leviathans die?
Musashi sailed all day in the Sibuyan Sea under heavy attacks from aircraft from five American aircraft carriers. He walked all day, and in the evening he died, having received, according to various estimates, 11-19 torpedoes and 10-17 air bombs ...
What do you think, were the security and combat stability of the Japanese battleship great? And who of his peers could repeat this?
"Yamato"... death from above was his destiny. Traces of torpedoes, the sky is black from aircraft ...
Speaking frankly, the Yamato made an honorable seppuku, leaving as part of a small squadron against eight aircraft carriers of the 58th task force. The result is predictable - two hundred aircraft tore apart the battleship and its few escorts in two hours.
The era of high technology. Iowa-class battleships
What if?
What if, instead of the Yamato, a battleship identical to the American Iowa had come out towards the 58th operational formation of Admiral Mitscher? What if the Japanese industry could create air defense systems similar to those on US Navy ships at the time?
How would the battle between the battleship and the American aircraft carriers end if the Japanese sailors had systems similar to the Mk.37, Ford Mk.I Gunfire Control Computer, SK, SK-2, SP, SR, Mk.14, Mk.51, Mk.53 …?
Behind the dry indices are masterpieces of technological progress - analog computers and automatic fire control systems, radars, radio altimeters and shells with a radar fuse - thanks to all these "chips", the Iowa anti-aircraft fire was at least five times more accurate and effective than the shots of Japanese anti-aircraft gunners .
And if you take into account the terrifying rate of fire of the Mk.12 anti-aircraft guns, the extremely effective 40 mm Bofors and Oerlikon belt-fed assault rifles ... There is a considerable chance that the American air attack could choke in blood, and the damaged neo-Yamato could hobble to Okinawa and run aground, turning into an invincible artillery battery (according to the Ten-Ichi-Go operation plan).
Everything could be ... alas, "Yamato" went to the seabed, and an impressive set of anti-aircraft weapons became the prerogative of the American "Iows".
It is absolutely impossible to come to terms with the idea that the best ship is again with the Americans. USA haters will instantly find a dozen reasons why the Iowa cannot be considered the most advanced battleship.
The Iowas are harshly criticized for the lack of a medium caliber (150 ... 155 mm) - unlike any German, Japanese, French or Italian battleships, American ships were forced to fight off enemy destroyer attacks only with universal anti-aircraft guns (5 inches, 127 mm).
Also, among the shortcomings of the Iowa are the lack of reloading compartments in the GK towers, the worst seaworthiness and “surfacing on the wave” (compared to the same British Vanguard), the relative weakness of their PTZ in front of the Japanese “long lances”, “mukhlezh” with declared maximum speed (on a measured mile, the battleships could hardly accelerate to 31 knots - instead of the declared 33!).
But perhaps the most serious of all accusations - the weakness of the reservation compared to any of their peers - the Iowa's traverse bulkheads raise a lot of questions.
Of course, the defenders of American shipbuilding will now go steam, proving that all the listed shortcomings of the Iowa are just an illusion, the ship was designed for a specific situation and ideally suited the conditions of the Pacific theater of operations.
The absence of a medium caliber became an advantage for American battleships: universal five-inch guns were enough to deal with surface and air targets - it made no sense to take on board 150 mm guns as a "ballast". And the presence of "advanced" fire control systems finally leveled the factor of the absence of a "medium caliber".
Reproaches for poor seaworthiness are a purely subjective opinion: the Iowa has always been considered an extremely stable artillery platform. As for the strong “overwhelming” of the bow of the battleship in stormy weather, this myth was already born in our time. Modern sailors were surprised by the habits of an armored monster: instead of swaying calmly on the waves, the heavy Iowa cut the waves like a knife.
The increased wear of the main gun barrels is explained by very heavy projectiles (which is not bad) - the Mk.8 armor-piercing projectile weighing 1225 kg was the heaviest ammunition of its caliber in the world.
The Iowa had no problems with the assortment of shells at all: the ship had a whole range of armor-piercing and high-explosive ammunition and charges of various capacities; after the war, "cassette" Mk.144 and Mk.146 appeared, stuffed with explosive grenades in the amount of 400 and, accordingly, 666 pieces. A little later, a special Mk.23 munition was developed with a 1 kt nuclear warhead.
As for the "shortage" of the design speed per measured mile, the Iowa tests were carried out with a limited power plant - just like that, without a good reason, to boost the cars to the design 254,000 hp. the thrifty Yankees refused.
The overall impression of the "Iowa" can only be spoiled by their relatively low security ... however, this disadvantage is more than compensated by the many other advantages of the battleship.
The Iowas have more service than all other WWII battleships combined - World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Iraq ... Battleships of this type survived everyone - the modernization of the mid-1980s made it possible to extend the service life of veterans until the beginning of the 21st century - the battleships lost part artillery weapons, in exchange for receiving 32 Tomahawk SLCMs, 16 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Sea Sparrow air defense systems, modern radars and Phalanx melee systems.
Off the coast of Iraq
However, the physical deterioration of the mechanisms and the end of the Cold War played an important role in the fate of the most famous American battleships - all four monsters left the US Navy ahead of schedule and turned into large naval museums.
Well, the favorites are determined. Now it's time to mention a number of other armored monsters - after all, each of them is worthy of its portion of surprise and admiration.
Here, for example, "Jean Bart" - one of two built battleships of the type "Richelieu". An elegant French ship with a unique silhouette: two four-gun turrets in the bow, a stylish superstructure, a famously curved chimney...
Battleships of the Richelieu type are considered one of the most advanced ships in their class: having a displacement of 5-10 thousand tons less than any Bismarck or Littorio, the French were practically not inferior to them in terms of armament power, and in terms of the “ security "- the scheme and thickness of the reservation" Richelieu "was even better than many of his larger peers. And all this was successfully combined with a speed of more than 30 knots - the "Frenchman" was the fastest of the European battleships!
The unusual fate of these battleships: the flight of unfinished ships from the shipyard to avoid capture by the Germans, naval battles with the British and American fleets in Casablanca and Dakar, repairs in the United States, and then a long happy service under the flag of France until the second half of the 1960s.
And here is a magnificent trinity from the Apennine Peninsula - Italian battleships of the Littorio type.
These ships are usually the object of harsh criticism, but if you take an integrated approach when evaluating them, it turns out that the Littorio battleships are not so bad compared to their British or German peers, as is commonly believed.
The project was based on the brilliant concept of the Italian fleet - to hell with great autonomy and fuel supply! Italy is located in the middle mediterranean sea, all bases at hand.
The saved load reserve was spent on armor and weapons. As a result, Littorio had 9 main battery guns in three rotating turrets - more than any of their European "colleagues".
"Roma"
The noble silhouette, high-quality contours, good seaworthiness and high speed are in the best traditions of the Italian school of shipbuilding.
Ingenious anti-torpedo protection based on the calculations of Umberto Pugliese.
At a minimum, the spaced booking scheme deserves attention. In general, in everything related to booking, Littorio-class battleships deserve the highest ratings.
And for the rest...
Otherwise, the Italian battleships turned out to be bad - it still remains a mystery why the Italians fired their guns so crookedly - despite excellent armor penetration, the 15-inch Italian shells had surprisingly low accuracy and accuracy of fire. Reforcing gun barrels? Quality of manufacture of liners and shells? Or maybe the national characteristics of the Italian character affected?
In any case, the main problem with the Littorio-class battleships was their mediocre use. The Italian sailors never managed to enter into a general battle with Her Majesty's fleet. Instead, the lead "Littorio" was sunk right at its anchorage, during a British raid on the Taranto naval base (cheerful slobs were too lazy to pull the anti-torpedo net).
The Vittorio Veneto raid against British convoys in the Mediterranean ended no better - the battered ship could barely return to base.
In general, nothing good came of the idea with the Italian battleships. The brightest and most tragic battleship Roma completed its battle path, disappearing in a deafening explosion of its own artillery cellars - the result of a well-aimed hit by the German Fritz-X guided bomb (air bombs? It’s an understatement. The 1360-kilogram Fritz-X ammunition was little like regular bomb).
Epilogue.
Battleships were different. Among them were formidable and effective. There were no less formidable, but ineffective. But every time, the fact that the enemy had such ships gave the opposite side a lot of trouble and anxiety.
Battleships always remain battleships. Powerful and destructive ships with the highest combat stability.
According to materials:
http://wunderwaffe.narod.ru/
http://korabley.net/
http://www.navy.mil.nz/
http://navycollection.narod.ru/
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://navsource.org/
From the moment guns are installed on ships, the eternal rivalry between shell and armor begins. After realizing the vulnerability of the majestic sailing fleet to gunfire, engineers and shipbuilders begin to install armor on warships. In the 19th century, the first battleships appeared, which completed their development by the beginning of the 20th century and became the main striking and most powerful force of the fleet. They are being replaced by dreadnought battleships, even larger, more powerful and heavily armored. The peak of the development of battleships came in World War II, when the rivalry between projectile and armor reached its climax, giving rise to the most powerful and majestic ships ever created by man. They will be discussed in our article.
6. Battleships of the type "King George V"
Before World War II, the navies of the leading maritime powers were intensively armed with modern battleships. Great Britain was considered a trendsetter in the field of military shipbuilding and the most powerful maritime power for several centuries, but after the First World War, its leadership began to gradually fade. As a result, the Lady of the Seas approached the war with the least powerful "main" battleship.
The British began to design battleships of the "King George V" type in the late 20s of the 20th century to replace their superdreadnoughts. For several years, the initial project has undergone significant changes, and by 1935 the final version was approved with a length of about 230 meters and a displacement of about 35 thousand tons. The main caliber of the new battleship was to be ten 356-millimeter guns. The location of the main caliber artillery was original. Instead of the classic four 2-gun or three 3-gun turrets, they chose a variant with two turrets of four guns at the bow and stern, and one turret with two guns at the bow. The caliber of 356 mm by the beginning of World War II was considered insufficient and was the smallest among the other battleships of the leading powers. Armor-piercing projectile "King George" weighed a modest 721 kg. The initial speed was low - 757 m / s. English guns did not shine with rate of fire. Only traditionally high-quality gun barrels and armor-piercing shells, coupled with the reliability of the system as a whole, can be added to the pluses.
The average caliber of the battleship was represented by sixteen 133-mm guns in 2-gun turrets. These guns were supposed to become universal, conducting both anti-aircraft fire and performing the function of fighting enemy destroyers. If such guns coped well with the second task, then they turned out to be ineffective against aircraft due to the low rate of fire and the imperfection of guidance systems. Also battleships The King Georges were equipped with two reconnaissance seaplanes with one catapult.
The armor of British ships was built according to the classic “all or nothing” principle, when the main and most important components of the ship were covered with the thickest armor, and the ends of the hull and deck remained practically unarmoured. The thickness of the main armor belt reached an impressive 381 mm. In general, the booking was quite good and balanced. The quality of the English armor itself was still excellent. Only frankly weak anti-mine and anti-torpedo protection caused complaints.
The main power plant developed 110 thousand horsepower and allowed the battleship to accelerate to 28 knots. The estimated cruising range with an economical 10-knot course reached 14 thousand miles, but in reality everything turned out to be much more modest.
In total, the British managed to build five ships of this type. Battleships were created to resist the German fleet in the Atlantic, but they had to serve in many parts of the world. The most belligerent of the British battleships were the King George V, which was the flagship of the British Royal Navy for a long time, and the Prince of Wales, which took the battle along with the ill-fated Hood against the legendary Bismarck. In late 1941, the Prince of Wales was sunk. Japanese aviation, the rest of his brothers survived the war and were safely scrapped in 1957.
Battleship Vanguard
In addition to ships of the King George V type, the British managed to lay down the new Vanguard during the war - a larger and more powerful battleship, devoid of many of the shortcomings of previous battleships. In terms of displacement and armament (50,000 tons and eight 381 mm guns), it resembled the German Bismarck. But the British were able to complete this ship only in 1946.
5. Battleships of the type "Littorio / Vittorio Veneto"
After the First World War, Italy was going through hard times. There was not enough money to build new battleships. Therefore, the release of new ships was postponed in every possible way for financial reasons. Italy began to develop a modern battleship only after the laying in France, the main rival in the Mediterranean, of powerful and high-speed battlecruisers of the Dunkirk type, which completely depreciated the old Italian battleships.
The main theater of operations for the Italians was the Mediterranean Sea, historically considered "their own". This left its mark on the appearance of the new battleship. If for the British autonomy and a long cruising range were a key factor in the development of their own battleships, then the Italian designers could sacrifice it for the sake of increased firepower and armor. The lead "Littorio" and "Vittorio Veneto" were larger than the "King George" - their total displacement was about 45 thousand tons with a length of about 240 meters. The battleships entered service in the spring of 1940.
The armament of the main caliber consisted of nine powerful 15-inch (381 mm) guns in three 3-gun turrets. The Italians took the path of maximum forcing of old guns of a similar caliber, increasing the length of the barrels from 40 to 50 calibers. As a result, the Italian guns turned out to be champions among 15-inch guns in Europe in terms of muzzle energy and projectile power, yielding in armor penetration only to the larger-caliber guns of the American Iowa and Japanese Yamato.
The weight of the armor-piercing projectile reached 885 kg at a high initial velocity of 870 m/s. This came at the cost of extremely low grouping and firing accuracy, which is considered the main disadvantage of this type of battleship. Unlike the British, the Italians divided the medium artillery into anti-mine and anti-aircraft. Twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns in four 3-gun turrets were used to counter the attacking destroyers. For firing at aircraft, there were twelve 90-mm guns, which were supplemented by 37-mm machine guns. The experience of the war showed the complete insufficiency of the anti-aircraft artillery of the Italian battleships, as well as most similar ships of other countries.
The Littorio-class battleship air group consisted of three seaplanes and one catapult to launch them. The main armor belt was spaced apart and, with a not too impressive thickness, provided protection against 380-mm projectiles.
Battleship Vittorio Veneto
The main power plant produced 130,000 horsepower and accelerated the Italian battleship to 30 knots. Such a high speed was a great advantage and made it possible to choose the optimal battle distance or even evade the fire of a stronger enemy. The cruising range was rather modest (4.5-5 thousand miles), but quite sufficient for the Mediterranean.
Battleship Roma
In total, the Italians managed to launch three battleships of this type, the fourth ship remained unfinished. Throughout the Second World Court fighting and were periodically damaged by British and American aircraft, after which they were repaired and re-commissioned. As a result, "Vittorio Veneto" and "Littorio" were transferred after the war to the UK and the USA, respectively, where they were sawn up in the mid-1950s. The third battleship - "Roma" - was awarded a sadder fate. After the capitulation of Italy, the Germans sank it with Fritz-X guided bombs so that the ship would not go to the Allies. Thus, the beautiful and graceful Italian battleships never managed to acquire military glory.
4. Battleships of the type "Richelieu"
After the First World War, France found itself in a position similar to Italy regarding the state and further development of the navy.
After the laying of "pocket battleships" of the Scharnhorst type in Germany, the French were forced to urgently design ships to deal with them. The resulting Dunkirk turned out to be so successful that it served as the basis for the creation of full-fledged battleships of the Richelieu type.
The total displacement of the Richelieu was almost 45 thousand tons, and the maximum length was about 250 meters. In order to fit the maximum possible weapons and heavy armor into a limited displacement, the French again applied the original layout of the main caliber weapons, tested on the Dunkirk.
"Richelieu" carried eight 380-mm guns with a length of 45 calibers in two 4-gun turrets. The weight of the armor-piercing projectile was 890 kg at an initial velocity of 830 m/s. This arrangement made it possible to save the total weight of each gun compared to 3- and especially 2-gun turrets. In addition, only two main turrets instead of three or four required a shorter main armor belt to protect guns and artillery magazines, simplified the system for storing and supplying ammunition, and fire control.
But such a bold scheme had its drawbacks. Damage to any of the towers led to the failure of half of the ship's artillery, so the French separated each of the towers with an armored partition. Each pair of guns had independent guidance and supply of ammunition. In practice, the 2-tower scheme turned out to be unreliable. French sailors used to say that the turret rotation system could fail at any moment. In addition, the stern sector of the ship was not protected by the main battery guns, which was partly offset by the large angles of rotation of the forward turrets.
Battleship Jean Bart
The pride of French shipbuilders was booking and protection in general. In terms of survivability, the Richelieu surpassed its competitors from England and Italy, was approximately equal to the larger Bismarck and Iowa, and was inferior only to the much heavier Yamato. The main armor belt had a thickness of 330 mm and an 18 mm lining. The belt inclined at 18 degrees resulted in almost half a meter of armor. The unfinished "Jean Bar" happened to receive about five heavy 406-mm American shells of the main caliber. The ship survived.
The Richelieu power plant produced 150 thousand horsepower, and the speed of more than 31 knots was one of the best in the class, formally second only to the Iowa. Maximum range navigation was about 10 thousand miles economical course.
In total, the French planned to build three battleships of this type. It was possible to put into operation only two - "Richelieu" and "Jean Bar", which, not without incident, survived the war. These ships have become one of the most balanced and successful ships of this class. Many experts give them the palm in battleship building. They combined fairly powerful weapons, excellent armor and high speed. At the same time, they had an average size and displacement. However, many positive sides were only good on paper. Like the Italian battleships, the French "Richelieu" and "Jean Bar" did not cover their history with immortal feats. They managed to survive the war and even serve after it, having undergone modernization. As for the aesthetic side, the author of the article puts them in the first place. The French battleships turned out to be truly beautiful and elegant.
3. Bismarck-class battleships
After the First World War, Germany was one of the first to start designing new modern battleships. As a country that lost the war, it was forbidden to build large warships. Therefore, the starting "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" could only be called battleships with a stretch. Nevertheless, serious experience was gained by German engineers. And after the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in 1935, which actually abolished the Versailles restrictions, Germany began the development and construction of the largest and most powerful ships ever in service with the German fleet.
The Bismarck-class battleships had a total displacement of about 50 thousand tons, a length of 250 meters and a width of 36 meters, surpassing their European counterparts in size. The main artillery, as on the Richelieu and Vittorio Veneto, was represented by 380 mm guns. Bismarck carried eight guns in four 2-gun turrets, two each at the bow and stern. This was a step back against the background of 3- and 4-gun turrets of competitors.
Artillery of the main caliber came out more tenacious, but required more space, armor and, accordingly, weight to accommodate it. The Bismarck guns were nothing special except for the traditional German quality compared to the fifteen-inch guns of the French and Italians. Unless, unlike the latter, the pragmatic Germans relied on shooting accuracy to the detriment of the power and weight of the projectile (800 kg). As time has shown - not in vain.
Booking "Bismarck" can be called moderate and not quite ordinary. Using a scheme with four main battery turrets, the Germans had to armor up to 70% of the hull length. The thickness of the main armored belt reached 320 mm in its lower part and up to 170 mm in its upper part. Unlike many battleships of the period, the armor of the German battleships was not sharply differentiated, with outstanding maximum thicknesses, but the overall armor area was higher than that of any of the competitors. Perhaps it was precisely this booking scheme that allowed the Bismarck to withstand numerous volleys of the British for a long time, while remaining afloat.
The main power plant was weak point project. She developed about 150 thousand "horses", accelerating the Tirpitz and Bismarck to 30 knots, which was a very good result. At the same time, it did not differ in reliability and, in particular, in economy. The actual cruising range was almost 20% lower than the declared 8.5-8.8 thousand miles.
German shipbuilders were unable to create a vessel that is qualitatively superior to competitors. The combat characteristics of the Bismarck were at the level of the Richelieu and Littorio, but the combat fate of the German battleships made them the most recognizable and famous ships of the Second World War.
In total, the Germans managed to put into operation two ships of this type. The Bismarck in 1941 had to take the battle, which became the most famous naval battle of the Second World War. A German detachment from the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen collided with the British ships. And although the British had an advantage in the form of the battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Hood, the Bismarck salvos sent the beauty and pride of the Royal Navy to the bottom in a matter of minutes - the flagship cruiser Hood along with the entire crew. As a result of the duel, German ships were also damaged. Shocked and furious, the British sent an entire squadron to capture the Bismarck. The German battleship almost managed to get away from the chase, but the British planes damaged steering ship, and then for a long time they shot the immobilized ship from all guns. As a result, the Bismarck team opened the kingstones and sank their ship.
Model of the battleship "Tirpitz"
After the loss of one of the two battleships, the Germans hid the remaining Tirpitz in the Norwegian fjords. Even inactive and hidden, this ship remained a constant headache for the British throughout the war, drawing on huge forces. In the end, the Tirpitz was only sunk from the air with specially designed huge 5-ton bombs.
2. Iowa-class battleships
The United States approached the Second World War as a leader in terms of economic and industrial potential. The owner of the most powerful navy was no longer Great Britain, but its partner overseas. By the end of the 1930s, the Americans managed to develop a battleship project under the Washington Agreement. At first, these were ships of the South Dakota type, which generally corresponded to European competitors. Then came the time for even larger and more powerful Iowa-class battleships, called by many experts the best ships of this class.
The length of such battleships reached a record 270 meters, and the total displacement exceeded 55 thousand tons. "Iowa" was supposed to resist the Japanese battleships of the "Yamato" type. Nevertheless, American shipbuilders retained the 16-inch (406 mm) main artillery caliber used on the South Dakota. But the main caliber guns were lengthened from 45 to 50 calibers, increasing the power of the gun and the weight of the armor-piercing projectile from 1016 to 1225 kg. In addition to the guns themselves, when assessing the firepower of the Iowa-class ships, one should note the most advanced artillery fire control system among the battleships of that period. In addition to ballistic computers and optical rangefinders, it used a radar, which significantly increased the accuracy of shooting, especially in bad weather conditions.
In addition, given the perfection of guidance systems and the quality of ammunition, American battleships were the absolute leaders in anti-aircraft weapons.
But booking was not a strong point of Iowa. The citadel in the central part of the ship was covered by a modest 307 mm main armor belt. In general, the battleship was armored at the level of the South Dakota and European battleships with a smaller displacement, and the Richelieu was even inferior. Not relying too much on their armor protection, the Americans took a different path.
Battleships of the Iowa type received the most powerful power plant of 212,000 horsepower among similar ships. For comparison, on the predecessor, the power of the turbines reached only 130 thousand "horses". The Iowa could theoretically accelerate to a record 33 knots, surpassing absolutely all the battleships of the Second World War in speed. Thus, American battleships had an advantage in maneuver, being able to choose the optimal distance and conditions for artillery combat, partially compensating for not the strongest armor.
In total, the Americans planned to build six ships of this type. But taking into account the already built four South Dakota-class battleships and the ever-increasing role of aircraft carriers, the United States limited itself to a series of four ships - Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin. All battleships took an active part in the Pacific War. On September 2, 1945, the Japanese Surrender Act was signed aboard the Missouri.
The post-war fate of the Iowa-class battleships, unlike most ships of this class, was not quite usual. The ships were not scrapped, but continued their service. The Americans actively used their battleships during the war in Korea and Vietnam. In the mid-1980s, the ships already old by that time underwent modernization, having received modern electronic filling and controlled cruise missiles. The last conflict in which battleships took part was the war in the Persian Gulf.
The main battery artillery was represented by nine 18-inch guns in three 3-gun turrets, located classically, as on the Vittorio Veneto and Iowa. Not a single battleship in the world had such artillery. Armor-piercing projectile weighed nearly one and a half tons. And in terms of the total weight of the volley, the Yamato was almost twice as superior to the European battleships with 15-inch guns. The artillery fire control system was perfect for its time. And if the Yamato did not have such innovations as radars (they were installed on the Iowa), then the optical rangefinders and ballistic computers were not inferior to their world counterparts. Simply put, it was better not to show up to any battleship of that time within the firing range of the Japanese monster’s guns of more than 40 kilometers.
The anti-aircraft guns of the Japanese, not inferior in quality to European ones, lagged behind the American ones in terms of firing accuracy and pointing speed. Small-caliber automatic anti-aircraft guns, the number of which during the war increased from eight built-in machine guns to fifty, were still qualitatively inferior to the Bofors and Oerlikons of the Americans.
Booking battleships of the "Yamato" type, as well as the main artillery, was "the best". Moreover, in an effort to install armor of maximum thickness on their ships, the Japanese tried to reduce the length of the citadel. As a result, the main armor belt covered only about half of the vessel in the central part. But its thickness was impressive - 410 mm. It should be noted that Japanese armor was inferior in quality to the best English and German armor at that time due to the denial of access to Japan for the most modern technologies for the production of armor steel and the lack of supplies of a number of rare alloying elements. But still, the Yamato remained the most heavily armored ship in the world.
Battleship "Musashi"
The main power plant of the Japanese super battleship was quite modest and produced about 150 thousand horsepower, accelerating the huge ship to 27.5 knots. "Yamato" was the slowest among the battleships of World War II. But the ship carried the largest air group of reconnaissance aircraft - as many as seven pieces on two catapults.
The Japanese planned to put into operation three battleships of this type, but they were able to complete only two - Yamato and Musashi. The third, "Shinano", was converted into an aircraft carrier. The fate of the ships was sad. Japanese sailors joked that the Yamato-class battleships were bigger and more useless than even such huge and useless things as the Chinese Wall and the Egyptian pyramids.
- they were undeservedly forgotten and buried under the ashes of time. Who is now interested in the pogrom near Savo Island, artillery duels in the Java Sea and at Cape Esperance? After all, everyone is already convinced that naval battles in the Pacific are limited to a raid on Pearl Harbor and a battle at Midway Atoll.
In the real war in the Pacific, cruisers were one of the key operating forces of the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy - this class accounted for a large proportion of the sunk ships and vessels on both warring sides. The cruisers provided short-range air defense for squadrons and aircraft carrier formations, covered convoys and performed sentinel missions on sea lanes. If necessary, they were used as armored "evacuators", taking damaged ships out of the combat zone in tow. But the main value of the cruisers was discovered in the second half of the war: the six- and eight-inch guns did not stop for a minute, “spudding” the Japanese defensive perimeter in the Pacific Islands.
In the light and dark hours of the day, in all weather conditions, through the impenetrable wall of tropical downpour and the milky veil of fog, the cruisers continued to pour lead rain on the head of the unfortunate enemy, locked on tiny atolls in the middle of the Great Ocean. Multi-day artillery preparation and fire support of the landing force - it was in this role that the heavy and light cruisers of the US Navy lit up most brightly - both in the Pacific Ocean and in the European waters of the Old World. Unlike the monstrous battleships, the number of American cruisers participating in the battles approached eight dozen (the Yankees riveted 27 units alone on the Clevelands), and the absence of especially large-caliber artillery on board was compensated by the high rate of fire of eight-inch and smaller guns.
The cruisers had enormous destructive power - a 203 mm 8"/55 gun projectile had a mass of 150 kilograms and left the barrel at a speed exceeding two speeds of sound. The rate of fire of the 8"/55 naval gun reached 4 rds / min. In total, the heavy cruiser Baltimore carried nine similar artillery systems located in three main battery turrets.
In addition to impressive offensive capabilities, the cruisers had good armor, excellent survivability, and very high speeds of up to 33 knots (>60 km/h).
High speed and security was appreciated by the sailors. It is no coincidence that admirals so often kept their flag on cruisers - spacious working rooms and an amazing set of electronic equipment made it possible to equip a full-fledged flagship command post on board the ship.
USS Indianapolis (CA-35)
At the end of the war, it was the Indianapolis cruiser that was entrusted with the honorable and responsible mission of delivering nuclear charges to the Tinian Island Air Base.
The cruisers that took part in the Second World War are divided into two broad categories: built before and after the war (meaning the end of the 30s and later). As for the pre-war cruisers, a great many designs were united by one important circumstance: most of the pre-war cruisers were victims of the Washington and London Naval Agreements. As time has shown, all the countries that signed the agreement, one way or another, committed a forgery with a displacement of cruisers under construction, exceeding the prescribed limit of 10 thousand tons by 20% or more. Alas, they still didn’t get anything worthwhile - they couldn’t prevent the World War, but they spent a million tons of steel on flawed ships.
Like all "Washingtonians", American cruisers built in the 1920s - the first half of the 1930s had a skewed ratio of combat characteristics: low security (the thickness of the walls of the Pensacola cruiser's main battery turrets barely exceeded 60 mm) in exchange for firepower and a solid range swimming. In addition, the American Pensacola and Notrehampton projects turned out to be underloaded - the designers were so carried away by the "squeezing" of the ships that they could not effectively use the entire displacement reserve. It is no coincidence that in the Navy these masterpieces of shipbuilding received the eloquent name "tin".
Heavy cruiser Wichita
The American "Washington" cruisers of the second generation - "New Orleans" (built 7 units) and "Wichita" (the only ship of its type) turned out to be much more balanced combat units, however, also not without flaws. This time, the designers were able to maintain decent speed, armor and armament in exchange for such an intangible parameter as “survivability” (linear location of the power plant, denser layout - the ship had a high chance of dying from being hit by a single torpedo).
flared World War overnight canceled all world treaties. Throwing off the shackles of all kinds of restrictions, shipbuilders presented projects of balanced warships in the shortest possible time. Instead of the former "tin cans", formidable combat units appeared on the stocks - true masterpieces of shipbuilding. Armament, armor, speed, seaworthiness, cruising range, survivability - the engineers did not allow compromises in any of these factors.
The fighting qualities of these ships turned out to be so excellent that many of them continued to be used in the US Navy and other countries even three or four decades after the end of the war!
Frankly speaking, in the format of an open naval battle "ship against ship", each of the cruisers presented below will be stronger than any of their modern descendants. An attempt to "pit" some rusty "Cleveland" or "Baltimore" with missile cruiser The Ticonderoga will turn out to be deplorable for a modern ship - approaching a couple of tens of kilometers, the Baltimore will tear the Ticonderoga like a heating pad. The possibility of using a Ticonderoga missile with a firing range of 100 kilometers or more does not solve anything in this case - old armored ships are not very susceptible to such “primitive” weapons as warheads of the Harpoon or Exoset missiles.
I invite readers to get acquainted with the most enchanting examples of American wartime shipbuilding. Moreover, there is something to see there ...
Brooklyn-class light cruisers
Number of units in the series - 9
Years of construction - 1935-1939.
Full displacement 12,207 tons (design value)
Crew 868 people
Main power plant: 8 boilers, 4 Parsons turbines, 100,000 hp
Max travel 32.5 knots
Cruising range 10,000 miles at 15 knots.
Main armor belt - 140 mm, maximum armor thickness - 170 mm (walls of main battery turrets)
Armament:
- 15 x 152 mm main guns;
- 8 x 127 mm universal guns;
- 20-30 anti-aircraft guns "Bofors" caliber 40 mm *;
- 20 anti-aircraft guns "Oerlikon" caliber 20 mm *;
- 2 catapults, 4 seaplanes.
* typical Brooklyn air defense in the 40s
The close breath of the World War forced to reconsider approaches to the design of ships. At the beginning of 1933, the Yankees received alarming information about the laying of Mogami-class cruisers in Japan, armed with 15 six-inch guns in five towers. In reality, the Japanese committed a major forgery: the standard displacement of the Mogami was 50% more than stated - these were heavy cruisers, which, in the future, were planned to be armed with ten 203 mm guns (which happened with the start of the war).
But in the early 1930s, the Yankees did not know about the insidious plans of the samurai and, in order to keep up with the “probable enemy”, they rushed to design a light cruiser with five main battery turrets!
Despite the current restrictions of the Washington Treaty and non-standard design conditions, the Brooklyn-class cruiser turned out to be damn successful. An impressive offensive potential, coupled with excellent armor and good seaworthiness.
All nine built cruisers took an active part in World War II, while (just right to be surprised!) None of them died in battle. The Brooklyns fell under bomb and torpedo attacks, artillery fire and kamikaze attacks - alas, every time the ships remained afloat and returned to service after repairs. Off the coast of Italy, the Savannah cruiser was hit by a German Fritz-X super-bomb, however, this time, despite the colossal destruction and the death of 197 sailors, the ship was able to hobble to its base in Malta.
Cruiser "Phoenix" off the coast of the Philippines, 1944
Argentine cruiser "General Belgrano" (ex-Phoenix) with a bow section torn off by an explosion, May 2, 1982
The damaged cruiser Savannah off the coast of Italy, 1943. A 1400-kg radio-controlled bomb "Fritz-X" hit the roof of the third tower of the Civil Code
But the most amazing adventures fell to the lot of the cruiser "Phoenix" - this prankster deftly eluded the Japanese strike in Pearl Harbor Bay without getting a scratch. But he could not get away from fate - 40 years later he was sunk by a British submarine during the Falklands War.
Atlanta-class light cruisers
Number of units in the series - 8
Total displacement 7,400 tons
Crew 673 people
Main power plant: 4 boilers, 4 steam turbines, 75,000 hp
Max travel 33 knots
Cruising range 8,500 miles at 15 knots
Main armor belt 89 mm.
Armament:
- 16 x 127 mm universal guns;
- 16 automatic anti-aircraft guns of 27 mm caliber (the so-called "Chicago piano");
on the last ships of the series, they were replaced by 8 Bofors assault rifles;
- up to 16 anti-aircraft guns "Oerlikon" caliber 20 mm;
- 8 torpedo tubes of caliber 533 mm;
- by the end of the war, sonar and a set of depth charges appeared on the ships.
One of the most beautiful cruisers of World War II. Specialized air defense ships capable of unleashing 10,560 kg of red-hot steel on the enemy in a minute - a volley of a small cruiser was amazing.
Alas, in practice it turned out that the US Navy did not suffer from a lack of 127 mm universal anti-aircraft guns (hundreds of destroyers were armed with similar guns), but sometimes medium-caliber artillery was not enough. In addition to the weakness of weapons, "Atlanta" suffered from low security - the small size and too "thin" armor affected.
As a result, out of eight ships, two were killed in battle: the lead Atlanta was killed by torpedoes and enemy artillery fire in a skirmish near Guadalcanal (November 1942). Another - "Juno" was lost on the same day: the damaged ship was finished off by a Japanese submarine.
Cleveland-class light cruisers
The number of units in the series is 27. Another 3 were completed according to the improved Fargo project, 9 - as light
aircraft carriers Independence. The remaining dozen unfinished hulls were scrapped in 1945 - many of the cruisers by that time had been launched and completed afloat (the planned number of ships of the project was 52 units)
Years of construction - 1940-1945.
Gross displacement 14,130 tons (project)
Crew 1255 people
Main power plant: 4 boilers, 4 steam turbines, 100,000 hp
Max travel 32.5 knots
Cruising range 11,000 miles at 15 knots
Main armor belt 127 mm. Maximum armor thickness - 152 mm (frontal part of main gun turrets)
Armament:
- 12 x 152 mm guns of the main caliber;
- up to 28 anti-aircraft guns "Bofors";
- up to 20 Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns;
The first truly full-fledged US Navy cruiser. Powerful, balanced. With excellent security and offensive capabilities. Ignore the "easy" prefix. The Cleveland is as light as a cast iron engine. In the countries of the Old World, such ships are classified without exaggeration as "heavy cruisers". Behind the dry numbers "caliber of guns / thickness of armor" are hidden no less interesting things: the good location of anti-aircraft artillery, the relative space interior spaces, triple bottom in the area of \u200b\u200bengine rooms ...
But Cleveland had its own “Achilles heel” - overload and, as a result, problems with stability. The situation was so serious that on the last ships of the series they began to remove the conning tower, catapult and rangefinders from towers No. 1 and No. 4. Obviously, it was the problem with low stability that caused the short life of the Clevelands - almost all of them left the ranks of the US Navy before the start of the Korean War. Only three cruisers - "Galveston", "Oklahoma City" and "Little Rock" (in the title illustration for the article) underwent extensive modernization and continued to serve as cruisers-carriers of controlled missile weapons(SAM "Talos"). Managed to take part in the Vietnam War.
The Cleveland project went down in history as the most numerous series of cruisers. However, despite their high fighting qualities and the large number of ships built, the Clevelands arrived too late to see the real "smoke of naval battles"; among the trophies of these cruisers are only Japanese destroyers (it is worth noting that the Yankees never suffered from a lack of equipment - in the first phase of the war, pre-war cruisers actively fought, of which the Americans had as many as 40 pieces)
Most of the time, the Clevelands were engaged in shelling coastal targets - the Mariana Islands, Saipan, Mindanao, Tinian, Guam, Mindoro, Lingayen, Palawan, Formosa, Kwajalein, Palau, Bonin, Iwo Jima ... It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of these cruisers to the defeat of the Japanese defensive perimeter .
Launch of an anti-aircraft missile from the cruiser "Little Rock"
During the hostilities, none of the ships went to the bottom, however, serious losses could not be avoided: the Houston cruiser was badly damaged - having received two torpedoes on board, it took 6000 tons of water and barely reached the forward base on Ulithi Atoll. But Birmingham had a particularly hard time - the cruiser helped put out fires aboard the damaged aircraft carrier Princeton when the ammunition detonated on the aircraft carrier. The Birmingham was almost overturned by the blast wave, 229 people died on the cruiser, more than 400 sailors were injured.
Baltimore-class heavy cruisers
Number of units in the series - 14
Years of construction - 1940-1945.
Full displacement 17,000 tons
Crew 1700 people
GEM - four-shaft: 4 boilers, 4 steam turbines, 120,000 hp
Max travel 33 knots
Cruising range 10,000 miles at 15 knots
Main armor belt - 150 mm. Maximum armor thickness - 203 mm (GK turrets)
Armament:
- 9 x 203 mm main battery guns;
- 12 x 127 mm universal guns;
- up to 48 anti-aircraft guns "Bofors";
- up to 24 Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns;
- 2 catapults, 4 seaplanes.
"Baltimore" is not ketchup with pieces of ripe vegetables, this thing is much sharper. The apotheosis of American shipbuilding in the cruiser class. All prohibitions and restrictions have been removed. The design incorporates the latest achievements of the American military-industrial complex years. Radars, monstrous cannons, heavy armor. A superhero with maximum strengths and minimum weaknesses.
Like the lighter Cleveland-class cruisers, the Baltimores arrived only for "capping" in the Pacific - the first four cruisers entered service in 1943, another one in 1944, and the remaining nine in 1945. As a result, most of the damage to the Baltimores came from storms, typhoons, and crew navigational errors. Nevertheless, they made a certain contribution to the victory - heavy cruisers literally “hollowed out” the Marcus and Wake atolls, supported the landing force on countless islands and atolls of the Pacific Ocean, participated in raids to the Chinese coast and strikes against Japan.
Missile-artillery cruiser "Boston". Launch of anti-aircraft missile "Terrier", 1956
The war ended, and the Baltimores did not think of going to rest - heavy naval artillery soon came in handy in Korea and Vietnam. A number of this cruisers became the world's first carriers of anti-aircraft missiles - by 1955, the Boston and Canberra were armed with the Terrier air defense system. Three more ships underwent a global modernization under the Albany project with the complete dismantling of superstructures and artillery and subsequent conversion into missile cruisers.
Just 4 days after Indianapolis delivered atomic bombs to about. Tinian, the cruiser was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-58. Of the 1,200 crew members, only 316 survived. The disaster in the ocean was the largest in terms of the number of victims in the history of the US Navy
Small ones had a displacement of 250-550 tons. Their armament consisted of two to four torpedo tubes, one 45-105-mm gun, and one or two machine guns. The boats could dive to a depth of 80-90 m, and their autonomy was 10-20 days. Small boats operated mainly on coastal sea lanes.
Medium submarines, like, had a displacement of 500-1000 tons. They were armed with 6-8 torpedo tubes, one or two 45-105-mm guns, an anti-aircraft gun, and machine guns. The immersion depth reached 100 m, autonomy - 20-30 days. The full speed on the surface under the diesels was 14-17 knots, and under water, when the electric motors were running, up to 10 knots. Their cruising range was estimated at 3000-5000 miles. The famous German submarine of the VII series could go 6100 miles.
The Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany from having a submarine fleet. This explains such a small number of boats in her. But the Germans, of course, did not forget about the impressive results of the actions of their submariners in the First World War. They sank 5861 ships with a total tonnage of 13.2 million tons, which was 22 times the effect of the actions of the German cruisers.
Not passing until the mid-30s. to the open construction of submarines, the Germans did not stop work on improving the types of weapons and mechanisms with which they intended to equip their boats in the future. Traceless torpedoes, effective hydroacoustic equipment are being created, and engines are being improved. A cadre of submarine officers and underwater shipbuilding specialists is being trained. The new one will be in demand soon.
The development of means to combat magnetic mines was helped by the British in one case. Due to an inaccuracy made by German pilots when dropping mines, two of them ended up on the shallows at low tide and then fell into the hands of British engineers. The secret of mines was revealed, and the British managed to find a method of sweeping magnetic mines and find enough effective method ship degaussing. Therefore, they already felt relatively more confident on the high seas.
From the magnetic mines exposed by the Germans in the Baltic and in the Sevastopol Bay, the Soviet fleet suffered its first losses in June 1941. Mines were placed from aircraft, surface ships and submarines.
Civilian ships and boats were involved in anti-submarine defense and patrol service - mobilized according to the laws of war. In Germany, paramilitary fishing boats were specially built, which were used as patrol boats and hunters for submarines. They were armed with anti-aircraft guns and depth charges. Many of them were equipped with hydroacoustic equipment.
The escort service of destroyers, which solved the tasks not only of anti-submarine, but also air defense, demanded that the main artillery of these ships be made universal, capable of firing not only at sea, but also at air targets. During the course of the war, the British fleet began to replenish with a series of Zambezi-class destroyers equipped with four 114-mm universal guns. Most of the American destroyers were also armed with universal main battery artillery (127 mm). The new German destroyers designed during the war also had twin universal 128-mm guns.
The lead destroyer "Ognevoy" of the new project 30, equipped with more advanced equipment, became part of the Soviet fleet only in 1945.
The displacement of destroyers is increased from 500-1000 to 1500-2500 tons. To attack (lead) destroyers during enemy fire resistance, a special type (subclass) of these ships was included in the fleets as flagships - large destroyers, or leaders (table 6) . Unlike destroyers, the leaders were armed with a slightly larger number of guns, had an advantage in speed, and had a larger displacement. Separate types of leaders in terms of tactical and technical elements approached light cruisers. For example, the French leader "Mogador" in terms of firepower was not inferior to the Italian light cruiser "Attilio Regolo". Both ships had eight guns of 135-138 mm caliber. German large destroyers, laid down in 1938, had an almost "cruising" set of artillery (four 150-mm guns). The French destroyer "Fantask" developed a speed of up to 40 knots, and the Soviet leader "Leningrad" - up to 42 knots.
Under enemy cannon fire, the cruisers usually retained sufficient survivability. Ships damaged by artillery often perished as a result of the very first attacks by aircraft and submarines. The loss of speed made the wrecked ship easy prey.
As a rule, aircraft of various tactical purposes (fighters, bombers, torpedo bombers, anti-submarine aircraft) were based on aircraft carriers.
An important problem was to ensure the combat survivability of aircraft carriers. After all, these ships have become targets of priority strikes for the enemy. Therefore, shipbuilders paid great attention to the means of protecting aircraft carriers from fires and explosions as a result of the impact of bombs, torpedoes, shells and mines, as well as equipping them with powerful anti-aircraft artillery. Carrier-based fighter aircraft were used as active defense. Aircraft carriers occupy the first place among the destroyed and damaged large warships.
A real aircraft carrier was a ship that had a special flight deck, which allowed aircraft to take off and land without contact with the surface of the water. The first such aircraft carrier was the British Argus, originally built as a passenger liner. It entered the fleet in 1918. Its displacement was 14450 tons, and 15 aircraft were placed on board. In England, it was designed and built as an aircraft carrier (1922) "Hermes", also carrying 15 aircraft.
Nevertheless, the traditional importance of battleships as the most powerful warships was still taken into account in operational plans and reports, and influenced naval strategy. The notification of the appearance of an enemy battleship in any area added to the worries and anxieties of the fleet headquarters. So, despite the fact that the German battleship Tirpitz actually used its impressive artillery only once during the entire war (shelling Svalbard), information about its location and movement in the ocean always attracted the attention of the British Admiralty, made significant adjustments to the plans for using naval forces and aviation.
Battleships of the Second World War did not play an important role in the course of large-scale naval battles that shook the skies over the seas and oceans for exactly six years, from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945. They did not fulfill their function, did not justify the high hopes placed on them. But a lot of money was spent on their construction, a lot of money was spent on their maintenance. The fate of these imaginary "masters of the sea", the tools of failed domination, is very instructive, and can serve as an example of incorrect calculation, incorrect forecasting of the future nature of strategy and tactics, and irrational expenditure of economic resources.
The State of Naval Tactical Thought in the Interwar Period
From the time when the Anglo-Dutch naval battles thundered on the seas, and until the middle of the 20th century, the idea of an ideal ship existed and practically did not change in the minds of the command of the fleets of the whole world. The main tactical technique was formed at the same time, in the 17th century, and it consisted in lining up all the forces in a wake column, and then opening fire from all trunks. Whoever sinks more enemy units wins. Some confusion in the minds of naval commanders was introduced in 1916 by the Battle of Jutland, which took place according to a slightly different scenario. Performing vigorous maneuvering, the German squadron inflicted significant damage on the British forces, which had quantitative and qualitative superiority, suffering half as many losses and "beating on points" (to put it in sports terminology) the enemy. However, the British hurried to announce the victorious outcome of the battle, do not bother to analyze their, in general, unsuccessful actions. And you should have thought about it. Perhaps then the battleships of World War II would have been more effective weapons in the fight against fascism, or at least there would have been fewer of them, which would have freed up resources for other, more important defense programs. However, the winners of Jutland, the Germans, did not draw the right conclusions either. They (at least Hitler and his immediate circle) also considered power and size to be a priority factor in defeating the enemy. And other countries that faced heavy battles on the seas and oceans held similar views. They were all wrong.
What is a battleship?
The question is not superfluous, and in order to answer it, one should return to history, to those times when the ships (then still sailing, and later steam) of the opponents lined up in wake formations (that is, one after another), and the advantage of artillery weapons was a guarantee of victory. The formation was a straight line, this was dictated by the main principle of the battle, otherwise there would be interference in the line of fire, and the power of the guns could not be used to the full. The ships that had the largest number of guns lined up on decks were defined as "linear". The abbreviation "battleship" has taken root in the Russian fleet, consisting of the roots of the two words "linear" and "ship".
Sails gave way to steam engines and turbines, but the principle and purpose of a large artillery floating battery, protected by armor and fast, remained unchanged. It was possible to combine all the required fighting qualities only under the condition of large sizes. For this reason, the battleships of the Second World War had a monstrous displacement.
Battleships and the economy
The shipbuilders of the thirties, fulfilling the orders of the fleets and governments, tried to provide them with the most powerful and destructive weapons in the history of mankind. Not every country could afford to have at least one ship of this class; in addition to the defense function, it also played the role of a prestigious fetish. Owning battleships, the state asserted itself in its own power and demonstrated it to its neighbors. Today the owners nuclear weapons or aircraft carriers constitute a certain special club, access to which is allowed only to certain countries with the economic potential of the corresponding level. In the thirties, ships of the line served as a symbol of military power. Such an acquisition, not only was it very expensive, but also required additional allocations for ongoing maintenance, maintenance and training of crews and infrastructure. The fleets included units that survived the previous global conflict, but new ones were also launched. The battleships of the Second World War, that is, built between 1936 and 1945, were the focus of all the latest achievements of the technical thought of their time. Their presence served as a kind of guarantee of a new worldwide slaughter. It was possible to create such a powerful and expensive weapon only if it was to be used, and in the very near future. Otherwise, it makes no sense.
How many were there
For the entire period, called the pre-war (in fact, the war was already going on, in Spain and on Far East, for example), and all the years of the "hot phase" of the world conflict, the most developed countries, seeking to assert or restore their regional (or world) dominance, built twenty-seven units of ships belonging to the linear class.
Most of all, the Americans launched, as many as ten. This testifies to the quite serious intentions of the United States to maintain the level of its influence in remote areas of the World Ocean, however, without the large-scale direct participation of ground forces, which at that time were quite modest.
The second place is occupied by Britain with its five units. Good too.
Germany, having just rejected the terms of Versailles, launched four.
Italy, which claimed the role of the regional Mediterranean leader during the reign of Duce Mussolini, was able to master three large-capacity units. France managed to produce the same number of dreadnoughts.
Japanese battleships of World War II are represented by two units of the Yamato series. Relatively compared to other members of the "club", the imperial fleet was going to compensate for the small number of ships with the cyclopean size of the ships.
The figures given are actual. The plans were much bigger.
Soviet battleships of World War II were laid down in Tsarist Russia. Before the World War, the domestic fleet was developing rapidly, the modernization program launched then became the basis for growth for many years, after the revolution.
There were three battleships: "Paris Commune" ("Sevastopol"), "Marat" ("Petropavlovsk") and "October Revolution" ("Gangut"), all of the same project. They survived the hard times, albeit with damage, and served for some time after 1945. Thirty years of age for a warship is not considered advanced, and in 1941 they turned just that much. Thus, at the time of entry into the war, after the German attack, the USSR had three fairly modern units of ships of the linear class, inherited "by inheritance" from the tsarist regime. But this does not mean that the leadership of the USSR had no plans to strengthen the Navy. They were, and not only plans, but also quite specific actions. Stalin was preparing the most ambitious project in the history of domestic shipbuilding.
USSR plans
According to the government shipbuilding program adopted in 1936, over the next seven years, Soviet shipyards were to launch no less than 533 naval units. Of these, there are 24 battleships. Maybe they were going to build them in accordance with the possibilities, smaller and more modest, so to speak, in the "economy version"? No, the planned displacement is 58.5 thousand tons. Reservation - from 375 mm (belt) to 420 (base of gun turrets). Project "A" (No. 23) was calculated with the help of American engineers invited to the USSR in 1936 with appropriate pay. The Italian specialists with whom they tried to cooperate at the beginning were refused, and not because the Nazis (this circumstance did not prevent the purchase of the “blue cruiser”), they simply “did not pull” the scale of the plan. The guns were ordered from the Barricades plant (Stalingrad). Nine giant cannons of the main caliber 406-mm were supposed to fire shells of 11 centners each. Three armored decks. Only the latest battleships of Japan during the Second World War could compete with such power, but no one knew about them then, they were deeply classified, and became an unpleasant surprise for the US Navy in December 1941.
Why did the plans fail?
Battleship " Soviet Union"Project "A" was laid down in Leningrad by plant No. 15 in the summer of 1938, two units ("Soviet Belarus", " Soviet Russia”) began to be built in Molotovsk (today this city is called Severodvinsk), another one - in Nikolaev (“Soviet Ukraine”). So I. V. Stalin cannot be reproached for projecting and manilovism, the plans set by the party were steadily carried out. Another question is that there were objective difficulties, for which, quite possibly, some comrades who did not cope with the task subjectively answered before the law. At the time of the German attack, the ships under construction were in varying degrees of readiness, but no more than a fifth of the total amount of work. The most modern battleships of the USSR of World War II never got into combat formation, serving as donors for other important defense programs. Their guns and armor plates were used, but they themselves never went to sea. There was not enough time and experience, the development of technologies took too long a period.
What if they could?
JV Stalin was often reproached (and continues to do so) for not preparing the country to repel the German invasion. To some extent, these claims can be considered justified. However, given the situation that developed in the first months of Hitler’s aggression, today we can conclude that even the most modern and large Soviet battleships of World War II could not have influenced the course of hostilities that took place mainly on the land front. Already in the summer of 1941, the operational area of the Baltic Sea, due to its geographical features (closeness), was closed with minefields and blocked by the submarine forces of the Kriegsmarine. The battleships of the USSR during the Second World War that were in service were used as stationary batteries, similar to coastal ones. With their heavy main-caliber guns, they inflicted damage on the advancing enemy, but aviation and long-range artillery succeeded more in this. In addition, going to sea with such a huge ship is fraught with great risk. He, like a magnet, attracts to himself all the forces of the enemy, who calms down only by letting him go to the bottom. A sad example is the many battleships of the Second World War, which became a steel grave for their crews.
The Germans and their ships of the line
Not only Stalin suffered from gigantomania, but also his main opponent, the German Chancellor. He had great hopes for the German battleships of World War II, their construction was too expensive, but it was they who were supposed to crush the naval power of the arrogant Britain. This, however, did not happen. After the loss of the Bismarck in 1941, shot by a superior enemy, the Fuhrer treated the Tirpitz as an expensive and thoroughbred fighting dog, which is a pity to launch into an ordinary dog dump, but you still have to feed it, and it is used as a deterrent. For a long time, the second battleship annoyed the British until they dealt with it, bombing the beauty and pride of the Kriegsmarine in an obscure Norwegian fjord.
So the battleships of Germany rested at the bottom. In the Second World War, they got the role of huge animals, hunted down by a pack of smaller, but more agile predators. A similar fate awaited many other ships of this class. Their loss entailed huge casualties, they often died along with the crews in full force.
Japan
Who built the largest and most modern battleships of World War II? Japan. "Yamato" and the second ship of the series, which became the last, "Musashi", had a titanic displacement (total) in excess of 70 thousand tons. These giants were also armed with the most powerful guns of the main caliber 460 mm. Armor also knew no equal - from 400 to 650 mm. To destroy such a monster, dozens of direct hits from torpedoes, aerial bombs or artillery shells were required. The Americans had all these deadly weapons in sufficient quantities, and the circumstances were such that they were able to use them. They were angry at the Japanese for Pearl Harbor and knew no pity.
USA
US battleships of World War II are represented by ships of various designs, including the newest ones, launched between 1941 and 1943. These primarily include the class "Iowa", represented, in addition to the head unit, by three more ("New Jersey", "Wisconsin" and "Missouri"). On the deck of one of them, namely the Missouri, the last point was put in the six-year world war. The displacement of these giant ships- 57.5 thousand tons, they had excellent seaworthiness, but after the advent of rocket weapons, they were practically unsuitable for modern naval combat, which did not prevent them from using their artillery power for punitive purposes against countries that did not have the ability to effectively resist them. They served for a long time, and fought along different coasts:
- "New Jersey" - in Vietnamese and Lebanese.
- "Missouri" and "Wisconsin" - at the Iraqi.
Today, all three of the last US battleships of World War II are at their moorings and receiving tourist visitors.
