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The firepower of a battleship demonstrated by USS Iowa (ca. 1985)

A battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with a main battery consisting of the largest calibre of guns. Battleships are larger, better armed, and better armored than cruisers and destroyers. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Battleship may refer to: Battleship Battleship (game) Battleship (rocketry) Battleship (puzzle) Battleship (drinking game) Category: ... Image File history File linksMetadata BB61_USS_Iowa_BB61_broadside_USN.jpg‎ USS Iowa fires a full broadside of her 16-inch guns. ... Image File history File linksMetadata BB61_USS_Iowa_BB61_broadside_USN.jpg‎ USS Iowa fires a full broadside of her 16-inch guns. ... USS Iowa (BB-61), the lead ship of her class of battleship, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy, but second to be commissioned, to be named in honor of the 29th state. ... For other uses, see Armour (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Remains of a battery of English cannon from Youghal, County Cork. ... The word caliber (American English) or calibre (British English) comes from the Italian calibro, itself from the Arabic quâlib, meaning mould. ... This article is about the video game. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (really an uprated guided missile destroyer), launched in 1992. ... USS McFaul underway in the Atlantic Ocean. ...

Battleship design continually evolved to incorporate and adapt technological advances to maintain an edge. The word battleship was coined around 1794 and is a shortened form of line-of-battle ship, the dominant wooden warship during the Age of Sail.^[1] The term came into formal use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ironclad warship,^[2] now referred to as pre-dreadnought battleships. In 1906 the launching of HMS Dreadnought heralded a revolution in battleship design, and battleships constructed subsequently were referred to as dreadnoughts. Ships of the line were 1st, 2nd, or 3rd-rated ships in the rating system of the Royal Navy. ... The age of sail is the period in which international trade and naval warfare were both dominated by sailing ships. ... Ironclad (and broadside ironclad) redirects here. ... USS Massachusetts, a pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1893 The term pre-dreadnought refers to the last type of battleship before the British Royal Navys HMS Dreadnought (1906). ... Six ships and one submarine of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Dreadnought in the expectation that they would dread nought but God. ... HMS Audacious, a British super-dreadnought launched in 1912 A dreadnought was a battleship of the early 20th century, of a type modelled after the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought of 1906. ...

Battleships were a potent symbol of naval dominance and national might, and for decades the battleship was a major factor in both diplomacy and military strategy.^[3] The global arms race in battleship construction in the early 20th century was one of the causes of World War I, which saw a clash of huge battle fleets at the Battle of Jutland. The Naval Treaties of the 1920s and 1930s limited the number of battleships but did not end the evolution of design. Both the Allies and the Axis Powers deployed battleships of old construction and new during World War II. Naval redirects here. ... This article is about negotiations. ... This article is about real and historical warfare. ... The term arms race in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for military supremacy. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Belligerents Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy High Seas Fleet of the Kaiserliche Marine Commanders Sir John Jellicoe Sir David Beatty Reinhard Scheer Franz von Hipper Strength 28 battleships 9 battlecruisers 8 armoured cruisers 26 light cruisers 78 destroyers 1 minelayer 1 seaplane carrier 16 battleships 5 battlecruisers 6 pre... The Limitation of Naval Armament included many separate treaties. ... This article is about the independent states that comprised the Allies. ... Black: Zenith of the Axis Powers Capital Not applicable Political structure Military alliance Historical era World War II  - Tripartite Pact September 27, 1940  - Anti-Comintern Pact November 25, 1936  - Pact of Steel May 22, 1939  - Dissolved 1945 This article is about the independent countries (states) that comprised the Axis powers. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Nevertheless, some historians and naval theorists question the value of the dreadnought.^[4] Apart from Jutland, there were few great dreadnought clashes. Despite their great firepower and protection, dreadnoughts remained vulnerable to much smaller, cheaper ordnance and craft: initially the torpedo and the naval mine, and later aircraft and the guided missile.^[5] The growing range of engagement led to the battleship's replacement as the leading type of warship by the aircraft carrier during World War II; battleships were retained by the United States Navy into the Cold War only for fire support purposes. These last battleships were removed from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register in March 2006.^[6] The torpedo, historically called a locomotive torpedo, is a self-propelled explosive projectile weapon, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater toward a target, and designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target. ... Polish wz. ... Flying machine redirects here. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Missile. ... Four aircraft carriers, (bottom-to-top) Principe de Asturias, amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, USS Forrestal and light V/STOL carrier HMS Invincible, showing size differences of late 20th century carriers An aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and recover aircraft, acting as a sea-going airbase. ... USN redirects here. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Fire Support is a military term referring to long-range firepower provided to a front-line unit. ... The Naval Vessel Register (NVR), official inventory of ships and service craft in custody or titled by the United States Navy, traces its origin back to the 1880s. ...

The ship of the line

A ship of the line was a large, unarmoured wooden sailing ship on which was mounted a battery of up to 120 smoothbore guns and carronades. The ship of the line was a gradual evolution of a basic design that dates back to the 1400s, and, apart from growing in size, it changed little between the adoption of line of battle tactics in the early 17th century and the end of the sailing battleship's heyday in the 1830s. From 1794, the alternative term 'line of battle ship' was contracted (informally at first) to 'battle ship' or 'battleship'.^[1] Ships of the line were 1st, 2nd, or 3rd-rated ships in the rating system of the Royal Navy. ... For other uses, see Wood (disambiguation). ... Remains of a battery of English cannon from Youghal, County Cork. ... Smoothbore refers to a firearm which does not have a rifled barrel. ... This article is about the video game. ... 24-pounder carronade (140 mm) 68-pounder British naval carronade The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK used from the 1770s to the 1860s. ... British and Danish ships in line of battle at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801). ...

Le Napoléon (1850), the first steam battleship

The sheer number of guns fired broadside meant that a sailing battleship could wreck any wooden vessel, smashing its hull and masts and killing its crew. However, the effective range of the guns was as little as a few hundred yards, and the battle tactics of sailing ships depended entirely on the wind. Le Napoléon was a battleship of the French Navy, and the first purpose-built steam battleship in the world [1]. She is also considered as the first true steam battleship, and the first screw battleship ever [2]. Launched in 1850, she was the lead ship of a class of... USS Iowa Broadside (1984) A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous (or near simultaneous) fire in naval warfare. ... A hull is the body or frame of a ship or boat. ... mizzen mast, mainmast and foremast Grand Turk The mast of a sailing ship is a tall vertical pole which supports the sails. ...

The first major change to the ship of the line concept was the introduction of steam power as an auxiliary propulsion system. Steam power was gradually introduced to the navy in the first half of the 19th century, initially for small craft and later for frigates. The French Navy introduced steam to the line of battle with the 90-gun Le Napoléon in 1850^[7] — the first true steam battleship.^[8] Napoleon was armed as a conventional ship-of-the-line, but her steam engines could give her a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h), regardless of the wind conditions: a potentially decisive advantage in a naval engagement. The introduction of steam accelerated the growth in size of battleships. France and the United Kingdom were the only two countries to develop fleets of wooden steam screw battleships, although several other navies made some use of a mixture of screw battleships and paddle-steamer frigates. These included Russia, Turkey, Sweden, Naples, Prussia, Denmark and Austria.^[3] A steam engine is a heat engine that makes use of the potential energy that exists as pressure in steam, converting it to mechanical work. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... For the bird, see Frigatebird. ... The French Navy, officially called the National Navy (French: Marine Nationale) is the maritime arm of the French military. ... Le Napoléon was a battleship of the French Navy, and the first purpose-built steam battleship in the world [1]. She is also considered as the first true steam battleship, and the first screw battleship ever [2]. Launched in 1850, she was the lead ship of a class of... Capital Naples Government Monarchy King  - 1285-1309 Charles II  - 1815-1816 Ferdinand I History  - Established 1285  - Union with Sicily 1816 The Kingdom of Naples was an informal name of the polity officially known as the Kingdom of Sicily which existed on the mainland of southern Italy after of the secession... Anthem Preußenlied, Heil dir im Siegerkranz (both unofficial) The Kingdom of Prussia at its greatest extent, at the time of the formation of the German Empire, 1871 Capital Berlin Government Monarchy King  - 1701 — 1713 Frederick I (first)  - 1888 — 1918 William II (last) Prime minister  - 1848 Adolf Heinrich von Arnim...

Ironclads

Main article: Ironclad warship

The French La Gloire (1859), the first ocean–going ironclad warship.

The adoption of steam power was only one of a number of technological advances which revolutionized warship design in the 19th century. The ship of the line was overtaken by the ironclad: powered by steam, protected by metal armor, and armed with guns firing high-explosive shells. Ironclad (and broadside ironclad) redirects here. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (904x471, 498 KB) The French ironclad La Gloire. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (904x471, 498 KB) The French ironclad La Gloire. ... The French Navys La Gloire (Glory) was the first ocean-going ironclad battleship in history. ... Ironclad warships, frequently shortened to just ironclads, were ships sheathed with thick iron plates for protection. ... Ironclad (and broadside ironclad) redirects here. ... Shells of WWI. From left to right: 90 mm fragmentation shell - 120 mm pig iron incendiary shell 77/14 model - 75 mm high explosive shell model 16 - 75 mm fragmentation shell A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to a bullet, contains an explosive or other filling...

Explosive shells

Wooden-hulled ships stood up comparatively well to solid shot, as shown in the 1866 battle of Lissa, where the old Austrian steam battleship Kaiser ranged across a confused battlefield, rammed an Italian ironclad and took a pounding of several 300 pound shots at point blank range. Despite losing her bowsprit and her foremast, and being set on fire, she was ready for action again the very next day.^[9] By contrast, guns which fired explosive or incendiary shells were a major threat to wooden ships, and these weapons became widespread in the 1840s. In the Crimean War, the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroyed a flotilla of wooden Turkish ships with explosive shells at the Battle of Sinop in 1853. Later in the war, French ironclad floating batteries used similar weapons against the defenses at the Battle of Kinburn.^[10] Lead shot is small balls of lead, traditional made using a shot tower. ... Combatants Italy Austria Commanders Carlo di Persano Wilhelm von Tegetthoff Strength 12 ironclads 10 cruisers 4 gunboats (approx 68,000 tons) 7 ironclads 1 steam battleship 6 cruisers 12 gunboats (approx 50,000 tons) Casualties 2 ironclads sunk 620 dead 40 wounded 38 dead 138 wounded The Battle of Lissa... Look up pound in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Bowsprit of the Falls of Clyde, showing the dolphin striker, the use of chain for the bobstays, and three furled jibs. ... Combatants Allies: Second French Empire British Empire Ottoman Empire Kingdom of Sardinia Russian Empire Bulgarian volunteers Casualties 90,000 French 35,000 Turkish 17,500 British 2,194 Sardinian killed, wounded and died of disease ~134,000 killed, wounded and died of disease The Crimean War (1853–1856) was fought... Black Sea Fleet sleeve ensign. ... The naval Battle of Sinope (or Sinop) occurred on 30 November 1853 at Sinop, a sea port in northern Turkey, when Imperial Russian battleships annihiliated a force of Ottoman Empire frigates. ... The Battle of Kinburn was a naval engagement during the final stage of the Crimean War. ...

Iron armor and construction

HMS Warrior (1860), the Royal Navy's first ocean–going ironclad warship.

The development of high-explosive shells made the use of iron armor plate on warships necessary. In 1859 France launched La Gloire, the first ocean-going ironclad warship. She had the profile of a ship of the line, cut to one deck due to weight considerations. Although made of wood and reliant on sail for most of her journeys, La Gloire was fitted with a propeller, and her wooden hull was protected by a layer of thick iron armor.^[11] Gloire prompted further innovation from the Royal Navy, anxious to prevent France from gaining a technological lead. HMS Warrior - Portsmouth, England Photo taken October 3, 2002 copyright Richard Gallagher. ... HMS Warrior - Portsmouth, England Photo taken October 3, 2002 copyright Richard Gallagher. ... HMS Warrior was the first iron-hulled, armour-plated warship, built for the Royal Navy in response to the first ironclad warship, the French La Gloire, launched only a year earlier. ... For other uses, see Armour (disambiguation). ... The French Navys La Gloire (Glory) was the first ocean-going ironclad warship in history. ... This article is about the navy of the United Kingdom. ...

The superior armored frigate Warrior followed La Gloire by only fourteen months, and both nations embarked on a program of building new ironclads and converting existing screw ships of the line to armored frigates.^[12] Within two years, Italy, Austria, Spain and Russia had all ordered ironclad warships, and by the time of the famous clash of the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia at the Battle of Hampton Roads at least eight navies possessed ironclad ships.^[3] HMS Warrior was the first iron-hulled, armour-plated warship, built for the Royal Navy in response to the first ironclad warship, the French La Gloire, launched only a year earlier. ... USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy. ... CSS Virginia was an ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War (built using the remains of the scuttled USS Merrimack). ... Combatants United States of America Confederate States of America Commanders John L. Worden Franklin Buchanan Catesby R. Jones Strength 1 ironclad, 3 wooden warships 1 ironclad, 2 wooden warships, 1 gunboat, 2 tenders Casualties 2 wooden warships sunk, 1 wooden warship damaged 261 killed 108 wounded 1 ironclad damaged 7...

The French Redoutable (1876), the first battleship to use steel as the main building material^[13]

Navies experimented with the positioning of guns, in turrets (like the USS Monitor), central-batteries or barbettes, or with the ram as the principal weapon. As steam technology developed, masts were gradually removed from battleship designs. By the mid-1870s steel was used as a construction material alongside iron and wood. The French Navy's Redoutable, laid down in 1873 and launched in 1876, was a central battery and barbette warship which became the first battleship in the world to use steel as the principal building material.^[14] Image File history File links LeRedoutablePhoto. ... Image File history File links LeRedoutablePhoto. ... The Redoutable (1876) was a central battery and barbette ship of the French Navy. ... Turret (highlighted) attached to a tower on a baronial building in Scotland In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects from the wall of a building, such as a medieval castle or baronial house. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A barbette is the fixed area underneath a rotating gun turret on a warship. ... A Naval ram was a weapon carried by varied types of ships, dating back to antiquity. ... The Redoutable (1876) was a central battery and barbette ship of the French Navy. ... Remains of a battery of English cannon from Youghal, County Cork. ...

The pre-dreadnought battleship

Main article: Pre-dreadnought battleship

Pre-Dreadnought battleship Mikasa (1902), flagship of the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Tsushima, in 1905

Diagram of HMS Agamemnon (1908), a typical late pre-dreadnought battleship

By the 1890s, there was an increasing similarity between battleship designs, and the type now known as the 'pre-dreadnought battleship' emerged. These were heavily armored ships, mounting a mixed battery of guns in turrets, and without sails. The typical first-class battleship of the pre-dreadnought era displaced 15,000 to 17,000 tons, had a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h), and an armament of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns in two turrets fore and aft with a mixed-caliber secondary battery amidships around the superstructure.^[2] An early design with superficial similarity to the pre-dreadnought is the British Devastation-class of 1871.^[15] However, it was not until the 1890s that the widespread adoption of steel construction and hardened steel armor meant that a turret-ship could combine heavy armament and protection with high speed and good seakeeping.^{[citation needed]} USS Massachusetts, a pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1893 The term pre-dreadnought refers to the last type of battleship before the British Royal Navys HMS Dreadnought (1906). ... Image File history File links Japanese battleship Mikasa. ... Image File history File links Japanese battleship Mikasa. ... Mikasa (三笠) is a pre-Dreadnought battleship, formerly of the Imperial Japanese Navy, launched in Britain in 1900. ... Combatants Empire of Japan Russian Empire Commanders Heihachiro Togo Zinovi Rozhdestvenski # Nikolai Nebogatov Strength 4 battleships 27 cruisers destroyers and auxiliary vessels 8 battleships 3 coastal battleships 8 cruisers Casualties 117 dead 583 injured 3 torpedo boats sunk 4,380 dead 5,917 captured 21 ships sunk 7 captured 6... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 587 pixel Image in higher resolution (1173 × 861 pixel, file size: 83 KB, MIME type: image/png) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Battleship Lord Nelson... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 587 pixel Image in higher resolution (1173 × 861 pixel, file size: 83 KB, MIME type: image/png) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Battleship Lord Nelson... HMS Agamemnon was a Lord Nelson class battleship launched in 1906 and completed in 1908, at a cost of £1,652,347. ... Look up ton in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The two British Devastation-class battleships of the 1870s were the first class of ocean-going capital ship which did not carry sails, and the first which mounted the entire main armament on top of the hull rather than inside it. ...

The slow-firing 12-inch (305 mm) main guns were the principal weapons for battleship-to-battleship combat. The intermediate and secondary batteries had two roles. Against major ships, it was thought a 'hail of fire' from quick-firing secondary weapons could distract enemy gun crews by inflicting damage to the superstructure, and they would be more effective against smaller ships such as cruisers. Smaller guns (12-pounders and smaller) were reserved for protecting the battleship against the threat of torpedo attack from destroyers and torpedo boats.^[16] USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (really an uprated guided missile destroyer), launched in 1992. ... USS McFaul underway in the Atlantic Ocean. ... A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to launch torpedoes at larger surface ships. ...

The beginning of the pre-dreadnought era coincided with an attempt by Britain to re-assert her naval dominance. For many years previously, Britain had taken naval supremacy for granted. Expensive naval projects were criticised by political leaders of all inclinations.^[3] However, in 1888 a war scare with France and the build-up of the Russian navy gave added impetus to naval construction, and the British Naval Defence Act of 1889 laid down a new fleet including eight new battleships. The principle that Britain's navy should be more powerful than the two next most powerful fleets combined was established. This policy was designed to deter France and Russia from building more battleships, but both nations nevertheless expanded their fleets with more and better pre-dreadnoughts in the 1890s.^[3]

In the last years of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th, the escalation in the building of battleships became an arms race between Britain and Germany. The German naval laws of 1890 and 1898 authorised a fleet of 38 battleships, a vital threat to the balance of naval power.^[3] Britain answered with further shipbuilding, but by the end of the pre-dreadnought era, British supremacy at sea had markedly weakened. In 1883, the United Kingdom had 38 battleships, twice as many as France and almost as many as the rest of the world put together. By 1897, Britain's lead was far smaller due to competition from France, Germany, and Russia, as well as the development of pre-dreadnought fleets in Italy, the United States and Japan.^[17] Turkey, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Chile and Brazil all had second-rate fleets led by armored cruisers, coastal defence ships or monitors.^[18] The term arms race in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for military supremacy. ... Schematic section of a typical armoured cruiser with an armoured upper and middle deck and side belt (red), lateral protective coal bunkers (grey) and a double-bottom of watertight compartments. ... Dutch coastal defence ship Hertog Hendrik Coastal defence ships (sometimes called coast-defence battleships) were warships built for the purpose of coastal defence, mostly in the period 1860-1920. ... A monitor was a special form of warship, little more than a self-propelled floating artillery platform that could move close inshore and give its support to military operations on land. ...

Pre-dreadnoughts continued the technical innovations of the ironclad. Turrets, armor plate, and steam engines were all improved over the years, and torpedo tubes were introduced. A small number of designs, including the American Kearsarge and Virginia classes, experimented with all or part of the 8-inch intermediate battery superimposed over the 12-inch primary. Results were poor: recoil factors and blast effects resulted in the 8-inch battery being completely unusable, and the inability to train the primary and intermediate armaments on different targets led to significant tactical limitations. Even though such innovative designs saved weight (a key reason for their inception), they proved too cumbersome in practice.^[19] // The term steam engine may also refer to an entire railroad steam locomotive. ... The torpedo, historically called a locomotive torpedo, is a self-propelled explosive projectile weapon, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater toward a target, and designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target. ... Kearsage-class battleships were battleships built for the United States Navy at the beginning of the 20th century. ... The Virginia class battleship was designed to be the first truly seagoing US battleships. ...

The Dreadnought era

Main article: Dreadnought

In 1906, the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought, created as a result of pressure from Admiral John A. Fisher, made existing battleships obsolete. Combining an 'all-big-gun' armament of ten 12-inch (305mm) rifles with unprecedented speed and protection, she prompted navies worldwide to re-evaluate their battleship building programmes. While the Japanese had laid down an all-big-gun battleship (Satsuma) in 1904, ^[20] and the concept of an all-big-gun ship had been in circulation for several years, it had yet to be validated in combat. Dreadnought sparked a new arms race, principally between Britain and Germany but reflected worldwide, as the new class of warships became a crucial element of national power. HMS Audacious, a British super-dreadnought launched in 1912 A dreadnought was a battleship of the early 20th century, of a type modelled after the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought of 1906. ... The sixth HMS Dreadnought of the Royal Navy was a revolutionary battleship which entered service in 1906. ... John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (January 25, 1841 – July 10, 1920), commonly known as Jackie Fisher, was a British admiral known for his efforts at naval reform. ... A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ... The term arms race in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for military supremacy. ...

Technical development continued rapidly through the dreadnought era, with step changes in armament, armor and propulsion. Ten years after Dreadnought's commissioning, much more powerful ships, the super-dreadnoughts, were being built.

The origin of Dreadnought

Vittorio Cuniberti

In the first years of the 20th century, several navies worldwide experimented with the idea of a new type of battleship with a uniform armament of very heavy guns. Image File history File links Vittoriocuniberti001. ... Image File history File links Vittoriocuniberti001. ...

General Vittorio Cuniberti, the Italian Navy's chief naval architect, articulated the concept of an all-big-gun battleship in 1903. When the Regia Marina did not pursue his ideas, Cuniberti wrote an article in Jane's proposing an "ideal" future British battleship, a large armored warship of 17,000 tons, armed solely with a single caliber main battery (twelve 12-inch {305 mm} guns), carrying 300-millimetre (12 in) belt armor, and capable of 24 knots (44 km/h).^[21] Vittorio Cuniberti was an Italian military officer who envisioned the concept of the all big gun battleship, best exemplified by HMS Dreadnought. ... The Italian Regia Marina (literally: Royal Navy) dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification. ... Janes Fighting Ships is an annual reference book (also published online, on CD and microfiche) of information on all the worlds warships arranged by nation, including information on ships names, dimensions, armaments, silhouettes and photographs, etc. ... Belt armor is armor added to the hulls of battleships. ... A knot is a unit of speed abbreviated kt or kn. ...

The Russo-Japanese War provided operational experience to validate the 'all-big-gun' concept. At the Yellow Sea and Tsushima, pre-dreadnoughts exchanged volleys at ranges of 7,600–12,000 yd (7 to 11 km), beyond the range of the secondary batteries. It is often held that these engagements demonstrated the importance of the 12-inch (305 mm) gun over its smaller counterparts, though some historians take the view secondary batteries were just as important as the larger weapons.^[3] Belligerents Russian Empire Principality of Montenegro [1] Empire of Japan Commanders Emperor Nicholas II Aleksey Kuropatkin Stepan Makarov â€  Emperor Meiji Oyama Iwao Heihachiro Togo The Russo–Japanese War (Japanese: Nichi-Ro Sensō, Russian: Russko-Yaponskaya Voyna, Chinese: RìézhànzhÄ“ng, February 10, 1904–September 5, 1905) was a conflict... Combatants Empire of Japan Russian Empire Commanders Admiral Heihachiro Togo, Vice Admiral Shigeto Dewa Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft Strength 4 battleships, 2 armored cruisers, 8 cruisers, 18 destroyers, 30 torpedo boats 6 battleships, 4 cruisers, 14 destroyers Casualties 226 killed and wounded 343 killed and wounded Location within China The Battle... Combatants Empire of Japan Russian Empire Commanders Heihachiro Togo Zinovi Rozhdestvenski # Nikolai Nebogatov Strength 4 battleships 27 cruisers destroyers and auxiliary vessels 8 battleships 3 coastal battleships 8 cruisers Casualties 117 dead 583 injured 3 torpedo boats sunk 4,380 dead 5,917 captured 21 ships sunk 7 captured 6... A yard (abbreviation: yd) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... “km” redirects here. ...

The Imperial Japanese Navy's Satsuma (1906); an early design for this ship specified "all-big-gun" armament, but financial pressures precluded that.^{[citation needed]}

The Imperial Japanese Navy's battleship Satsuma became the first ship in the world designed (1904) as an all-big-gun battleship. However, she was never armed to specification, due to the financial pressures of the Russo-Japanese War, and was completed with a mixed armament. For this reason, the new all-big-gun battleships would not be called Satsumas but Dreadnoughts, after the first such ship actually completed, in 1906.^[22] Satsuma also retained triple-expansion engines, though her sister ship Aki, completed in 1911, used turbines.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links IJN_Satsuma. ... Image File history File links IJN_Satsuma. ... For Combined Fleet, please see that article. ... Satsuma ) was a dreadnought type battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy , designed and built in Japan by the Yokosuka Naval Yards. ... For Combined Fleet, please see that article. ... Satsuma ) was a dreadnought type battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy , designed and built in Japan by the Yokosuka Naval Yards. ... The IJN Aki (安芸) was a dreadnought type battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, designed and built in Japan by the Kure Naval Yards. ...

As early as 1904, First Sea Lord Sir John A. "Jackie" Fisher had been convinced of the need for fast, powerful ships with an all-big-gun armament. If Tsushima influenced his thinking, it was to persuade him of the need to standardise on 12 inch guns.^[3] Fisher's concern was submarines and destroyers equipped with torpedoes that outranged battleship guns, making speed imperative for capital ships.^[3] Fisher's preferred option was his brainchild, the battlecruiser: lightly armored but heavily armed with eight 12 inch guns and propelled to 25 knots (46 km/h) by steam turbines.^[23] Sir Jonathon Band, the current First Sea Lord The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service. ... John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (January 25, 1841 – July 10, 1920), commonly known as Jackie Fisher, was a British admiral known for his efforts at naval reform. ... For other uses, see Submarine (disambiguation). ... USS McFaul underway in the Atlantic Ocean. ... The capital ships of a navy are its important warships; the ones with the heaviest firepower and armor. ... [[Image:HMS Hood and HMS Barham. ... A rotor of a modern steam turbine, used in a power plant A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into useful mechanical work. ...

It was to prove this revolutionary technology that Dreadnought was designed in January 1905, laid down in October 1905 and sped to completion by 1906. She carried ten 12 inch guns, had an 11-inch armour belt, and was the first large ship powered by turbines. She mounted her guns in five turrets; three on the centerline (one forward, two aft) and two on the wings, giving her at her launch twice the broadside of anything else afloat. She retained a number of 12-pound (3-inch, 76 mm) quick-firing guns for use against destroyers and torpedo-boats. Her armor was heavy enough for her to go head-to-head with any other ship afloat in a gun battle, and conceivably win.^[24] Wing Turrets were secondary gun turrets placed on pre-dreadnaught and early dreadnaught battleships in an attempt to increase the power of their broadsides. ... USS Iowa Broadside (1984) A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous (or near simultaneous) fire in naval warfare. ... This article explains certain terms used for British ordnance during World War II. BL Bl stood for Breech loading. The shell was loaded and then the propellant after in cloth bags. ...

HMS Dreadnought (1906)

Dreadnought was to have been followed by three Invincible-class battlecruisers, their construction delayed to allow lessons from Dreadnought to be used in their design. While Fisher may have intended Dreadnought to be the last Royal Navy battleship,^[3] the design was so successful he found little support for his plan to switch to a battlecruiser navy. Although there were some problems with the ship (the wing turrets had limited arcs of fire and strained the hull when firing a full broadside, and the top of the thickest armour belt lay below the waterline at full load), the Royal Navy promptly commissioned another six ships to a similar design in the Bellerophon and St Vincent classes. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1385x879, 98 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): HMS Dreadnought (1906) Wing turret ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1385x879, 98 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): HMS Dreadnought (1906) Wing turret ... The sixth HMS Dreadnought of the Royal Navy was a revolutionary battleship which entered service in 1906. ... The Invincible class was the first type of true battlecruisers built anywhere in the world. ... The Bellerophon class battleships consisted of three ships built in 1906 and 1907 for the Royal Navy. ... The St Vincent class consisted of three ships laid down in 1908, and completed between May 1909 and April 1910. ...

An American design, South Carolina, authorized in 1905 and laid down in December 1906, was another one of the first dreadnoughts, but she and her sister, Michigan, were not launched until 1908. Both used triple-expansion engines and had superior layout of their super-firing main battery, dispensing with Dreadnought's wing turrets. They thus retained the same broadside, despite having two fewer guns. USS South Carolina (BB-26), the lead ship of her class of dreadnought battleship, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the eighth state. ... USS Michigan (BB-27), a South Carolina class battleship, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the 26th state. ...

The dreadnought arms race

In 1897, before the revolution in design brought about by Dreadnought, the Royal Navy had 62 battleships in commission or building, a lead of 26 over France and 50 over Germany.^[25] In 1906, the Royal Navy owned the field with Dreadnought. The new class of ship prompted an arms race with major strategic consequences. Major naval powers raced to build their own dreadnoughts to catch up with the United Kingdom. Possession of modern battleships was not only vital to naval power, but also, as with nuclear weapons today, represented a nation's standing in the world.^[3] Germany, France, Russia, Italy, Austria, and the United States all began dreadnought programmes; and second-rank powers including Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile commissioned dreadnoughts to be built in British and American yards.^[26]

World War I

Main article: Naval warfare of World War I

The First World War was an anticlimax for the great dreadnought fleets. There was no decisive clash of modern battlefleets to compare with the Battle of Tsushima. The role of battleships was marginal to the great land struggle in France and Russia; and it was equally marginal to the First Battle of the Atlantic, the battle between German submarines and British merchant shipping. British battleship HMS Irresistible abandoned and sinking, 18 March 1915, during the Battle of Gallipoli Naval combat in World War I was mainly characterized by the efforts of the Allied Powers, with their larger fleets and surrounding position, to blockade the Central Powers by sea, and the efforts of the... Combatants Empire of Japan Russian Empire Commanders Heihachiro Togo Zinovi Rozhdestvenski # Nikolai Nebogatov Strength 4 battleships 27 cruisers destroyers and auxiliary vessels 8 battleships 3 coastal battleships 8 cruisers Casualties 117 dead 583 injured 3 torpedo boats sunk 4,380 dead 5,917 captured 21 ships sunk 7 captured 6... The First Battle of the Atlantic (1914–1918) was a naval campaign of World War I, largely fought in the seas around the British Isles and in the Atlantic Ocean. ... U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ...

By virtue of geography, the Royal Navy could keep the German High Seas Fleet bottled up in the North Sea with relative ease. Both sides were aware that, because of the greater number of British dreadnoughts, a full fleet engagement would likely result in a British victory. The German strategy was therefore to try to provoke an engagement on their terms: either to induce a part of the Grand Fleet to enter battle alone, or to fight a pitched battle near the German coastline, where friendly minefields, torpedo-boats and submarines could be used to even the odds.^[27] German battlecruiser Derfflinger scuttled at Scapa Flow. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ...

German High Seas Fleet during World War I

The first two years of war saw conflict in the North Sea limited to skirmishes by battlecruisers at the Battle of Heligoland Bight and Battle of Dogger Bank and raids on the English coast. In the summer of 1916, a further attempt to draw British ships into battle on German terms resulted in a clash of the battlefleets in the Battle of Jutland: an indecisive engagement.^[28] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... German battlecruiser Derfflinger scuttled at Scapa Flow. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... [[Image:HMS Hood and HMS Barham. ... Combatants Britain German Empire Commanders David Beatty Reginald Tyrwhitt Leberecht Maass Strength 5 battlecruisers 8 light cruisers 33 destroyers 3 submarines 6 light cruisers 19 torpedo boats 12 minesweepers Casualties 35 killed 55 wounded 712 killed 149 wounded 336 captured 3 light cruisers 1 torpedo boat The First Battle of... The Battle of Dogger Bank was a naval battle fought near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea that took place on 24 January 1915, during the First World War, between squadrons of the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet. ... Belligerents Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy High Seas Fleet of the Kaiserliche Marine Commanders Sir John Jellicoe Sir David Beatty Reinhard Scheer Franz von Hipper Strength 28 battleships 9 battlecruisers 8 armoured cruisers 26 light cruisers 78 destroyers 1 minelayer 1 seaplane carrier 16 battleships 5 battlecruisers 6 pre...

In the other naval theatres there were no decisive pitched battles. In the Black Sea, engagement between Russian and Turkish battleships was restricted to skirmishes. In the Baltic, action was largely limited to the raiding of convoys, and the laying of defensive minefields; the only significant clash of battleship squadrons there was the Battle of Moon Sound at which one Russian pre-dreadnought was lost. The Adriatic was in a sense the mirror of the North Sea: the Austro-Hungarian dreadnought fleet remained bottled up by the British and French blockade. And in the Mediterranean, the most important use of battleships was in support of the amphibious assault on Gallipoli.^{[citation needed]} For other uses, see Black Sea (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Baltic (disambiguation). ... The Battle of Moon Sound was a naval battle in World War I, fought in the Autumn of 1917 between German and Russian forces in the Baltic sea. ... A satellite image of the Adriatic Sea. ... Austria-Hungary, also known as the Dual monarchy (or: the k. ... Mediterranean redirects here. ... Combatants British Empire Australia British India Newfoundland New Zealand United Kingdom Egyptian labourers[1] France Senegal  Ottoman Empire Commanders Sir Ian Hamilton Lord Kitchener John de Robeck Otto von Sanders Mustafa Kemal Strength 5 divisions (initial) 16 divisions (final) 6 divisions (initial) 15 divisions (final) Casualties 252,000[2] 195...

The course of the war also illustrated the vulnerability of battleships to cheaper weapons. In September 1914, the potential threat posed to capital ships by German U-boats was confirmed by successful attacks on British cruisers, including the sinking of three British armoured cruisers by the German submarine U-9 in less than an hour. Sea mines proved a threat the next month, when the recently commissioned British super-dreadnought Audacious struck a mine. By the end of October, the British had changed their strategy and tactics in the North Sea to reduce the risk of U-boat attack.^[29] While Jutland was the second and last major battleship engagement in history(the first being Tsushima), the German plan for the battle relied on U-boat attacks on the British fleet.^{[citation needed]} ; and the escape of the German fleet from the superior British firepower was effected by the German cruisers and destroyers closing on British battleships, causing them to turn away to avoid the threat of torpedo attack. Further near-misses from submarine attacks on battleships and casualties amongst cruisers led to growing paranoia in the Royal Navy about the vulnerability of battleships. By October 1916, the Royal Navy had essentially abandoned the North Sea, instructing the Grand Fleet not to go south of the Farne Islands unless adequately protected by destroyers.^{[citation needed]} The capital ships of a navy are its important warships; the ones with the heaviest firepower and armor. ... The armored cruiser was a naval cruiser protected by armor on its sides as well as on the decks and gun positions. ... Unterseeboot 9 (also known as U-9) was a German U-boat built for the Kaiserliche Marine. ... HMS Audacious was a King George V class battleship of the Royal Navy. ... Combatants Empire of Japan Russian Empire Commanders Heihachiro Togo Zinovi Rozhdestvenski # Nikolai Nebogatov Strength 4 battleships 27 cruisers destroyers and auxiliary vessels 8 battleships 3 coastal battleships 8 cruisers Casualties 117 dead 583 injured 3 torpedo boats sunk 4,380 dead 5,917 captured 21 ships sunk 7 captured 6... The Inner Farne seen from Seahouses harbour The Farne Islands (also referred to less formally as the Farnes) are a group of islands off the coast of Northumberland, England. ...

The German High Seas Fleet, for their part, were determined not to engage the British without the assistance of submarines; and since the submarines were needed more for raiding commercial traffic, the fleet stayed in port for the remainder of the war.^[30] Other theatres equally showed the role of small craft in damaging or destroying dreadnoughts. The two Austrian dreadnoughts lost in 1918 were the casualties of torpedo boats and of frogmen. The Allied capital ships lost in Gallipoli were sunk by mines and torpedo,^[31] while a Turkish pre-dreadnought was caught in the Dardanelles by a British submarine.^{[citation needed]} // This page describes a type of scuba diver. ... Map of the World showing the participants in World War I. Those fighting on the Allies side (at one point or another) are depicted in green, the Central Powers in orange, and neutral countries in gray. ... The Dardanelles, a long narrow strait dividing the Balkans (Europe) along the Gallipoli peninsula from Asia Minor. ...

The inter-war period

Profile drawing of HMS Nelson commissioned 1927

The inter-war period saw the battleship subjected to strict international limitations to prevent a costly arms race breaking out.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 418 pixel Image in higher resolution (1965 × 1026 pixel, file size: 143 KB, MIME type: image/png) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Battleship Nelson class... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 418 pixel Image in higher resolution (1965 × 1026 pixel, file size: 143 KB, MIME type: image/png) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Battleship Nelson class...

For many years, Germany simply had no battleships. The Armistice with Germany required that most of the High Seas Fleet be disarmed and interned in a neutral port; largely because no neutral port could be found, the ships remained in British custody in Scapa Flow, Scotland. The Treaty of Versailles specified that the ships should be handed over to the British. Instead, most of them were scuttled by their German crews on 21 June 1919 just before the signature of the peace treaty. The treaty also limited the German Navy, and prevented Germany from building or possessing any capital ships.^[32] Front page of the New York Times on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918 The armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on November 11, 1918, and marked the end of the First World War on the Western Front. ... It has been suggested that Gutter Sound be merged into this article or section. ... This article is about the country. ... This article is about the Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, which ended World War I. For other uses, see Treaty of Versailles (disambiguation) . The Treaty of Versailles (1919) was a peace treaty that officially ended World War I between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany. ... German battlecruiser Derfflinger scuttled at Scapa Flow. ... is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... The capital ships of a navy are its important warships; the ones with the heaviest firepower and armor. ...

While the victors were not limited by the Treaty of Versailles, many of the major naval powers were crippled after the war. Faced with the prospect of a naval arms race against Great Britain and Japan, which would in turn have led to a possible Pacific war, the United States was keen to conclude the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. This treaty limited the number and size of battleships that each major nation could possess, and required Britain to accept parity with the U.S. and to abandon the British alliance with Japan.^[33] The Washington treaty was followed by a series of other naval treaties, including the First Geneva Naval Conference (1927), the First London Naval Treaty (1930), the Second Geneva Naval Conference (1932), and finally the Second London Naval Treaty (1936), which all set limits on major warships. These treaties became effectively obsolete on 1 September 1939 at the beginning of World War II, but the ship classifications that had been agreed upon still apply.^[34] The treaty limitations meant that fewer new battleships were launched from 1919–1939 than from 1905–1914. The treaties also inhibited development by putting maximum limits on the weights of ships. Designs like the projected British N3 battleship, the first American South Dakota-class, and the Japanese Kii-class—all of which continued the trend to larger ships with bigger guns and thicker armor—never got off the drawing board. Those designs which were commissioned during this period were referred to as treaty battleships.^{[citation needed]} The Washington Naval Treaty limited the naval armaments of its five signatories: the United States, the British Empire, the Empire of Japan, the French Third Republic, and Italy. ... The Geneva Naval Conference was a conference held to discuss naval arms limitation, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1927. ... The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed on April 22, 1930, which to regulate submarine warfare and limited military shipbuilding. ... The Second Geneva Naval Conference was a conference held to discuss naval arms limitation, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1932. ... The Second London Naval Disarmament Conference opened in England on December 9, 1935. ... is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The N3 battleship was a planned battleship for the Royal Navy after World War I. They were never built because of the Washington Naval Treaty signed in 1921 which prevented an arms race between the major naval powers. ... The first South Dakota class was authorized 4 March 1917, and keels were laid down in 1920 for six ships. ... The Kii class was a planned battleship design of the Imperial Japanese Navy. ...

Rise of the aircraft carrier

Bombing tests which sank SMS Ostfriesland (1909), September, 1921

As early as 1914, the British Admiral Percy Scott predicted that battleships would soon be made irrelevant by aeroplanes.^[35] By the end of World War I, aeroplanes had successfully adopted the torpedo as a weapon.^[36] A proposed attack on the German fleet at anchor in 1918 using the Sopwith Cuckoo carrier-borne torpedo-bomber was considered and rejected—but it was not long before such a technique was adopted.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2174x1197, 254 KB) Source: USAF photo Scanned from Page 19 of the following book. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2174x1197, 254 KB) Source: USAF photo Scanned from Page 19 of the following book. ... SMS Ostfriesland was a Dreadnought-type battleship of the Helgoland class. ... Admiral Sir Percy Scott was a British admiral in the Royal Navy and a pioneer in modern naval gunnery. ... It has been suggested that Aerial warfare be merged into this article or section. ... The Sopwith Cuckoo was a bi-plane torpedo bomber used by the British Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), and its sucessor organisation, the Royal Air Force (RAF). ...

In the 1920s, General Billy Mitchell of the United States Army Air Corps, believing that air forces had rendered navies around the world obsolete, testified in front of Congress that "1,000 bombardment airplanes can be built and operated for about the price of one battleship" and that a squadron of these bombers could sink a battleship, making for more efficient use of government funds.^[37] This infuriated the U.S. Navy, but Mitchell was nevertheless allowed to conduct a careful series of bombing tests alongside Navy and Marine bombers. In 1921, he bombed and sank numerous ships, including the "unsinkable" German World War I battleship Ostfriesland and the American pre-dreadnought Alabama.^{[citation needed]} For other people with the same name, see Billy Mitchell (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for providing force projection from the sea,[1] using the mobility of the U.S. Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces and is one of seven uniformed services. ... SMS Ostfriesland was a Dreadnought-type battleship of the Helgoland class. ... The second USS Alabama (BB-8) was an Illinois-class battleship in the United States Navy. ...

Although Mitchell had required "war-time conditions", the ships sunk were obsolete, stationary, defenseless and had no damage control. The sinking of Ostfriesland was accomplished by violating an agreement that would have allowed Navy engineers to examine the effects of various munitions: Mitchell's airmen disregarded the rules, and sank the ship within minutes in a coordinated attack. The stunt made headlines, and Mitchell declared, "No surface vessels can exist wherever air forces acting from land bases are able to attack them." While far from conclusive, Mitchell's test was significant because it put proponents of the battleship against naval aviation on the back foot.^[3] Rear Admiral William A. Moffett used public relations against Mitchell to make headway toward expansion of the U.S. Navy's nascent aircraft carrier program.^[38] Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, USN, at the rank of Commander William Adger Moffett (31 October 1869 – 4 April 1933) was an American admiral notable as the architect of naval aviation in the United States Navy. ...

Rearmament

The Royal Navy, United States Navy, and Imperial Japanese Navy extensively upgraded and modernized their WWI-era battleships during the 1930s. Among new features were tower height and stability such that optical rangefinder equipment for gunnery control could be used, deck plating was increased especially around turrets against plunging fire and aerial bombing, anti-aircraft weapons added. Some British ships received a large block superstructure nicknamed the "Queen Anne's castle", such as in the Queen Elizabeth and Warspite, which would be used in the new conning towers of the King George V fast battleships. External bulges were added to improve both buoyancy to counteract weight increase and provide underwater protection against mines and torpedoes. The Japanese rebuilt all of their battleships, plus their battlecruisers, with distinctive "pagoda" structures, though the Hiei received a more modern bridge tower that would influence the new Yamato battleships. Bulges were fitted, including steel tube array to improve both underwater and vertical protection along waterline. The U.S. experimented with tripod and later caged masts, though after Pearl Harbor some of the most severely damaged ships such as West Virginia and California were rebuilt to a similar appearance to their fast battleship contemporaries. Radar, which was effective beyond visual contact and was effective in complete darkness or adverse weather conditions, was introduced to supplement optical fire control.^[39] This article is about the navy of the United Kingdom. ... USN redirects here. ... For Combined Fleet, please see that article. ... HMS Queen Elizabeth was the lead ship of the Queen Elizabeth-class of Dreadnought battleships, named in honour of Elizabeth I of England. ... HMS Warspite was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the Royal Navy. ... One of the KGV battleships, HMS Prince of Wales (1941) This article is about the 1939 class. ... Myanmars Shwedagon Pagoda is one of the most recognizable and revered pagodas in the Buddhist World A pagoda at Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia For other uses, see Pagoda (disambiguation). ... Hiei (比叡), named for Mount Hiei north-east of Kyoto, was a Kongō-class battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. ... The Yamato class battleships ) of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) were the largest naval vessels of World War II and were the largest, heaviest battleships ever constructed to this day, displacing 72,800 metric tons (at full load) and armed with nine 46 cm (18. ... This article is about the actual attack. ... For other ships of this name, see USS West Virginia. ... USS California (BB-44), a Tennessee-class battleship, was the fifth ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 31st state. ... The Iowa-class battleships were six battleships ordered by the United States Navy in 1939 and 1940 for use as escorts for the Fast Carrier Task Forces operating in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. Four were completed in the early to mid-1940s; two more were laid down...

Even when war threatened again in the late 1930s, battleship construction did not regain the level of importance which it had held in the years before World War I. The "building holiday" imposed by the naval treaties meant that the building capacity of dockyards worldwide was relatively reduced, and the strategic position had changed. The development of the strategic bomber meant that the navy was no longer the only method of projecting power overseas, and the development of the aircraft carrier meant that battleships had a rival for the resources available for capital ship construction.^{[citation needed]} This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Four aircraft carriers, (bottom-to-top) Principe de Asturias, amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, USS Forrestal and light V/STOL carrier HMS Invincible, showing size differences of late 20th century carriers An aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and recover aircraft, acting as a sea-going airbase. ...

Vittorio Veneto (1940)

In Germany, the ambitious Plan Z for naval rearmament was abandoned in favour of a strategy of submarine warfare supplemented by the use of battlecruisers and Bismarck-class battleships as commerce raiders. In Britain, the most pressing need was for air defenses and convoy escorts to safeguard the civilian population from bombing or starvation, and re-armament construction plans consisted of five ships of the King George V class. It was in the Mediterranean that navies remained most committed to battleship warfare. France intended to build six battleships of the Dunkerque and Richelieu classes, and the Italians two powerful Littorio-class ships. Neither navy built significant aircraft carriers. The U.S. preferred to spend limited funds on aircraft carriers until the South Dakota class. Japan, also prioritising aircraft carriers, nevertheless began work on three mammoth Yamato class ships (although one of these was later completed as a carrier).^[5] RN Vittorio Veneto File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... RN Vittorio Veneto File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Vittorio Veneto was an Italian Vittorio Veneto class battleship, that served in the Regia Marina during the World War II. Her keel was laid down 1934 at Cantieri Riuniti dellAdriatico, Trieste; she was launched on 25 July 1937, and her construction was completed in 1940, after Italy entered in... Plan Z was the name given to the planned re-equipment and expansion of the Kriegsmarine from 1935 onwards. ... The Bismarck class battleships were a class of capital ships built by Germany. ... One of the KGV battleships, HMS Prince of Wales (1941) This article is about the 1939 class. ... The Dunkerque class was a new type of warship of the French Navy, labelled as fast battleship. Not as large as other contemporary battleships, they were designed to counter the threat of the German pocket battleships of the Deutschland class. ... The Jean Bart was a French battleship of World War II named for the seventeenth century seaman and corsair Jean Bart. ... The Littorios (or Vittoro Venetos; the two ships were laid down on the same date) were the most modern battleship class of the Regia Marina, the Italian navy during World War II. The Littorios were developed in response to the French Dunkerque class battlecruisers, with the second pair responding to... This article is about the class of World War II battleships. ... The Yamato class battleships ) of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) were the largest naval vessels of World War II and were the largest, heaviest battleships ever constructed to this day, displacing 72,800 metric tons (at full load) and armed with nine 46 cm (18. ...

At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish navy consisted of only two small dreadnought battleships, España and Jaime I. España (originally named Alfonso XIII), by then in reserve at the northwestern naval base of El Ferrol, fell into Nationalist hands in July 1936. The crew aboard Jaime I murdered their officers, mutinied, and joined the Republican Navy. Thus each side had one battleship; however, the Republican Navy generally lacked experienced officers. The Spanish battleships mainly restricted themselves to mutual blockades, convoy escort duties, and shore bombardment, rarely in direct fighting against other surface units.^[40] In April 1937, España ran onto a mine laid by friendly forces, and sank with little loss of life. In May 1937, Jaime I was damaged by Nationalist air attacks and a grounding incident. The ship was forced to go back to port to be repaired. There she was again hit by several aerial bombs. It was then decided to tow the battleship to a more secure port, but during the transport she suffered an internal explosion that caused 300 deaths and her total loss. Several Italian and German capital ships participated in the non-intervention blockade. On May 29, 1937, two Republican aircraft managed to bomb the German pocket battleship Deutschland outside Ibiza, causing severe damage and loss of life. Admiral Scheer retaliated two days later by bombarding Almería, causing much destruction, and the resulting Deutschland incident meant the end of German and Italian support for non-intervention.^[41] Not to be confused with the Spanish Civil War of 1820-1823. ... The Maritime Pine so typical of Ferrol Ferrol 43°28′N 8°15′W is an Atlantic-facing city in the provice of A Coruña in Galicia in north-western Spain . ... Francism redirects here. ... is the 149th day of the year (150th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Deutschland (Germany), later re-named Lützow, was the first German large armoured ship built after World War I. Its keel was laid down in February 1929, at the Deustche Werke shipyard in Kiel; it was launched in May 1931. ... “Ebusus” redirects here. ... Admiral Scheer, a pocket battleship, was built in 1933 and named after Admiral Reinhard Scheer. ... Almeria redirects here. ... The Deutschland incident refers to two separate incidents involving ships named Deutschland. ...

World War II

Main article: Battleships in World War II

Pennsylvania leading battleship Colorado and cruisers Louisville, Portland, and Columbia into Lingayen Gulf, Philippines, January 1945

German battleships — obsolete pre-dreadnoughts — fired the first shots of World War II with the bombardment of the Polish garrison at Westerplatte;^[42] and the final surrender of the Japanese Empire took place aboard a United States Navy battleship, the USS Missouri. Between those two events, it became clear that aircraft carriers the new principal ships of the fleet, and battleships had an auxiliary role, if any at all. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1384x1109, 253 KB) Description: The battleship USS Pennsylvania leads USS Colorado, USS Louisville, USS Portland, and USS Columbia into Lingayen Gulf before the landing on Luzon, Philippines in January 1945. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1384x1109, 253 KB) Description: The battleship USS Pennsylvania leads USS Colorado, USS Louisville, USS Portland, and USS Columbia into Lingayen Gulf before the landing on Luzon, Philippines in January 1945. ... The second USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the lead ship of her class of US Navy super-dreadnought battleships. ... USS Colorado (BB-45), the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 38th state, was the lead ship of her class of battleships. ... USS Louisville (CA-28), a Northampton-class heavy cruiser, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Louisville, Kentucky. ... The first USS Portland (CA–33), a heavy cruiser, was authorized 13 February 1929; laid down by Bethlehem Steel Co. ... The sixth USS Columbia (CL-56) was a light cruiser of the United States Navy, launched 17 December 1941 by New York Shipbuilding Corp. ... The Lingayen Gulf is an extension of the South China Sea on Luzon in the Philippines. ... USS Massachusetts, a pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1893 The term pre-dreadnought refers to the kind of battleship built in the closing years of the 19th Century and the first years of the 20th century, and which was made obsolete by the launching of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. ... Combatants Poland Nazi Germany Commanders Henryk Sucharski (nominal) Franciszek DÄ…browski (de-facto) Friedrich Eberhardt (land) Gustav Kleikamp (sea) Strength 182 soldiers 25 civilians 1 M1902 gun 2 Bofors 37 mm AT guns 4 Brandt 81 mm mortars 41 MGs 3,500 soldiers 47-70 Stuka dive bombers 65 guns... Three ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Missouri in honor of the 24th state. ...

Battleships played a part in major engagements in Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean theatres; in the Atlantic, the Germans used their battleships as independent commerce raiders. However, clashes between battleships were of little strategic importance. TheBattle of the Atlantic was fought between destroyers and submarines, and most of the decisive fleet clashes of the Pacific war were determined by aircraft carriers. Combatants Royal Navy Royal Canadian Navy United States Navy Kriegsmarine Regia Marina Commanders Sir Percy Noble Sir Max K. Horton Ernest J. King Erich Raeder Karl Dönitz Casualties 30,248 merchant sailors 3,500 merchant vessels 175 warships 28,000 sailors 783 submarines The Second Battle of the Atlantic... Four aircraft carriers, (bottom-to-top) Principe de Asturias, amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, USS Forrestal and light V/STOL carrier HMS Invincible, showing size differences of late 20th century carriers An aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and recover aircraft, acting as a sea-going airbase. ...

In the first year of the war, armored warships defied predictions that aircraft would dominate naval warfare. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau surprised and sank the aircraft carrier Glorious off western Norway in June 1940.^[43] This engagement marked the last time a fleet carrier was sunk by surface gunnery. In the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir, British battleships opened fire on the French battleships harboured in Algiers with their own heavy guns, and later pursued fleeing French ships with planes from aircraft carriers. Scharnhorst was a famous World War II 31,500 tonne Gneisenau class battlecruiser[1] of the German Kriegsmarine, named after the Prussian general and army reformer Gerhard von Scharnhorst and to commemorate the World War I armoured cruiser SMS Scharnhorst that was sunk in the Battle at the Falkland Islands... Gneisenau was a famous World War II 31,100 ton Gneisenau class battlecruiser[1] of the German Kriegsmarine. ... HMS Glorious was a warship of the Royal Navy. ... Combatants United Kingdom France Commanders James Somerville Marcel-Bruno Gensoul Strength 1 aircraft carrier 3 battleships 2 light cruisers 11 destroyers 4 battleships 6 destroyers 1 seaplane tender Casualties 3 Blackburn Skua 3 Fairey Swordfish 2 dead 1 battleship sunk 2 battleships heavily damaged 1 destroyer damaged 1,297 dead...

The rest of the War saw many demonstrations of the maturity of the aircraft carrier and its potential against battleships. The British air attack on the Italian naval base at Taranto sank one Italian battleship and damaged two more. The same Swordfish torpedo bombers played a crucial role in sinking the German commerce-raider Bismarck. This article is about the 1940 battle. ... Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during World War II. Affectionately known as the Stringbag by its crews, it was outdated by 1939, but achieved some spectacular successes during the... The German battleship Bismarck is one of the most famous warships of the Second World War. ...

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Within a short time five of eight U.S. battleships were sunk or sinking, with the rest damaged. The Japanese had neutralized the U.S. battleship force in the Pacific region through an air attack, and thereby proven Mitchell's theory, showing the vulnerability of major warships lying at anchor, as at Taranto. The American aircraft carriers were out to sea, however, and evaded detection. They in turn would take up the fight, eventually turning the tide of the war in the Pacific. The sinking of the British battleship Prince of Wales and her escort, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse further demonstrated the vulnerability of a battleship to air attack, in this case while at sea without air cover. Both ships were on their way to assist in the defense of Singapore when they were caught by Japanese land-based bombers and fighters on December 10, 1941.^[44] is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ... This article is about the actual attack. ... Pacific redirects here. ... Combatants Force Z of the Royal Navy Imperial Japanese Navy Commanders Sir Tom Phillips † John Leach † William Tennant Niichi Nakanishi Shichizo Miyauchi Strength 1 battleship 1 battlecruiser 4 destroyers 10 aircraft 88 aircraft (34 torpedo aircraft, 51 level bombers, 3 scouting aircraft) Casualties 1 battleship, 1 battlecruiser sunk, 840 killed... For other uses, see Bomber (disambiguation). ... An A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-86 Sabre, P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fly in formation during an air show at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. ... is the 344th day of the year (345th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ...

At many of the crucial battles of the Pacific, for instance Coral Sea and Midway, battleships were either absent or overshadowed as carriers launched wave after wave of planes into the attack at a range of hundreds of miles. Battleships in the Pacific ended up primarily performing shore bombardment and anti-aircraft defense for the carriers. Even the largest battleships ever constructed, Japan's Yamato class, which carried a main battery of nine 18-inch (457 millimetre) guns and were designed as a principal strategic weapon, were never given a chance to show their potential.^[45] Combatants United States Navy Royal Australian Navy Imperial Japanese Navy Commanders Frank J. Fletcher John G. Crace Shigeyoshi Inoue Takeo Takagi Strength 2 large carriers, 3 cruisers 2 large carriers, 1 light carrier, 4 cruisers Casualties 1 fleet carrier, 1 destroyer, 1 oil tanker sunk 543 killed 1 light carrier... Belligerents United States Imperial Japanese Navy Commanders Chester W. Nimitz Frank J. Fletcher Raymond A. Spruance Isoroku Yamamoto Chuichi Nagumo Tamon Yamaguchi† Strength 3 carriers, ~50 support ships, 233 carrier aircraft, 127 land-based aircraft 4 carriers, 7 battleships, ~150 support ships, 264 carrier aircraft,[1] 16 floatplanes Casualties and... An inch (plural: inches; symbol or abbreviation: in or, sometimes, ″ - a double prime) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ...

The Cold War

Operation Crossroads Event Baker explosion

After World War II, several navies retained battleships, but it became clear that they were not worth the considerable cost. During the war it had become clear that battleship-on-battleship engagements like Leyte Gulf or the sinking of the Hood were the exception and not the rule, and that engagement ranges were becoming longer and longer, making heavy gun armament irrelevant. The armor of a battleship was equally irrelevant in the face of a nuclear attack, and nuclear missiles with a range of 100 kilometres (60 mi) or more could be mounted on the Soviet Kildin class destroyer and Whiskey class submarine by the end of the 1950s. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A 23 kiloton dropped nuclear weapon, known as Operation Crossroads (Event Able) A 21 kiloton underwater nuclear weapons effects test, known as Operation Crossroads (Event Baker), conducted at Bikini Atoll (1946). ... The Titan II ICBM carried a 9 Mt W53 warhead, making it one of the most powerful nuclear weapons fielded by the United States during the Cold War. ... The Kildin Class destroyer was a series of destroyers built for the Soviet Navy in the late 1950s. ... Whiskey class submarines (locally known as project 613, 644, and 665) are a class of military submarines that the Soviet Union built in the cold war period. ...

The remaining battleships met a variety of ends. USS Arkansas and Nagato were sunk during the testing of nuclear weapons in Operation Crossroads in 1946. Both battleships proved resistant to nuclear air burst but vulnerable to underwater nuclear explosions.^{[citation needed]} The Italian Giulio Cesare was taken by the Soviets as reparations and renamed Novorossiysk; she was sunk by a German mine in the Black Sea on 29 October 1955. The two Andrea Doria class ships were scrapped in 1956.^[46] The French Lorraine was scrapped in 1954, Richelieu in 1968^[47] and Jean Bart in 1970.^{[citation needed]} The United Kingdom's four surviving King George V class ships were scrapped in 1957,^[48] and Vanguard followed in 1960.^[49] All other surviving British battleships had been scrapped in the late 1940s.^{[citation needed]} The Soviet Union's Petropavlovsk was scrapped in 1953, Sevastopol in 1957 and Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya (back under her original name, Gangut, since 1942)^[50] in 1956-7.^[51] Brazil's Minas Gerais was scrapped in Genoa in 1953,^[52] and her sister ship São Paulo sank during a storm in the Atlantic en route to the breakers in Italy in 1951.^[53] Argentina kept its two Rivadavia class ships until 1956 and Chile kept Almirante Latorre (formerly HMS Canada) until 1959.^[54] The Turkish battlecruiser Yavuz (formerly Goeben, launched in 1911) was scrapped in 1976 after an offer to sell her back to Germany was refused. Sweden had several small coastal defense battleships, one of which, Gustav V, survived until 1970.^{[citation needed]} The Soviets scrapped four large incomplete cruisers in the late 1950s, whilst plans to build a number of new Stalingrad-class battlecruisers were abandoned following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953.^{[citation needed]} The three old German battleships Schleswig-Holstein, Schlesien, and Hessen all met similar ends. Hessen was taken over by the Soviet Union and renamed Tsel. She was scrapped in 1960. Schleswig-Holstein was renamed Borodino, and was used as a target ship until 1960. Schlesien, too, was used as a target ship. She was broken up sometime between 1949 and 1956.^{[citation needed]} USS Arkansas (BB-33), a Wyoming-class battleship was the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 25th state. ... Nagato (Japanese: é•·é–€, named after Nagato province) was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the lead ship of her class. ... A 23 kiloton dropped nuclear weapon, known as Operation Crossroads (Event Able) A 21 kiloton underwater nuclear weapons effects test, known as Operation Crossroads (Event Baker), conducted at Bikini Atoll (1946). ... RN Giulio Cesare, speed tests, 1914 The Giulio Cesare was an Italian Conte di Cavour-class battleship that served in the Regia Marina in both World Wars before joining the Soviet Navy. ... For other uses, see Black Sea (disambiguation). ... is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... Italian battleship Caio Duilio in 1948. ... The French battleship Lorraine was a Bretagne-class dreadnought battleship of the French Navy. ... The Richelieu was a French battleship of World War II named for the seventeenth century statesman Cardinal Richelieu. ... The Jean Bart was a French battleship of World War II named for the seventeenth century seaman and corsair Jean Bart. ... One of the KGV battleships, HMS Prince of Wales (1941) This article is about the 1939 class. ... HMS Vanguard was a Fully Armoured Battlecruiser of the Royal Navy. ... The Petropavlovsk (Russian: ) was a Russian battleship of the Gangut Class. ... Sevastopol may refer to one of the following. ... October Revolution cruiser on the Soviet postal stamp Gangut (Russian: линейный корабль Гангут) was a Russian, later Soviet battleship named after the Battle of Gangut and giving its name to the Gangut class of battleships. ... The Brazilian battleship Sao Paulo (Porgugese for St. ... The Rivadavia class was a class of two battleships of the Argentine Navy , the ARA Rivadavia and the ARA Moreno. ... The Almirante Latorre (named after the Chilean Admiral Juan José Latorre Benavente) was a battleship which served with the Chilean Navy from after World War I through World War II into the late 1950s. ... SMS Goeben was a Moltke-class battlecruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine (German Navy), launched in 1911 and named after the Franco-Prussian War general August von Goeben. ... HMS Gustav V was a Sverige class Pansarskepp of the Swedish navy. ... Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Georgian: , Ioseb Besarionis Dze Jughashvili; Russian: , Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) (December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878[1] – March 5, 1953), better known by his adopted name, Joseph Stalin (alternatively transliterated Josef Stalin), was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Unions Central Committee from... The Schleswig-Holstein was a German battleship that fought in both World Wars. ... Schlesien was a German battleship that fought in World War I and World War II. Schlesien was one of five pre-dreadnought, Deutschland class battleships, not to be confused with a class of pocket battleships of the same name. ...

USS Missouri (1944) launches a Tomahawk missile during Operation Desert Storm.

The Iowa class battleships gained a new lease of life in the U.S. Navy as fire support ships. Shipborne artillery support is considered by the U.S. Marine Corps as more accurate, more effective and less expensive than aerial strikes.^{[citation needed]} Radar and computer-controlled gunfire could be aimed with pinpoint accuracy to target. The U.S. recommissioned all four Iowa class battleships for the Korean War and the New Jersey for the Vietnam War. These were primarily used for shore bombardment, New Jersey firing seven times more rounds against shore targets in Vietnam than she had in the Second World War.^[55] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Radars: AN/SPS-49 Air Search Radar AN/SPS-67 Surface Search Radar Fire control: 4 × Mk 37 Gun Fire Control 2 × Mk 38 Gun Director 1 × Mk 40 Gun Director EW: AN/SLQ-32 Other: AN/SLQ-25 NIXIE Decoy System 8 × Super Rapid Bloom Rocket Launchers (SRBOC) Armor... A Tomahawk cruise missile The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile with stubby wings. ... The Iowa-class battleships were six battleships ordered by the United States Navy in 1939 and 1940 for use as escorts for the Fast Carrier Task Forces operating in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. Four were completed in the early to mid-1940s; two more were laid down... The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for providing force projection from the sea,[1] using the mobility of the U.S. Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces and is one of seven uniformed services. ... For other uses, see Radar (disambiguation). ... Belligerents United Nations: Republic of Korea Australia Belgium Canada Colombia Ethiopia France Greece Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Philippines South Africa Thailand Turkey United Kingdom United States Naval Support and Military Servicing/Repairs: Japan Medical staff: Denmark Italy Norway India Sweden DPR Korea PR China Soviet Union Commanders Syngman Rhee Chung... USS New Jersey (BB-62), known as Big J, is an Iowa-class battleship, and was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of New Jersey. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...

As part of Navy Secretary John F. Lehman's effort to build a 600-ship Navy in the 1980s, and in response to the commissioning of Kirov by the Soviet Union, the United States recommissioned all four Iowa class battleships. On several occasions, battleships were support ships in carrier battle groups, or led their own battle groups in a battleship battle group. These were modernized to carry Tomahawk missiles, with New Jersey seeing action bombarding Lebanon in 1983 and 1984, while Missouri and Wisconsin fired their 16 inch (406 mm) guns at land targets and launched missiles in the Gulf War of 1991. Wisconsin served as the TLAM strike commander for the Persian Gulf, directing the sequence of launches that marked the opening of Operation Desert Storm and fired a total of 24 TLAMs during the first two days of the campaign. This will most likely be the last combat action ever by a battleship. The primary threat to the battleships were Iraqi shore based surface-to-surface missiles; Missouri was targeted by two Iraqi Silkworm missiles, with one missing and another being intercepted by the British destroyer HMS Gloucester.^{[citation needed]} Flag of the United States Secretary of the Navy. ... John F. Lehman John F. Lehman, Jr. ... The 600 Ship Navy was a plan put forth as a campaign plank by Ronald Reagan in 1980 to rebuild the United States Navy to its former size after post-Vietnam cutbacks. ... Soviet Battlecruiser Kirov, photographed while at sea Kirov, the lead ship of the eponymous class of missile cruisers, is one of the major and biggest surface warships of the Russian Navy, though it was originally built for the Soviet Navy. ... The Abraham Lincoln battle group during the 2000 RIMPAC exercises A carrier battle group (CVBG) consists of an aircraft carrier (CV) and its escorts. ... A battleship battle group was a formation used by the United States Navy, after the recommissioning of the Iowa class battleships. ... A Tomahawk cruise missile The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile with stubby wings. ... Radars: AN/SPS-49 Air Search Radar AN/SPS-67 Surface Search Radar Fire control: 4 × Mk 37 Gun Fire Control 2 × Mk 38 Gun Director 1 × Mk 40 Gun Director EW: AN/SLQ-32 Other: AN/SLQ-25 NIXIE Decoy System 8 × Super Rapid Bloom Rocket Launchers (SRBOC) Armor... USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is an Iowa-class battleship, and is the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. ... For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ... A Tomahawk cruise missile The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile with stubby wings. ... Combatants U.S.-led coalition Iraq Commanders George H. W. Bush, Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell Saddam Hussein, Ali Hassan Al-Majid, Hussein Kamel Strength 660,000 ~545,000 Casualties 345 dead, 1,000 wounded 25,000 - 100,000 dead, 100,000 - 300,000 wounded The 1991 Gulf War (also Persian... Silkworm missile stored at Umm Qasr in Iraq. ... HMS Gloucester (D96) is a Type 42 destroyer of the Royal Navy. ...

All four Iowas were decommissioned in the early 1990s, making them the last battleships to see active service. USS Iowa and USS Wisconsin were, until fiscal year 2006, maintained to a standard where they could be rapidly returned to service as fire support vessels, pending the development of a superior fire support vessel.^[56] The U.S. Marine Corps believes that the current naval surface fire support gun and missile programs will not be able to provide adequate fire support for an amphibious assault or onshore operations.^[57][58] It has been suggested that Landing operation be merged into this article or section. ...

Today

The American Texas (1912) is the only preserved example of a Dreadnought-type battleship that dates to the time of the original HMS Dreadnought.

With the decommissioning of the last Iowas, no battleships remain in service (including in reserve) with any navy worldwide.^{[citation needed]} A number are preserved as museum ships, either afloat or in dry-dock. The U.S. has a large number of battleships on display: USS Massachusetts, North Carolina, Alabama, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Texas. Missouri and New Jersey are now museums at Pearl Harbor and Camden, New Jersey, respectively. Wisconsin is a museum (at Norfolk, Virginia), and was recently removed from the Naval Vessel Register; however, pending donation, the public can still only tour the deck, since the rest of the ship is closed off for dehumidification. The only other true battleship on display is the Japanese pre-Dreadnought Mikasa. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1752x1682, 1040 KB) USS Texas in San Jacinto State Park, October 2006. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1752x1682, 1040 KB) USS Texas in San Jacinto State Park, October 2006. ... USS Texas (BB-35), a New York-class battleship, was the second ship of the United States Navy named to honor Texas, the 28th state. ... USS Wisconsin, one of three Iowa class battleships opened to the public as a museum, and was one of two Iowas maintained in the US Mothball fleet. ... USS Massachusetts (BB-59), a South Dakota-class battleship, was the seventh ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the sixth state. ... See USS North Carolina for other Navy ships of the same name. ... USS Alabama (BB-60), a South Dakota-class battleship, was the fifth completed ship named Alabama of the United States Navy, however she was only the third commissioned ship with that name. ... USS New Jersey (BB-62), known as Big J, is an Iowa-class battleship, and was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of New Jersey. ... USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is an Iowa-class battleship, and is the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. ... Radars: AN/SPS-49 Air Search Radar AN/SPS-67 Surface Search Radar Fire control: 4 × Mk 37 Gun Fire Control 2 × Mk 38 Gun Director 1 × Mk 40 Gun Director EW: AN/SLQ-32 Other: AN/SLQ-25 NIXIE Decoy System 8 × Super Rapid Bloom Rocket Launchers (SRBOC) Armor... USS Texas (BB-35), a New York-class battleship, was the second ship of the United States Navy named to honor Texas, the 28th state. ... This article is about the harbor in Hawaii. ... The City of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey in the United States. ... Motto: Crescas (Latin for, Thou shalt grow. ... The Naval Vessel Register (NVR), official inventory of ships and service craft in custody or titled by the United States Navy, traces its origin back to the 1880s. ... Mikasa (三笠) is a pre-Dreadnought battleship, formerly of the Imperial Japanese Navy, launched in Britain in 1900. ...

Battleships in strategy and doctrine

Doctrine

Battleships were the embodiment of sea power. For Alfred Thayer Mahan and his followers, a strong navy was vital to the success of a nation, and control of the seas was vital for the projection of force on land and overseas. Mahan's theory dictated that the role of the battleship was to sweep the enemy from the seas.^[59] While the work of escorting, blockading and raiding might be done by cruisers or smaller vessels, the presence of the battleship was a potential threat. (This came to be known as a "fleet in being".) Mahan went on to say victory could only be achieved by engagements between battleships^[60] (which came to be known as the "decisive battle" doctrine in some navies), while guerre de course (developed by the Jeune Ecole) could never succeed. Naval warfare is combat in and on seas and oceans. ... Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan (September 27, 1840–December 1, 1914) was a United States Navy officer, geostrategist, and educator. ... A blockade is any effort to prevent supplies, troops, information or aid from reaching an opposing force. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (really an uprated guided missile destroyer), launched in 1992. ... In naval warfare, a fleet in being is a naval force that extends a controlling influence without ever leaving port. ... For Combined Fleet, please see that article. ... Bermuda Gazette of 12 November, 1796, calling for privateering against Spain and its allies, and with advertisements for crew for two privateer vessels. ... The Jeune Ecole (Young School) was a French naval school of thought developed during the 19th century. ...

Mahan was highly influential in naval and political circles throughout the age of the battleship,^[61][3] and it called for a large fleet of the most powerful battleships possible. Mahan's work developed in the late 1880s, and by the end of the 1890s it had a massive international impact,^[3] in the end adopted by many major navies (notably the British, American, German, and Japanese). The strength of Mahanian opinion was important in the development of the battleships arms races, and equally important in the agreement of the Powers to limit battleship numbers in the interwar era.

A related concept was a "fleet in being": the idea a fleet of battleships could simply by its presence tie down superior enemy resources. This in turn was believed to be able to tip the balance of a conflict even without a decisive battle. This suggested even for inferior naval powers a battleship fleet could have important strategic impact.^[62]

Tactics

While the role of battleships in both World Wars reflected Mahanian doctrine, the details of battleship deployment were more complex. Unlike the ship-of-the-line, the battleships of the late 19th and early 20th centuries had significant vulnerability to torpedoes and mines, weapons which could be used by relatively small and inexpensive craft. The Jeune Ecole school of thought of the 1870s and 1880s recommended the placing of torpedo boats alongside battleships; the boats would hide behind the battleships until gun-smoke obscured visibility enough for them to dart out and fire their torpedoes.^[3] While this concept was vitiated by the development of smokeless propellant, the threat from more capable torpedo craft (later including submarines) remained. By the 1890s the Royal Navy had developed the first destroyers, small ships designed to intercept and drive off any attacking torpedo boats. During the First World War and subsequently, battleships were rarely deployed without a protective screen of destroyers. HMS Victory in 1884, the only surviving example of a ship-of-the-line. ... The Jeune Ecole (Young School) was a French naval school of thought developed during the 19th century. ... A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to launch torpedoes at larger surface ships. ... USS McFaul underway in the Atlantic Ocean. ...

Battleship doctrine emphasised the concentration of the battlegroup. In order for this concentrated force to be able to bring its power to bear on a reluctant opponent (or to avoid an encounter with a stronger enemy fleet), battlefleets needed some means of locating enemy ships beyond horizon range. This was provided by scouting forces; at various stages battlecruisers, cruisers, destroyers, airships, submarines and aircraft were all used. (With the development of radio, direction finding and traffic analysis would come into play, as well, so even shore stations, broadly speaking, joined the battlegroup.^[63]) So for most of their history, battleships operated surrounded by squadrons of destroyers and cruisers. The North Sea campaign of the First World War illustrates how, despite this support, the threat of mine and torpedo attack, and the failure to integrate or appreciate the capabilities of new techniques,^[64] seriously inhibited the operations of the Royal Navy Grand Fleet, the greatest battleship fleet of its time. USS Akron (ZRS-4) in flight, November 2, 1931 An airship or dirigible is a buoyant lighter-than-air aircraft that can be steered and propelled through the air. ... Direction finding (DF) refers to the establishment of the direction from which a received signal was transmitted. ... Traffic analysis is the process of intercepting and examining messages in order to deduce information from patterns in communication. ...

Strategic and diplomatic impact

The presence of battleships had a great psychological and diplomatic impact. Similar to possessing nuclear weapons today, the ownership of battleships served to enhance a nation's force projection.^[3] The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. ...

Even during the Cold War, the psychological impact of a battleship was significant. In 1946, USS Missouri was dispatched to deliver the remains of the ambassador from Turkey, and her presence in Turkish and Greek waters staved off a possible Soviet thrust into the Balkan region.^[65] In September 1983, when Druze militia in Lebanon's Shouf Mountains fired upon U.S. Marine peacekeepers, the arrival of USS New Jersey stopped the firing. Gunfire from New Jersey later killed militia leaders.^[66] For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Balkan redirects here. ... Religions Druzism Scriptures Rasail al-hikmah (Epistles of Wisdom), Quran Languages Arabic. ...

Value for money

Battleships were the largest and most complex, and hence the most expensive warships of their time; as a result, the value of investment in battleships has always been contested. As the French politician Etienne Lamy wrote in 1879, The construction of battleships is so costly, their effectiveness so uncertain and of such short duration, that the enterprise of creating an armored fleet seems to leave fruitless the perseverance of a people.^[67] The Jeune Ecole school of thought of the 1870s and 1880s sought alternatives to the crippling expense and debatable utility of a conventional battlefleet. It proposed what would nowadays be termed a sea denial strategy, based on fast, long-ranged cruisers for commerce raiding and torpedo boat flotillas to attack enemy ships attempting to blockade French ports. The ideas of the Jeune Ecole were ahead of their time; it was not until the 20th century that efficient mines, torpedoes, submarines, and aircraft were available that allowed similar ideas to be effectively implemented.^[68] The Jeune Ecole (Young School) was a French naval school of thought developed during the 19th century. ... Sea denial is a military term describing attempts to deny an enemys ability to use the sea but at the same time makes no attempt to control the sea itself. ...

The determination of powers such as the German Empire to build battlefleets with which to confront much stronger rivals has been criticised by historians, who emphasise the futility of investment in a battlefleet which has no chance of matching its opponent in an actual battle.^[3] According to this view, attempts by a weaker navy to compete head-to-head with a stronger one in battleship construction simply wasted resources which could have been better invested in attacking the enemy's points of weakness. In Germany's case, the British dependence on massive imports of food and raw materials proved to be a near-fatal weakness, once Germany had accepted the political risk of unrestricted submarine warfare against commercial shipping. Although the U-boat offensive in 1917–18 was ultimately defeated, it was successful in causing huge material loss and forcing the Allies to divert vast resources into anti-submarine warfare. This success, though not ultimately decisive, was nevertheless in sharp contrast to the inability of the German battlefleet to challenge the supremacy of Britain's far stronger fleet. For German colonial territories, see German Colonial Empire. ... Unrestricted submarine warfare is a kind of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchant ships without warning. ... “A/S” redirects here. ...

The problem for a maritime nation that does not maintain a balanced fleet, with at least some ability to contest a set-piece battle, is that it surrenders the use of the sea for its own purposes, whether economic or military. In addition, such a nation lacks the ability to interdict enemy shipping movements which are protected by a sufficient escort. Such a strategy exposes the nation to blockade or even, in the worst case, invasion. In addition, while a navy optimised for sea denial operations may maximise its potential against a stronger opponent, it will be at a disadvantage against nations of similar strength of its own, but which have invested their resources in a more conventional fleet. For this reason, maritime nations which are unable to compete with the dominant naval power have usually sought to achieve an accommodation with that power, thereby allowing them to resource a balanced fleet with which to deal with their more direct rivals. Examples of this strategy are the French entente with Britain in the decade preceding the First World War; and the British withdrawal in 1921 from its alliance with Japan, in order to avoid a confrontation with the United States.^[69] The Entente Cordiale (cordial understanding) is a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and France. ... The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance was signed in London on January 30, 1902 by Lord Lansdowne (British foreign secretary) and Hayashi Tadasu (Japanese minister in London). ...

See also

• List of battleships
• List of battleships by country
• List of battleship classes
• List of sunken battleships
• arsenal ship

The list of battleships includes all battleships since 1859, listed alphabetically. ... This table lists all battleships throughout history, from approximately 1399 onward. ... The list of battleship classes includes all Ironclad battleship classes listed in chronological order by first commission. ... An arsenal ship is a ship which was proposed by the US Navy in 1996. ... Four aircraft carriers, (bottom-to-top) Principe de Asturias, amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, USS Forrestal and light V/STOL carrier HMS Invincible, showing size differences of late 20th century carriers An aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and recover aircraft, acting as a sea-going airbase. ... [[Image:HMS Hood and HMS Barham. ... French steam corvette Dupleix (1856-1887) Canadian corvettes on antisubmarine convoy escort duty during World War II. A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (really an uprated guided missile destroyer), launched in 1992. ... USS McFaul underway in the Atlantic Ocean. ... For the bird, see Frigatebird. ... Ironclad (and broadside ironclad) redirects here. ... A monitor was a special form of warship, little more than a self-propelled floating artillery platform that could move close inshore and give its support to military operations on land. ... For other uses, see Submarine (disambiguation). ...

Notes

HMS Majestic was a Majestic-class pre-Dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy, built at Portsmouth Dockyard and commissioned into the Channel Squadron in December 1895. ... HMS Triumph was a Swiftsure-class pre-Dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. ... HMS Goliath was one of the six Canopus-class battleships built by the Royal Navy in the late 19th century. ... The Short Type 184 was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying seaplane designed by Short Brothers. ... is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Map of the Sea of Marmara Satellite view of the Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara (Turkish: Marmara Denizi, Modern Greek: Θάλασσα του Μαρμαρά or Προποντίδα) (also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea) is an inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating the... is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Zumwalt-class destroyer (also known either as the DD(X) or DDG-1000) is a planned class of United States Navy destroyers, designed as multi-mission ship with a focus on land attack. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

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• Video: Inside one of Missouri’s 16" gun room, about 1955. (Windows Media File)
• Comparison of projected post-World War II battleship designs
• Comparison of the capabilities of seven WWII battleships
• Development of U.S. battleships, with timeline graph

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