Exactly seventy years ago Soviet Union launched a seven-year program of "large marine shipbuilding" - one of the most expensive and ambitious projects in the history of domestic, and not only domestic, military equipment.
The main leaders of the program were considered heavy artillery ships - battleships and cruisers, which were to become the largest and most powerful in the world. Although it was not possible to complete the super-battleships, interest in them is still great, especially in light of the emerging recent times alternate history mods. So what were the projects of the "Stalinist giants" and what preceded their appearance?
Lords of the Seas
The fact that battleships are the main force of the fleet was considered an axiom for almost three centuries. From the time of the Anglo-Dutch wars of the 17th century until the Battle of Jutland in 1916, the outcome of the war at sea was decided by an artillery duel of two fleets lined up in wake lines (hence the origin of the term “ship of the line”, abbreviated as battleship). Faith in the omnipotence of the battleship was not undermined by either the emerging aircraft or submarines. And after the First World War, most admirals and naval theorists still measured the strength of the fleets by the number of heavy guns, the total weight of the broadside and the thickness of the armor. But it was this exceptional role of battleships, considered the undisputed rulers of the seas, that played a cruel joke with them ...The evolution of battleships in the first decades of the twentieth century was truly rapid. If by the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 the largest representatives of this class, then called squadron battleships, had a displacement of about 15 thousand tons, then the famous Dreadnought built in England two years later (this name became a household name for his many followers) had a full the displacement was already 20,730 tons. "Dreadnought" seemed to contemporaries a giant and the height of perfection. However, by 1912, against the backdrop of the latest superdreadnoughts, it looked like a completely ordinary ship of the second line ... And four years later, the British laid the famous "Hood" with a displacement of 45 thousand tons! Incredibly, powerful and expensive ships in the conditions of an unbridled arms race became obsolete in just three to four years, and their serial construction became extremely burdensome even for the richest countries.
Why did it happen so? The fact is that any warship is a compromise of many factors, the main of which are three: weapons, protection and speed. Each of these components "ate" a significant part of the ship's displacement, since artillery, armor, and bulky power plants with numerous boilers, fuel, steam engines or turbines were very heavy. And the designers, as a rule, had to sacrifice one of the fighting qualities in favor of the other. So, the Italian shipbuilding school was characterized by high-speed and heavily armed, but poorly protected battleships. The Germans, on the contrary, prioritized survivability and built ships with very powerful armor, but moderate speed and light artillery. The desire to ensure a harmonious combination of all characteristics, taking into account the trend constant increase the main caliber led to a monstrous increase in the size of the ship.
Paradoxically, the appearance of the long-awaited "ideal" battleships - fast, heavily armed and protected by powerful armor - brought the very idea of \u200b\u200bsuch ships to complete absurdity. Still: floating monsters, because of their high cost, undermined the economy of their own countries more significantly than the invasion of enemy armies! At the same time, they almost never went to sea: the admirals did not want to risk such valuable combat units, since the loss of even one of them was equated almost to a national disaster. Battleships from a means of waging war at sea have become an instrument of big politics. And the continuation of their construction was no longer determined by tactical expediency, but by completely different motives. To have such ships for the prestige of the country in the first half of the 20th century meant about the same as now to have nuclear weapons.
The need to stop the untwisted flywheel of the naval arms race was recognized by the governments of all countries, and in 1922, at an international conference convened in Washington, radical measures were taken. The delegations of the most influential states agreed to significantly reduce their naval forces and fix the total tonnage of their own fleets in a certain proportion over the next 15 years. For the same period, the construction of new battleships was almost everywhere stopped. The only exception was made for Great Britain - the country forced to scrap the largest number of brand new dreadnoughts. But those two battleships that the British could build would hardly have had an ideal combination of fighting qualities, since their displacement was to be measured in the amount of 35 thousand tons.
The Washington Conference was the first real step in history to limit offensive arms on a global scale. It has given the global economy some breathing room. But no more. Since the apotheosis of the "battleship race" was yet to come...
The dream of a "large fleet"
By 1914, the Russian Imperial Fleet ranked first in the world in terms of growth. On the stocks of the shipyards in St. Petersburg and Nikolaev, powerful dreadnoughts were laid down one after another. Russia quickly recovered from the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and again claimed the role of a leading maritime power.However, the revolution, the Civil War and general devastation did not leave a trace of the former sea power of the empire. The Red Navy inherited from the "tsarist regime" only three battleships - "Petropavlovsk", "Gangut" and "Sevastopol", renamed respectively "Marata", "October Revolution" and "Paris Commune". By the standards of the 1920s, these ships already looked hopelessly outdated. It is not surprising that Soviet Russia was not invited to the Washington Conference: its fleet was not taken seriously at that time.
At first, the Red Fleet did not really have any special prospects. The Bolshevik government had far more urgent tasks than restoring its former sea power. In addition, the first persons of the state, Lenin and Trotsky, looked at the navy as an expensive toy and an instrument of world imperialism. Therefore, during the first one and a half decades of the existence of the Soviet Union, the ship structure of the RKKF was replenished slowly and mainly only by boats and submarines. But in the mid-1930s, the naval doctrine of the USSR changed dramatically. By that time, the "Washington battleship vacation" was over and all the world powers began to feverishly catch up. Two international treaties signed in London tried to somehow restrain the size of future battleships, but everything turned out to be futile: practically none of the countries participating in the agreements from the very beginning was going to honestly fulfill the signed conditions. France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, the USA and Japan have begun to create a new generation of leviathan ships. Stalin, inspired by the successes of industrialization, also did not want to stand aside. And the Soviet Union became another participant in a new round of the naval arms race.
In July 1936, the Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR, with the blessing of the Secretary General, approved the seven-year program of "large naval shipbuilding" for 1937-1943 (due to the dissonance of the official name in the literature, it is usually called the "Big Fleet" program). In accordance with it, it was supposed to build 533 ships, including 24 battleships! For the then Soviet economy, the figures are absolutely unrealistic. Everyone understood this, but no one dared to object to Stalin.
In fact, Soviet designers began to develop a project for a new battleship back in 1934. The case progressed with difficulty: the experience of creating big ships they were completely absent. I had to attract foreign specialists - first Italian, then American. In August 1936, after analyzing various options, the terms of reference for the design of battleships of type "A" (project 23) and "B" (project 25) were approved. The latter was soon abandoned in favor of the Project 69 heavy cruiser, but Type A gradually turned into an armored monster, leaving all its foreign counterparts far behind. Stalin, who had a weakness for giant ships, could be pleased.
First of all, we decided not to limit the displacement. The USSR was not bound by any international agreements, and therefore, already at the stage of the technical project, the standard displacement of the battleship reached 58,500 tons. The thickness of the armor belt was 375 millimeters, and in the area of the bow towers - 420! There were three armored decks: 25 mm upper, 155 mm main and 50 mm lower anti-fragmentation. The hull was equipped with solid anti-torpedo protection: in the central part of the Italian type, and in the extremities - of the American type.
The artillery armament of the Project 23 battleship included nine 406-mm B-37 guns with a barrel length of 50 calibers, developed by the Stalingrad plant "Barrikada". The Soviet gun could fire 1,105 kg projectiles at a range of 45.6 kilometers. In terms of its characteristics, it surpassed all foreign guns of this class - with the exception of the 18-inch Japanese super battleship Yamato. However, the latter, having larger shells, were inferior to the B-37 in terms of firing range and rate of fire. In addition, the Japanese kept their ships so secret that until 1945 no one knew anything about them at all. In particular, the Europeans and Americans were sure that the caliber of the Yamato artillery did not exceed 16 inches, that is, 406 millimeters.
Japanese battleship "Yamato" - the largest warship of World War II. Laid down in 1937, commissioned in 1941. Total displacement - 72,810 tons. Length - 263 m, width - 36.9 m, draft - 10.4 m. Armament: 9 - 460 mm and 12 - 155 -mm guns, 12 - 127mm anti-aircraft guns, 24 - 25mm machine guns, 7 seaplanes
The main power plant of the Soviet battleship is three turbo-gear units with a capacity of 67 thousand liters each. With. For the lead ship, the mechanisms were bought from the Swiss branch of the English company Brown Boveri, for the rest the power plant was to be manufactured under license by the Kharkov Turbine Plant. It was assumed that the speed of the battleship would be 28 knots and the cruising range of a 14-knot course - over 5,500 miles.
In the meantime, the "large offshore shipbuilding" program was revised. In the new "Large Shipbuilding Program", approved by Stalin in February 1938, "small" type "B" battleships were no longer listed, but the number of "large" project 23 increased from 8 to 15 units. True, none of the experts doubted that this number, as well as the previous plan, belonged to the realm of pure fantasy. After all, even the “mistress of the seas” Great Britain and the ambitious Nazi Germany expected to build only 6 to 9 new battleships. Having realistically assessed the possibilities of industry, the top leadership of our country had to limit itself to four ships. Yes, and it turned out to be beyond the power: the construction of one of the ships was stopped almost immediately after the laying.
The lead battleship ("Soviet Union") was laid down at the Leningrad Baltic Shipyard on July 15, 1938. It was followed by "Soviet Ukraine" (Nikolaev), "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Belarus" (Molotovsk, now Severodvinsk). Despite the mobilization of all forces, construction lagged behind schedule. By June 22, 1941, the first two ships had the highest degree of readiness, respectively 21% and 17.5%. At the new plant in Molotovsk, things were going much worse. Although in 1940, instead of two battleships, they decided to build one there, anyway, by the beginning of World War II, its readiness reached only 5%.
The timing of the manufacture of artillery and armor was not kept. Although tests of an experimental 406-mm gun were successfully completed in October 1940, and before the start of the war, the Barrikady plant managed to hand over 12 barrels of naval superguns, not a single turret was assembled. More more problems it was with the release of armor. Due to the loss of experience in the manufacture of thick armor plates, up to 40% of them went to waste. And negotiations on ordering armor from Krupp ended in nothing.
The attack of Nazi Germany crossed out the plans for the creation of the "Big Fleet". By a government decree of July 10, 1941, the construction of battleships was stopped. Later, the armor plates of the "Soviet Union" were used in the construction of pillboxes near Leningrad, and the B-37 experimental gun also fired at the enemy there. "Soviet Ukraine" was captured by the Germans, but they did not find any use for the giant corps. After the war, the issue of completing the construction of battleships according to one of the improved projects was discussed, but in the end they were dismantled for metal, and the section of the hull of the lead "Soviet Union" was even launched in 1949 - it was planned to be used for full-scale tests of the anti-torpedo protection system. The turbines received from Switzerland were at first wanted to be installed on one of the new light cruisers of the 68 bis project, then they abandoned this: too many alterations were required.
Good cruisers or bad battleships?
Project 69 heavy cruisers appeared in the “Large Shipbuilding Program”, which, like the “A” type battleships, were planned to be built 15 units. But these were not just heavy cruisers. Since the Soviet Union was not bound by any international treaties, the restrictions of the Washington and London conferences for ships of this class (standard displacement up to 10 thousand tons, artillery caliber no more than 203 millimeters) were immediately discarded by Soviet designers. Project 69 was conceived as a fighter for any foreign cruisers, including the formidable German "pocket battleships" (with a displacement of 12,100 tons). Therefore, at first its main armament was to include nine 254-mm guns, but then the caliber was increased to 305 mm. At the same time, it was necessary to strengthen armor protection, increase the power of the power plant ... As a result, the total displacement of the ship exceeded 41 thousand tons, and the heavy cruiser turned into a typical battleship, even larger than the planned project 25. Of course, the number of such ships had to be reduced. In reality, in 1939, only two “super cruisers” were laid down in Leningrad and Nikolaev - Kronstadt and Sevastopol.
The heavy cruiser Kronstadt was laid down in 1939 but not completed. The total displacement is 41,540 tons. The maximum length is 250.5 m, the width is 31.6 m, the draft is 9.5 m. The power of the turbines is 201,000 l. s., speed - 33 knots (61 km / h). The thickness of the side armor - up to 230 mm, towers - up to 330 mm. Armament: 9 305 mm and 8 - 152 mm guns, 8 - 100 mm anti-aircraft guns, 28 - 37 mm machine guns, 2 seaplanes
There were many interesting innovations in the design of the Project 69 ships, but in general, according to the cost-effectiveness criterion, they did not stand up to criticism. Conceived as good cruisers, Kronstadt and Sevastopol, in the process of "improving" the project, turned into bad battleships, too expensive and too difficult to build. In addition, the industry clearly did not have time to manufacture the main artillery for them. Out of desperation, the idea arose to arm the ships instead of nine 305-mm guns with six German 380-mm guns, similar to those installed on the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz. This gave an increase in displacement by more than a thousand tons. However, the Germans were in no hurry to fulfill the order, of course, and by the beginning of the war, not a single gun had arrived from Germany in the USSR.
The fate of "Kronstadt" and "Sevastopol" developed similarly to their counterparts of the "Soviet Union" type. By June 22, 1941, their technical readiness was estimated at 12-13%. In September of the same year, the construction of Kronstadt was stopped, and Sevastopol, located in Nikolaev, was captured by the Germans even earlier. After the war, the hulls of both "super cruisers" were dismantled for metal.
Battleship "Bismarck" - the strongest ship of the Nazi fleet. Laid down in 1936, commissioned in 1940. Total displacement - 50,900 tons. Length - 250.5 m, width - 36 m, draft - 10.6 m. Side armor thickness - up to 320 mm, towers - up to 360 mm. Armament: 8 - 380 mm and 12 - 150 mm guns, 16 - 105 mm anti-aircraft guns, 16 - 37 mm and 12 - 20 mm machine guns, 4 seaplanes
Last attempts
In total, 27 battleships of the latest generation were built in the world in 1936-1945: 10 in the USA, 5 in Great Britain, 4 in Germany, 3 each in France and Italy, 2 in Japan. And in none of the fleets did they justify the hopes placed on them. The experience of the Second World War clearly showed that the time of battleships is gone. Aircraft carriers became the new masters of the oceans: carrier-based aircraft, of course, surpassed naval artillery both in range and in the ability to hit targets in the most vulnerable places. So it is safe to say that the Stalinist battleships, even if they were built by June 1941, would not have played any significant role in the war.But here is a paradox: the Soviet Union, which has spent several less funds on unnecessary ships, decided to somehow catch up and became the only country in the world that continued to design battleships after the Second World War! Contrary to common sense, designers have been working tirelessly for several years on the drawings of the floating fortresses of yesterday. The successor of the "Soviet Union" was the battleship of project 24 with a total displacement of 81,150 tons (!), The successor of "Kronstadt" was the 42,000-ton heavy cruiser of project 82. In addition, this pair was supplemented by another so-called "medium" cruiser of project 66 with 220- mm artillery of the main caliber. Note that the latter, although it was called medium, but in terms of displacement (30,750 tons) left all foreign heavy cruisers far behind and approached battleships.
Battleship "Soviet Union", project 23 (USSR, laid down in 1938). Standard displacement - 59,150 tons, full - 65,150 tons. Maximum length - 269.4 m, width - 38.9 m, draft - 10.4 m. Turbine power - 201,000 l. s., speed - 28 knots (when boosting, respectively, 231,000 hp and 29 knots). Armament: 9 - 406 mm and 12 - 152 mm guns, 12 - 100 mm anti-aircraft guns, 40 - 37 mm machine guns, 4 seaplanes
The reasons for the fact that domestic shipbuilding in the post-war years went clearly against the tide are mostly subjective. And in the first place here are the personal preferences of the "leader of the peoples." Stalin was very impressed with large artillery ships, especially fast ones, and at the same time he clearly underestimated aircraft carriers. During a discussion of the Project 82 heavy cruiser in March 1950, the Secretary General demanded that the designers increase the speed of the ship to 35 knots, “so that he would panic the enemy’s light cruisers, disperse them and smash them. This cruiser should fly like a swallow, be a pirate, a real bandit.” Alas, on the threshold of the nuclear missile era, the views of the Soviet leader on issues of naval tactics lagged behind their time by one and a half to two decades.
If projects 24 and 66 remained on paper, then under project 82 in 1951-1952, three “bandit cruisers” were laid down - “Stalingrad”, “Moscow” and the third, which remained unnamed. But they did not have to enter service: on April 18, 1953, a month after Stalin's death, the construction of ships was stopped due to their high cost and the complete ambiguity of tactical use. A section of the hull of the head "Stalingrad" was launched and for several years was used for testing different types naval weapons, including torpedoes and cruise missiles. It is very symbolic: the world's last heavy artillery ship turned out to be in demand only as a target for new weapons ...
Heavy cruiser Stalingrad. Laid down in 1951, but not completed. Full displacement - 42,300 tons. Maximum length - 273.6 m, width - 32 m, draft - 9.2 m. Turbine power - 280,000 l. s., speed - 35.2 knots (65 km / h). The thickness of the side armor - up to 180 mm, towers - up to 240 mm. Armament: 9 - 305 mm and 12 - 130 mm guns, 24 - 45 mm and 40 - 25 mm machine guns
The obsession of the "supership"
In conclusion, it should be noted that the desire to create a "supership", stronger than any potential enemy of its class, at different times puzzled the designers and shipbuilders of different countries. And here there is a pattern: the weaker the economy and industry of the state, the more active this desire; for developed countries, on the contrary, it is less typical. So, in the interwar period, the British Admiralty preferred to build ships that were very modest in terms of combat capabilities, but in large numbers, which ultimately made it possible to have a well-balanced fleet. Japan, on the contrary, sought to create ships stronger than the British and American ones - in this way she expected to compensate for the difference in economic development with her future rivals.In this respect special place occupies the shipbuilding policy of the then USSR. Here, after the decision of the party and the government to build the "Big Fleet", the obsession with "superships" was actually brought to the point of absurdity. On the one hand, Stalin, inspired by the successes in the aviation industry and tank building, considered too hastily that all problems in the shipbuilding industries could be solved just as quickly. On the other hand, the atmosphere in society was such that the project of any ship proposed by industry and not superior in its capabilities to foreign counterparts could easily be considered “wrecking” with all the ensuing consequences. The designers and shipbuilders simply had no choice: they were forced to design the “most powerful” and “fastest” ships armed with the “world’s longest-range” artillery ... In practice, this resulted in the following: ships with the size and armament of battleships began to be called heavy cruisers (but the most powerful in the world!), heavy cruisers - light, and the latter - "destroyer leaders". Such a substitution of some classes for others would still make sense if domestic factories could build battleships in the quantities in which other countries built heavy cruisers. But since this was, to put it mildly, not at all the case, the reports about the outstanding successes of the designers that went up often looked like banal eyewash.
It is characteristic that almost all the "superships" ever embodied in metal did not justify themselves. Suffice it to cite the Japanese battleships Yamato and Musashi as an example. They died under the bombs of American aircraft, without firing a single salvo with their main caliber at their American "classmates". But even if they happened to meet with the US fleet in a linear battle, they could hardly count on success. After all, Japan was able to build only two battleships of the latest generation, and the United States - ten. With such a balance of power, the individual superiority of the Yamato over the individual "American" no longer plays any role.
World experience shows that several well-balanced ships are much better than one giant with hypertrophied combat characteristics. And yet, in the USSR, the idea of a "supership" did not die. A quarter of a century later, Stalin's leviathans had distant relatives - nuclear missile cruisers of the Kirov type, followers of Kronstadt and Stalingrad. However, that's a completely different story...
For many years, battleships were considered the most powerful combat units of the world fleet. They were called "sea monsters". And this is no coincidence. Huge, fearless, with a large number of weapons on board - they carried out attacking maneuvers and defended their maritime possessions. The popular dreadnoughts represented the pinnacle of battleship development. And only naval aviation was able to show its superiority over them. Against aircraft, these rulers of the oceans were powerless. They were replaced by aircraft carriers. Nevertheless, battleships left a big mark on history, participating in important battles for hundreds of years. Consider the stages of development of the described ships, starting with the first wooden sailing model and ending with the steel armored dreadnought of the latest generation.
Prerequisites for the creation of sailing ships of the line
The seizure of territories and the expansion of the trade zone became the basis for the financial development of many European powers. In the middle of the 16th century, Spain and Great Britain increasingly clashed off the coast of the New World - the struggle for territory forced them to improve the fleet, which had to not only transport valuable cargo, but also be able to protect its property. The turning point for England was the victory over the Armada in 1588. With the development of trade relations and colonization, it became clear that the sea is the source of the future wealth and power of the country, which must be protected.
Some merchant ships were converted into combat ships - guns and other weapons were installed on them. At this point, no one adhered to uniform standards. This heterogeneity had a negative effect in clashes on the high seas. The battle was won by luck, and not as a result of planned tactical maneuvers. For unconditional victories, it was necessary to improve the naval forces.
The first ships of the line
The forerunners of battleships were galleons - large multi-deck merchant ships with artillery on board. In 1510, England built the first artillery ship, named "". Despite the large number of guns, boarding was still considered the main form of combat. The Mary Rose was equipped with special nets to prevent the enemy from entering the deck. This was a period when, at the time of the naval battle, the ships were located haphazardly, as a result of which the artillery could not fully demonstrate its abilities. Cannons from distant ships could even hit their own ships. Often the main weapon against a similar pile of enemy naval forces was a fireship - an old ship that was filled with explosives, set on fire and sent towards the enemy.
At the end of the 16th century, during the next battle, the ships lined up in a wake column for the first time - one after another. It took about 100 years for the world fleet to recognize such an arrangement of warships as the most optimal. Each combat unit at that moment could use its artillery for its intended purpose. However, the variety of ships, most converted from merchant ships, made it impossible to create an ideal line. There were always vulnerable ships in the row, as a result of which the battle could be lost.
HMS Prince Royal 1610
In 1610, the first three-deck ship of the line, HMS Prince Royal, was built in Great Britain, which had 55 guns on board. A few decades later, another similar combat vehicle appeared in service with England, already including 100 pieces of artillery. In 1636, France commissioned "" with 72 guns. The race of military naval weapons between European countries began. The main indicators of combat readiness were considered the number of weapons, speed and the ability of operational maneuvering.
"La Couronne" 1636
The new ships were shorter than their galleon predecessors and lighter. This means that they could quickly get into line, turning sideways to the enemy to launch an attack. Such tactics created an advantage against the background of haphazard shooting from the enemy. With the development of military shipbuilding, the firepower of a warship also increased. Artillery increased its number and impact force.
Wake column during the review 1849
Over time, new combat units began to be divided into classes that differed in the number of weapons:
- Vessels with up to 50 pieces of artillery located on two closed gun decks were not included in combat squadrons for conducting linear battles. They acted as an escort for the convoy.
- Double-deck ships with up to 90 pieces of fire equipment on board formed the basis of most of the military forces of maritime powers.
- Three- and four-deck ships, including from 98 to 144 guns, served as flagships.
The first Russian battleship
Tsar Peter I made a great contribution to the development of Russia, especially in the field of naval forces. Under him, the construction of the first Russian warships began. After studying shipbuilding in Europe, he went to the Voronezh shipyard and began building a ship of the line, later called the Goto Predestination. The sailing ship was equipped with 58 guns and was similar in design to the British brethren. A distinctive feature was a slightly shorter hull and reduced draft. This was due to the fact that "Goto Predestination" was intended for service in the Azov shallow sea.
In 2014, an exact copy of the battleship from the time of Peter the Great was built in Voronezh, today it is used as a floating museum.
Arms race
Along with the development of shipbuilding, smoothbore artillery also evolved. It was necessary to increase the size of the nuclei, to create new types of exploding projectiles. The increase in flight range helped to position their ships at a safe distance. Accuracy and rate of fire contributed to a faster and more successful end to the battle.
The 17th century was marked by the birth of the standardization of naval weapons in terms of caliber and barrel length. Gun ports - special holes in the sides, made it possible to use powerful guns, which, if properly located, did not interfere with the stability of the ship. The main task of such equipment was to cause maximum damage to the crew. After that, the ship was boarded. It was almost impossible to sink the wooden ship itself. Only in the 19th century did the production of new heavy shells begin, carrying a large amount of explosives. These innovations have changed the tactics of warfare. Now the target was not people, but the ship itself. There was a possibility of its sinking. At the same time, the wear of equipment (artillery) was still very fast, and repairs were expensive. The need to create more modern weapons increased.
The production of rifled artillery in the 19th century marked another leap in the field of naval weapons. She had the following advantages:
- Improved shooting accuracy;
- The range of the projectiles was increased, which marked the prospect of combat at long distances;
- It became possible to use heavier shells, inside of which there were explosives.
It should be noted that before the advent of electronic guidance systems, artillery still had low accuracy, since mechanical devices had many errors and inaccuracies.
Armament was used not only for shelling enemy ships. Before the start of the assault on the enemy coast, the battleships carried out artillery preparation - this is how they ensured the safe exit of their soldiers to foreign land.
Metal plating of the hull
An increase in the firing power of naval artillery forced shipbuilders to strengthen the hull of a warship. For production, high quality wood was used, usually oak. Before use, it was dried and stood for several years. To ensure strength, the skin of the ship consisted of two layers - external and internal. The underwater part of the hull was additionally covered with a soft layer of wood that protected the main structure from decay. This layer was updated periodically. Subsequently, the bottoms of wooden ships began to be sheathed with copper.
HMS « Victory » 1765
A prominent representative of the battleship of the 18th century with metal cladding the underwater part is the British battleship Victoria (HMS). In connection with the participation of England in the Seven Years' War, its construction was delayed for many years. But this period contributed to obtaining high-quality raw materials for construction - wood began to have excellent characteristics. The underwater part of the ship was sheathed with copper plates attached to the tree with iron nails.
Any ship of that period had a significant drawback - no matter how well the bottom of the ship was made, water still seeped inside, rotting occurred, which exuded an unpleasant odor. Therefore, periodically the captain of the Victoria sent sailors to the lower part of the hull to pump out water.
Over the years of service, weapons have changed their number and size several times. At the beginning of the 19th century, it included 104 guns of various calibers. For each gun, 7 people were assigned to ensure the operation of the equipment.
"Victoria" participated in the majority naval battles during the years of her service. One of the most striking was the Battle of Trafalgar. It was on this ship that the commander of the British fleet, Vice Admiral Nelson, was mortally wounded.
It is noteworthy that you can see this ship today. In 1922 it was restored and installed in Portsmouth as a museum.
steam propulsion
Further development of battleships required improved seaworthiness. Sailing ships gradually became obsolete, because they could only move with a good wind. In addition, the strengthening of artillery power made sailing equipment more vulnerable. The period of steam engines powered by coal began. The first samples were equipped with paddle wheels, which, although they ensured the movement of the vessel, but their speed was very low and suitable for river navigation or at sea in absolute calm. However, the new installation interested the military forces of many countries. Testing of steam engines began.
Replacing paddle wheels with propellers helped increase the speed of steamboats. Now even a steam-powered vessel, small in size and armament, was superior to a huge sailing ship of the line. The first one could swim up from any side, regardless of the strength and direction of the wind, and launch an attack. At this time, the second continued to struggle intensely with natural phenomena.
Ships built after the 40s of the 19th century were tried to be equipped with steam engines. Among the first countries to start building military ships with heavy artillery on board were the United States, Great Britain and France.
In 1852, France built its first propeller-driven ship of the line, while retaining the sailing system. Equipping with a steam engine forced to reduce the number of artillery to 90 guns. But this was justified by improving seaworthiness - the speed reached 13.5 knots, which was considered a very high figure. Over the next 10 years, about 100 such ships were built in the world.
The appearance of armadillos
The appearance of shells filled with explosives required an urgent renewal of the ship's composition. There was a risk of great damage and burnout of a significant part of the wooden case. After a couple of dozen successful hits, the ship went under water. In addition, the installation of steam engines on the ship increased the risk of immobilization and subsequent flooding if at least one enemy projectile hit the engine room. It was necessary to protect steel sheets the most vulnerable parts of the body. Later, the entire ship began to be made of metal, which required a complete redesign. Booking occupied a significant part of the ship's displacement. In order to keep the same amount of artillery, it was necessary to increase the size of the battleship.
A further development of battleships was squadron battleships with an all-metal hull, which became widespread at the end of the 19th century. They had a powerful armor belt that protected against enemy projectiles. Armament included 305 mm, 234 mm and 152 mm artillery. It was assumed that such a variety of equipment would have a positive effect during the battle. Experience has shown that this assertion was erroneous. The simultaneous control of different-caliber guns caused many difficulties, especially at the time of adjusting the fire.
First Giants - Dreadnoughts
The superbattleship Dreadnought, built by Great Britain in 1906, became the crowning achievement of all previous types of battleships. He became the founder of a new class of battleships. It was the first ship in the world to carry a large amount of heavy weapons. The “all-big-gun” rule was followed - “only big guns”.
On board were 10 units of 305-mm artillery. The steam turbine system, first installed on the battleship, made it possible to increase the speed to 21 knots - incredible figures in those years. Hull protection was inferior to the battleships of the Lord Nelson type that preceded it, but all other innovations made a real sensation.
Battleships built after 1906 on the all-big-gun principle became known as dreadnoughts. They played an important role during the First World War. Each maritime power sought to have at least one dreadnought-type ship in service. The United States and Great Britain have become the undisputed leaders in the number of such vessels. However, the 40s of the 20th century and naval battles involving aviation showed the vulnerability of sea giants.
Battle of Gabbard (1653)
The first positive experience of linear combat was recorded in 1653. The wake arrangement of the English ships - one behind the other, easily made it possible to repulse the first attack of the Netherlands, which also lost two ships. The next day, Dutch Admiral Marten Tromp again gave the order to advance. This was his fatal mistake, the fleet was defeated. 6 ships were sunk, 11 captured. England did not lose a single ship, and besides, she gained control of the English Channel.
Battle of Beachy Head (1690)
In July 1690, there was a collision between French and allied (England, Holland) ships. Admiral of France Tourville led 70 ships of the line, which he put up in three rows:
- The first line - the vanguard, consisted of 22 battleships;
- The second is a corps debatalia, 28 ships;
- The third is the rearguard, 20 battleships.
The enemy also lined up his weapons in three rows. It consisted of 57 battleships, which at times surpassed the French in terms of the number of artillery. However, Tourville's tactics managed to win an undeniable victory without losing a single ship. The Allies lost 16 battleships, another 28 were seriously damaged.
This battle allowed the French to seize control of the English Channel, which led the English fleet into disarray. A few days later they regained their maritime borders. The Battle of Beachy Head went down in history as one of the largest battles of sailing ships of the line.
Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
During the years of Napoleon's reign, the French-Spanish fleet met with fierce resistance from the British naval forces. Not far from Cape Trafalgar in the Atlantic Ocean, the Allies lined up ships in a linear pattern - in three rows. However, bad weather conditions and the beginning of a storm did not allow fighting at a long distance. After analyzing the situation, the English Admiral Nelson, on board the battleship Victoria, ordered the ships to group in two columns.
Further battle tactics of the British Royal Navy proved to be more successful. None of the ships were sunk, although many were seriously damaged. The Allies lost 18 sailboats, 17 of which were captured. The commander of the English fleet was wounded. On the first day of the battle, a French gunner aboard the ironclad Redoutable fired his musket. The bullet hit the shoulder. Nelson was taken to the infirmary, but he was never cured.
Battle of Jutland (1916)
The most famous battle with the use of dreadnoughts took place off the coast of the Jutland Peninsula. For two days, the German and British battleships tested their strength and capabilities. As a result, each side declared its victory. Germany claimed that the one who had the biggest losses lost. The Royal Navy believed that the winner is the country that did not move away from the battlefield.
Regardless of the outcome, this battle was a huge experience, which was later studied in detail. The construction of all subsequent world dreadnoughts was based on it. All shortcomings were taken into account, the most vulnerable places on the ship were fixed, in which armor should be strengthened. Also, the knowledge gained forced the designers to change the location of the main caliber towers. Despite the fact that a large number of weapons were involved in the battle, this clash did not affect the outcome of the First World War in any way.
End of the battleship era
The attack of the Japanese Imperial Navy on the American base of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 showed the unviability of the battleships. Enormous, clumsy and vulnerable to air attack, their heavy weapons, hitting for tens of kilometers, became useless. The sinking of several pieces of equipment blocked the possibility of going to sea for the rest of the warships. As a result, they lost a significant part of modern battleships.
The end of World War II marked the final end of the battleship era. The last years of battles have shown that these ships cannot defend themselves against submarines. They were replaced by even more powerful and gigantic ones, carrying dozens of aircraft.
At the same time, the dreadnoughts did not immediately write off, their phased replacement was necessary. So, in 1991, the last American battleships Missouri and Wisconsin, built during the Second World War, made a trip to the Persian Gulf, where they fired Tomahawk cruise missiles. In 1992, the Missouri was withdrawn from service. In 2006, the last dreadnought in the world, the Wisconsin, also left service.
A ship of the line is a sailing warship made of wood with a displacement of up to 6,000 tons. They had up to 135 guns on the sides, arranged in several rows, and up to 800 crew members. These ships were used in battles at sea using the so-called linear battle tactics in the 17th-19th centuries.
The advent of battleships
The name "ship of the line" has been known since the days of the sailing fleet. During the multi-deck, they lined up in one line in order to give a volley of all the guns at the enemy. It was the simultaneous fire from all the onboard guns that caused significant damage to the enemy. Soon, this battle tactic began to be called linear. The formation of a line of ships during naval battles was first used by the English and Spanish navies in the early 17th century.
The progenitors of battleships are galleons with heavy weapons, carracks. The first mention of them appeared in Europe at the beginning of the 17th century. These models of battleships were much lighter and shorter than galleons. Such qualities allowed them to maneuver faster, that is, to line up sideways to the enemy. It was necessary to line up in such a way that the bow of the next ship was necessarily directed to the stern of the previous one. Why weren't they afraid to expose the sides of the ships to enemy attacks? Because the multi-layered wooden sides were reliable protection ship from enemy nuclei.
The process of formation of battleships
Soon a multi-deck sailing ship of the line appeared, which for more than 250 years became the main means of waging war at sea. Progress did not stand still, thanks to the latest techniques calculation of the hulls, it became possible to cut through the cannon ports in several tiers even at the very beginning of the construction. Thus, it was possible to calculate the strength of the ship even before it was launched. In the middle of the 17th century, a clear demarcation by class emerged:
- Old two-deck. These are ships whose decks are located one above the other. They are filled with 50 cannons firing at the enemy through the windows in the sides of the ship. These floating craft did not have sufficient power to conduct a linear battle and were mainly used as an escort for convoys.
- Double-deck ships of the line with 64 to 90 guns represented the bulk of the fleet.
- Three- or four-deck ships with 98-144 combat guns played the role of flagships. A fleet containing 10-25 such ships could control trade lines and, in case of military action, block them for the enemy.
Differences of battleships from others
Sailing equipment for frigates and battleships is the same - three-masted. Each had direct sails. But still, the frigate and the ship of the line have some differences. The first has only one closed battery, and several battleships. In addition, the latter have a much larger number of guns, this also applies to the height of the sides. But frigates are more maneuverable and can operate even in shallow water.
A ship of the line differs from a galleon by straight sails. In addition, the latter does not have a rectangular turret at the stern and a latrine at the bow. The ship of the line is superior to the galleon both in speed and maneuverability, as well as in artillery combat. The latter is more suited for boarding combat. Among other things, they were very often used to transport troops and cargo.
The appearance of battleships in Russia
Before the reign of Peter I, there were no such structures in Russia. The first Russian ship of the line was called "Goto Predestination". By the twenties of the 18th century, the Russian Imperial Navy already included 36 such ships. At the beginning, these were complete copies of Western models, but by the end of the reign of Peter I, Russian battleships began to have their own distinctive features. They were much shorter, had less shrinkage, which negatively affected seaworthiness. These ships were very well suited to the conditions of the Azov and then the Baltic Seas. The emperor himself was directly involved in the design and construction. Its name - the Russian Imperial Fleet wore Navy Russia from October 22, 1721 to April 16, 1917. Only people from the nobility could serve as naval officers, and recruits from the common people could serve as sailors on ships. The term of service in the Navy for them was life.
Battleship "Twelve Apostles"
"12 Apostles" was laid down in 1838 and launched in 1841 in the city of Nikolaev. This is a ship with 120 guns on board. In total, there were 3 ships of this type in the Russian fleet. These ships were distinguished not only by their elegance and beauty of forms, they had no equal in battle among sailing ships. The battleship "12 Apostles" was the first in the Russian Imperial Navy, which was armed with new bombing guns.
The fate of the ship was such that it did not manage to participate in any battle of the Black Sea Fleet. His body remained intact and did not receive a single hole. But this ship has become exemplary training center, he provided the defense of Russian forts and fortresses in the west of the Caucasus. In addition, the ship was engaged in the transportation of land troops and went on long voyages for 3-4 months. The ship was subsequently sunk.
Reasons why battleships have lost their importance
The position of wooden battleships as the main force at sea was shaken due to the development of artillery. Heavy bombing guns easily pierced the wooden side with gunpowder bombs, thereby causing serious damage to the ship and causing fires. If earlier artillery did not pose a big threat to ship hulls, then bombing guns could launch Russian battleships to the bottom with just a few dozen hits. Since that time, the question arose about the protection of structures with metal armor.
In 1848, a screw propeller was invented and relatively powerful steam engines, so wooden sailboats slowly began to leave the scene. Some ships were refitted and equipped with steam units. Several large ships with sails were also produced, they were habitually called linear.
Linemen of the Imperial Navy
In 1907 appeared new class ships, in Russia they were called linear, or in short - battleships. These are armored artillery warships. Their displacement ranged from 20 to 65 thousand tons. If we compare battleships of the 18th century and battleships, the latter have a length of 150 to 250 m. They are armed with a gun of caliber from 280 to 460 mm. The crew of the battleship - from 1500 to 2800 people. The ship was used to destroy the enemy as part of a combat formation and artillery support for ground operations. The name of the ships was given not so much in memory of battleships, but because they needed to revive the tactics of battle of the line.
The battleship is a heavy warship with large-caliber turret artillery and strong armor protection that existed in the first half of the 20th century. It was intended to destroy ships of all types, incl. armored and actions against seaside fortresses. There were squadron battleships (for combat on the high seas) and coastal defense battleships (for operations in coastal areas).
Of the numerous fleets of battleships left after the First World War, only 7 countries used them in the Second World War. All of them were built before the start of the First World War, and in the period between the wars, many were modernized. And only the coastal defense battleships of Denmark, Thailand and Finland were built in 1923-1938.
Coastal defense battleships became a logical development of monitors and gunboats. They were distinguished by moderate displacement, shallow draft, armed with large-caliber artillery. Received noticeable development in Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Russia and France.
A typical battleship of that time was a ship with a displacement of 11 to 17 thousand tons, capable of speeds up to 18 knots. As a power plant, all battleships were equipped with triple expansion steam engines, which worked on two (rarely three) shafts. The main caliber of the guns is 280-330 mm (and even 343 mm, later replaced by 305 mm with a longer barrel), armor belt 229-450 mm, rarely more than 500 mm.
Estimated number of battleships and battleships used in the war by countries and types of ships
| Countries | Types of ships (total/dead) | Total | |
| armadillos | Battleships | ||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Argentina | — | 2 | 2 |
| Brazil | — | 2 | 2 |
| Great Britain | — | 17/3 | 17/3 |
| Germany | 3/3 | 4/3 | 7/6 |
| Greece | 3/2 | — | 3/2 |
| Denmark | 2/1 | — | 2/1 |
| Italy | — | 7/2 | 7/2 |
| Norway | 4/2 | — | 4/2 |
| USSR | — | 3 | 3 |
| USA | — | 25/2 | 25/2 |
| Thailand | 2/1 | — | 2/1 |
| Finland | 2/1 | — | 2/1 |
| France | — | 7/5 | 7/5 |
| Chile | — | 1 | 1 |
| Sweden | 8/1 | — | 8/1 |
| Japan | — | 12/11 | 12/11 |
| TOTAL | 24/11 | 80/26 | 104/37 |
A battleship (battleship) is a class of the largest armored artillery warships with a displacement of 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length of 150 to 280 m, armed with main caliber guns from 280 to 460 mm, with a crew of 1500 - 2800 people. Battleships were used to destroy enemy ships as part of a combat formation and artillery support for ground operations. They were an evolutionary development of armadillos.
The bulk of the battleships that took part in the Second World War was built before the start of the First World War. During 1936-1945, only 27 battleships of the latest generation were built: 10 in the USA, 5 in Great Britain, 4 in Germany, 3 each in France and Italy, 2 in Japan. And in none of the fleets did they justify the hopes placed on them. Battleships from a means of waging war at sea turned into an instrument of big politics, and the continuation of their construction was no longer determined by tactical expediency, but by completely different motives. To have such ships for the prestige of the country in the first half of the 20th century meant about the same as now to have nuclear weapons.
Second World War became the decline of battleships, as a new weapon was established at sea, the range of which was an order of magnitude greater than the most long-range guns of battleships - aviation, deck and coastal. At the final stage of the war, the functions of the battleships were reduced to artillery bombardment of the coasts and the protection of aircraft carriers. The largest battleships in the world, the Japanese "Yamato" and "Musashi" were sunk by aircraft without meeting with similar enemy ships. In addition, it turned out that battleships are very vulnerable to attacks by submarines and aircraft.
Performance characteristics of the best examples of battleships
|
TTX of the ship / Country and ship type |
England
George V |
Germ. Bismarck | Italy
Littorio |
USA | France
Richelieu |
Japan |
| Standard displacement, thousand tons | 36,7 | 41,7 | 40,9 | 49,5 | 37,8 | 63.2 |
| Full displacement, thousand tons | 42,1 | 50,9 | 45,5 | 58,1 | 44,7 | 72.8 |
| Length, m | 213-227 | 251 | 224 | 262 | 242 | 243-260 |
| Width, m | 31 | 36 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 37 |
| Draft, m | 10 | 8,6 | 9,7 | 11 | 9,2 | 10,9 |
| Board reservation, mm. | 356 -381 | 320 | 70 + 280 | 330 | 330 | 410 |
| Reservation of decks, mm. | 127 -152 | 50 — 80 + 80 -95 | 45 + | 37 + 153-179 | 150-170 + 40 | 35-50 + 200-230 |
| Reservation of the towers of the main caliber, mm. | 324 -149 | 360-130 | 350-280 | 496-242 | 430-195 | 650 |
| Reservation of the conning tower, mm. | 76 — 114 | 220-350 | 260 | 440 | 340 | 500 |
| Power plants capacity, thousand HP | 110 | 138 | 128 | 212 | 150 | 150 |
| Maximum travel speed, knots | 28,5 | 29 | 30 | 33 | 31 | 27,5 |
| Maximum range, thousand miles | 6 | 8,5 | 4,7 | 15 | 10 | 7,2 |
| Fuel reserve, thousand tons oil | 3,8 | 7,4 | 4,1 | 7,6 | 6,9 | 6,3 |
| Artillery of the main caliber | 2x4 and 1x2 356 mm | 4x2 - 380mm | 3×3 381 mm | 3×3 - 406 mm | 2×4 - 380mm | 3×3 -460mm |
| Auxiliary caliber artillery | 8x2 - 133 mm | 6x2 - 150mm and 8x2 - 105mm | 4x3 - 152mm and 12x1 - 90mm | 10x2 - 127mm | 3×3 - 152mm and 6×2 100mm | 4×3 - 155mm and 6×2 -127mm |
| Flak | 4x8 - 40 mm | 8×2 - 37mm and 12×1 - 20mm |
8x2 and 4x1 - 37mm and 8×2 - |
15x4 - 40mm, 60x1 - 20mm | 4x2 - 37mm 4x2 and 2x2 - 13.2mm |
43×3 -25mm and 2x2 - 13.2mm |
| Main gun firing range, km | 35,3 | 36,5 | 42,3 | 38,7 | 41,7 | 42 |
| Number of catapults, pcs. | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Number of seaplanes, pcs. | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| Crew size, pers. | 1420 | 2100 | 1950 | 1900 | 1550 | 2500 |
Iowa-class battleships are considered the most advanced ships in the history of shipbuilding. It was during their creation that designers and engineers managed to achieve maximum harmonious combination all the main combat characteristics: weapons, speed and protection. They put an end to the development of the evolution of battleships. They can be considered an ideal project.
The rate of fire of the battleship's guns was two rounds per minute, while providing independent fire for each gun in the turret. Of the contemporaries, only the Japanese super battleships "Yamato" had a heavier weight of the salvo of the main caliber. Firing accuracy was provided by artillery fire control radar, which gave an advantage over Japanese ships without radar installations.
The battleship had a radar for detecting air targets and two for detecting surface targets. The altitude range when firing at aircraft reached 11 kilometers with a declared rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute, and control was carried out using a radar. The ship was equipped with a set of automatic identification equipment "friend or foe", as well as radio intelligence and radio countermeasures systems.
The performance characteristics of the main types of battleships and battleships by country are set out below.
Battleship
Battleship(abbreviated from "ship of the line") - a class of armored artillery warships with a displacement of 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length of 150 to 280 m, armed with main caliber guns from 280 to 460 mm, with a crew of 1500-2800 people. Battleships were used in the 20th century to destroy enemy ships as part of a combat formation and artillery support for land operations. It was an evolutionary development of armadillos in the second half of the 19th century.
origin of name
Battleship - short for "battleship". So in Russia in 1907 they named a new type of ships in memory of the old wooden sailing ships of the line. Initially, the new ships were supposed to revive linear tactics, but this was soon abandoned.
The English analogue of this term - battleship (literally: warship) - also came from sailing ships of the line. In 1794, the term "line-of-battle ship" (ship of the battle line) was abbreviated as "battle ship". In the future, it was used in relation to any warship. From the late 1880s, unofficially, it was most often applied to squadron ironclads. In 1892, the reclassification of the British Navy called the word "battleship" a class of super-heavy ships, which included several especially heavy squadron ironclads.
But the real revolution in shipbuilding, which marked a truly new class of ships, was made by the construction of the Dreadnought, completed in 1906.
Dreadnoughts. "Only Big Guns"
The authorship of a new leap in the development of large artillery ships is attributed to the English Admiral Fisher. Back in 1899, commanding the Mediterranean squadron, he noted that firing with the main caliber can be carried out at a much greater distance if guided by splashes from falling shells. However, at the same time, it was necessary to unify all artillery in order to avoid confusion in determining the bursts of shells of the main caliber and medium-caliber artillery. Thus was born the concept of all-big-guns (only big guns), which formed the basis of a new type of ship. The effective firing range increased from 10-15 to 90-120 cables.
Other innovations that formed the basis of the new type of ships were centralized fire control from a single general ship post and the spread of electric drives, which accelerated the guidance of heavy guns. The guns themselves have also changed significantly, due to the transition to smokeless powder and new high-strength steels. Now only the lead ship could carry out sighting, and those following in the wake were guided by bursts of its shells. Thus, building in wake columns again allowed in Russia in 1907 to return the term battleship. In the USA, England and France, the term "battleship" was not revived, and new ships continued to be called "battleship" or "cuirassé". In Russia, the "battleship" remained the official term, but in practice the abbreviation was established battleship.
Battlecruiser Hood.
The naval community adopted the new class capital ships ambiguously, weak and incomplete armor protection caused particular criticism. However, the British Navy continued to develop this type, first building 3 cruisers of the Indifatigeble class (Eng. Indefatigable) - an improved version of the Invincible, and then moved on to the construction of battlecruisers with 343 mm artillery. They were 3 Lion-class cruisers (Eng. Leon), as well as built in a single copy of the "Tiger" (Eng. Tiger) . These ships had already surpassed their contemporary battleships in size, were very fast, but their armor, although increased in comparison with the Invincible, still did not meet the requirements of a battle with a similarly armed enemy.
Already during the First World War, the British continued to build battlecruisers in accordance with the concept of Fisher, who returned to leadership - the highest possible speed combined with the strongest weapons, but with weak armor. As a result, the Royal Navy received 2 Rinaun-class battlecruisers, as well as 2 Koreages-class light battlecruisers and 1 Furies-class, the latter being rebuilt into a semi-aircraft carrier even before commissioning. The last British battlecruiser commissioned was the Hood, and its design was significantly changed after the battle of Jutland, which was unsuccessful for the British battlecruisers. The ship's armor was sharply increased, and it actually became a cruiser battleship.
Battlecruiser Goeben.
A noticeably different approach to the design of battlecruisers was demonstrated by German shipbuilders. To a certain extent, sacrificing seaworthiness, cruising range and even firepower, they paid great attention to the armor protection of their battlecruisers and ensuring their unsinkability. Already the first German battlecruiser "Von der Tann" (German. Von der Tann), yielding to the Invincible in the weight of an airborne salvo, it noticeably surpassed its British counterparts in security.
In the future, developing a successful project, the Germans introduced into their fleet battlecruisers of the Moltke type (German. Moltke) (2 units) and their improved version - "Seidlitz" (it. Seydlitz). Then the German fleet was replenished with battlecruisers with 305-mm artillery, against 280-mm on early ships. They became "Derflinger" (German. Derfflinger), "Lützow" (German. Lutzow) and "Hindenburg" (German. Hindenburg) - according to experts, the most successful battlecruisers of the First World War.
Battlecruiser Kongo.
Already during the war, the Germans laid down 4 Mackensen-class battlecruisers (German. Mackensen) and 3 types "Ersatz-York" (it. Ersatz Yorck). The former carried 350 mm artillery, while the latter were planned to mount 380 mm guns. Both types were distinguished by powerful armor protection at a moderate speed, but by the end of the war, none of the ships under construction entered service.
Battlecruisers also wished to have Japan and Russia. The Japanese fleet received in 1913-1915 4 units of the Kongo type (jap. 金剛) - powerfully armed, fast, but poorly protected. The Russian Imperial Navy built 4 units of the Izmail type, which were distinguished by very powerful weapons, decent speed and good protection, surpassing the battleships of the Gangut type in all respects. The first 3 ships were launched in 1915, but later, due to the difficulties of the war years, their construction slowed down sharply and was eventually stopped.
World War I
During World War I, the German Hochseeflotte - High Seas Fleet and the English Grand Fleet spent most of their time at their bases, as the strategic importance of the ships seemed too great to risk in battle. The only clash of battleship fleets in this war (Battle of Jutland) took place on May 31, 1916. The German fleet intended to lure the English fleet out of the bases and break it up in parts, but the British, having guessed the plan, put their entire fleet into the sea. Faced with superior forces, the Germans were forced to retreat, avoiding being trapped several times and losing several of their ships (11 to 14 of the British). However, after that, until the very end of the war, the High Seas Fleet was forced to remain off the coast of Germany.
In total, during the war, not a single battleship went to the bottom only from artillery fire, only three English battlecruisers died due to weak defenses during the battle of Jutland. The main damage (22 dead ships) to the battleships was caused by minefields and submarine torpedoes, anticipating the future importance of the submarine fleet.
Russian battleships did not participate in naval battles - in the Baltic they stood in the harbors, connected by a mine and torpedo threat, and in the Black Sea they had no worthy rivals, and their role was reduced to artillery bombardments. The exception is the battle of the battleship "Empress Catherine the Great" with the battlecruiser "Goeben", during which the "Goeben", having received damage from the fire of the Russian battleship, managed to maintain the advantage in speed and went to the Bosphorus. Battleship "Empress Maria" died in 1916 from an explosion of ammunition in the harbor of Sevastopol for an unspecified reason.
Washington Maritime Agreement
The First World War did not put an end to the naval arms race, for America and Japan, who practically did not participate in the war, took the place of the European powers as owners of the largest fleets. After the construction of the newest superdreadnoughts of the Ise type, the Japanese finally believed in the possibilities of their shipbuilding industry and began to prepare their fleet to establish dominance in the region. A reflection of these aspirations was the ambitious program "8 + 8", which provided for the construction of 8 newest battleships and 8 no less powerful battlecruisers, with 410 mm and 460 mm guns. The first pair of Nagato-class ships had already set sail, two battlecruisers (with 5 × 2 × 410 mm) were on the stocks, when the Americans, concerned about this, adopted a response program for the construction of 10 new battleships and 6 battlecruisers, not counting smaller ships. War-ravaged England also did not want to lag behind and planned the construction of ships of the G-3 and N-3 type, although it could no longer maintain the "double standard". However, such a burden on the budgets of the world powers was extremely undesirable in the post-war situation, and everyone was ready to make concessions in order to maintain the status quo.
To counter the ever-increasing underwater threat, the size of anti-torpedo protection zones on ships increased more and more. To protect against projectiles coming from afar, therefore, at a large angle, as well as from aerial bombs, the thickness of the armored decks (up to 160-200 mm), which received a spaced structure, was increasingly increased. Wide application electric welding made it possible to make the structure not only more durable, but also gave significant savings in weight. Anti-mine caliber artillery moved from the side sponsons to the towers, where it had large angles of fire. The number of anti-aircraft artillery was constantly increasing, divided into large-caliber and small-caliber, to repel attacks, respectively, at large and small distances. Large-caliber, and then small-caliber artillery received separate guidance posts. The idea of a universal caliber was tested, which was a rapid-fire large-caliber guns with large pointing angles, suitable for repelling attacks by destroyers and high-altitude bombers.
All ships were equipped with airborne reconnaissance seaplanes with catapults, and in the second half of the 30s, the British began to install the first radars on their ships.
The military also had at its disposal a lot of ships from the end of the “superdreadnought” era, which were being upgraded to meet the new requirements. They received new machine installations to replace the old ones, more powerful and compact. However, their speed did not increase at the same time, and often even fell, due to the fact that the ships received large side fittings in the underwater part - boules - designed to improve resistance to underwater explosions. The main caliber towers received new, enlarged embrasures, which made it possible to increase the firing range, for example, the firing range of the 15-inch guns of the Queen Elizabeth ships increased from 116 to 160 cable guns.
In Japan, under the influence of Admiral Yamamoto, in the fight against their main intended enemy - the United States - they relied on a general battle of all naval forces, due to the impossibility of a long confrontation with the United States. The main role in this was assigned to new battleships (although Yamamoto himself was against such ships), which were supposed to replace the unbuilt ships of the 8 + 8 program. Moreover, back in the late 1920s, it was decided that within the framework of the Washington Agreement it would not be possible to create sufficiently powerful ships that would have superiority over the American ones. Therefore, the Japanese decided to ignore the restrictions by building ships of the greatest possible power, dubbed the "Yamato type". The largest ships in the world (64,000 tons) were equipped with record-breaking 460 mm caliber guns that fired 1,460 kg shells. The thickness of the side belt reached 410 mm, however, the value of the armor was reduced by its lower quality compared to European and American. The huge size and cost of the ships led to the fact that only two were completed - the Yamato and Musashi.
Richelieu
In Europe, over the next few years, ships such as Bismarck" (Germany, 2 units), "King George V"" (Great Britain, 5 units), "Littorio" (Italy, 3 units), "Richelieu" (France, 2 pieces). Formally, they were bound by the limitations of the Washington Agreement, but in reality all the ships exceeded the contractual limit (38-42 thousand tons), especially the German ones. The French ships were actually enlarged versions of the small Dunkirk-class battleships and were of interest because they had only two turrets, both in the bow of the ship, thus losing the ability to shoot directly at the stern. But the towers were 4-gun, and the dead angle in the stern was rather small. The ships were also interested in strong anti-torpedo protection (up to 7 meters wide). Only Yamato could compete with this indicator (up to 5 m, but the thick anti-torpedo bulkhead and the large displacement of the battleship somewhat compensated for the relatively small width) and Littorio (up to 7.57 m, however, the original Pugliese system was used there). Booking of these ships was considered one of the best among the "35-thousand-ton".
USS Massachusetts
In the United States, when building new ships, a maximum width requirement was imposed - 32.8 m - so that the ships could pass the Panama Canal, which was owned by the United States. If for the first ships of the North Caroline and South Dakota type this did not yet play a big role, then for the last ships of the Iowa type, which had an increased displacement, it was necessary to use elongated pear-shaped hull shapes. Also, American ships were distinguished by powerful 406 mm caliber guns with shells weighing 1225 kg, which is why all ten ships of the three new series had to sacrifice side armor (305 mm at an angle of 17 degrees on the North Caroline, 310 mm at an angle of 19 degrees - on the South Dakota and 307 mm at the same angle on the Iowa), and on the six ships of the first two series, also the speed (27 knots). On four ships of the third series (“Iowa type”, due to the larger displacement, this drawback was partially corrected: the speed was increased (officially) to 33 knots, but the thickness of the belt even decreased to 307 mm (although officially, for the purposes of the propaganda campaign, it was announced about 457 mm), true thickness outer skin increased from 32 to 38 mm, but this did not play a significant role. The armament was somewhat strengthened, the main caliber guns became 5 calibers longer (from 45 to 50 cal.).
Operating with the Tirpitz Scharnhorst in 1943 met with the English battleship Duke of York, heavy cruiser Norfolk, light cruiser Jamaica and destroyers and was sunk. The Gneisenau of the same type during the breakthrough from Brest to Norway across the English Channel (Operation Cerberus) was heavily damaged by British aircraft (partial explosion of ammunition) and did not go out of repair until the end of the war.
The last battle in naval history directly between battleships took place on the night of October 25, 1944 in the Surigao Strait, when 6 American battleships attacked and sank the Japanese Fuso and Yamashiro. The American battleships anchored across the strait and fired broadside salvos with all their main battery guns along the locator bearing. The Japanese, who did not have shipborne radars, could only fire from the bow guns almost at random, focusing on the muzzle flashes of the American guns.
In the changed circumstances, projects to build even larger battleships (the American "Montana" and the Japanese "Super Yamato") were canceled. The last battleship to enter service was the British Vanguard (1946), laid down before the war, but completed only after it ended.
The impasse in the development of battleships was shown by the German projects H42 and H44, according to which a ship with a displacement of 120-140 thousand tons was supposed to have 508 mm artillery and 330 mm deck armor. The deck, which had a much larger area than the armored belt, could not be protected against aerial bombs without excessive weighting, while the decks of the existing battleships were penetrated by 500 and 1000 kg bombs.
After World War II
After the war, most of the battleships were scrapped by 1960 - they were too expensive for war-weary economies and no longer had their former military value. Aircraft carriers and, a little later, nuclear submarines took on the role of the main carrier of nuclear weapons.
Only the United States used its last battleships (of the New Jersey type) for artillery support of ground operations several more times, due to the relative cheapness of shelling the coast with heavy shells in areas, as well as the extraordinary firepower of ships (after upgrading the system loading, for an hour of firing, Iowa could fire about a thousand tons of shells, which is still not available to any of the aircraft carriers). Although it must be admitted that having a very small (70 kg for 862 kg high-explosive and only 18 kg for 1225 kg armor-piercing) explosive shells of American battleships were not the best suited for shelling the coast, and they did not gather to develop a powerful high-explosive projectile. Before the Korean War, all four Iowa-class battleships were recommissioned. In Vietnam, "New Jersey" was used.
Under President Reagan, these ships were decommissioned and recommissioned. They were called upon to become the core of new strike ship groups, for which they were re-equipped and became capable of carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles (8 4-charge containers) and Harpoon-type anti-ship missiles (32 missiles). "New Jersey" participated in the shelling of Lebanon in -1984, and "Missouri" and "Wisconsin" fired the main caliber at ground targets during the first Gulf War g. The shelling of Iraqi positions and stationary objects with the main caliber of battleships with the same effectiveness turned out to be much cheaper than a rocket. The well-protected and spacious battleships also proved to be effective as headquarters ships. However, high costs for the re-equipment of old battleships (300-500 million dollars each) and the high cost of their maintenance led to the fact that all four ships were again decommissioned in the nineties of the XX century. The New Jersey has been sent to the Naval Museum in Camden, the Missouri has become a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, the Iowa is mothballed at the reserve fleet berth in Susan Bay, California, and the Wisconsin maintained in B-class conservation at the Norfolk Maritime Museum. Nevertheless, the combat service of the battleships can be resumed, since during conservation, the legislators especially insisted on maintaining the combat readiness of at least two of the four battleships.
Although now battleships are absent in the combat composition of the fleets of the world, their ideological successor is called "arsenal ships", carriers a large number cruise missiles, which should become a kind of floating missile depots, located near the coast for launching missile strikes on it if necessary. There are talks about the creation of such ships in American maritime circles, but to date, not a single such ship has been built.
