Portal:Battleships

The Battleships Portal

The firepower of a battleship demonstrated by USS Iowa (1984). The muzzle blasts distort the ocean surface.

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The term battleship came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ironclad warship, now referred to by historians as pre-dreadnought battleships. In 1906, the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought into the United Kingdom's Royal Navy heralded a revolution in the field of battleship design. Subsequent battleship designs, influenced by HMS Dreadnought, were referred to as "dreadnoughts", though the term eventually became obsolete as dreadnoughts became the only type of battleship in common use.

Battleships were a symbol of naval dominance and national might, and for decades the battleship was a major factor in both diplomacy and military strategy. A global arms race in battleship construction began in Europe in the 1890s and culminated at the decisive Battle of Tsushima in 1905, the outcome of which significantly influenced the design of HMS Dreadnought. The launch of Dreadnought in 1906 commenced a new naval arms race. Three major fleet actions between steel battleships took place: the long-range gunnery duel at the Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1904, the decisive Battle of Tsushima in 1905 (both during the Russo-Japanese War) and the inconclusive Battle of Jutland in 1916, during the First World War. Jutland was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of dreadnoughts of the war, and it was the last major battle in naval history fought primarily by battleships.

The Naval Treaties of the 1920s and 1930s limited the number of battleships, though technical innovation in battleship design continued. Both the Allied and Axis powers built battleships during World War II, though the increasing importance of the aircraft carrier meant that the battleship played a less important role than had been expected in that conflict. (Full article...)

Selected article

USS Nevada (BB-36) was the lead ship of her class and second vessel of the United States Navy to be named after the 36th state. The first American super-dreadnought, she was launched in 1914 and commissioned on March 11, 1916, and though not originally sent to Battleship Division 9 to fight in World War I due to a shortage of fuel oil, though she did join the Grand Fleet in August 1918 to escort convoys, having never fired a shot in anger during the war. She served in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets during the interwar period, visiting nations in South America and a "goodwill cruise" to Oceania that validated War Plan Orange, then being overhauled from mid-1927 to January 1930. During the Attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, she was the only battleship whose mooring did not prevent maneuver, though significant bomb damage forced her to run aground. Refloated two months later, her repairs were complete in October 1942 and she sailed to support the Aleutian Islands Campaign. After a few Atlantic convoy escorts, she provided fire support for the Invasion of Normandy (including fire for troops at the D-Day landings) and Operation Dragoon, then returned to New York for maintenance in late 1944 that included adding two 14"/45 caliber guns salvaged from USS Arizona. She then returned to the Pacific to provide bombardment during the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After brief occupation in Tokyo Bay, she was sent to the Bikini atomic experiments as a target for Operation Crossroads; she survived both blasts and was sunk near Pearl Harbor during gunnery practice on July 31, 1948.

Selected biography

Jellico in 1925 wearing the uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet

Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, GCB, OM, GCVO (5 December 1859 – 20 November 1935) was a British Royal Navy admiral most notable for his command of the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in World War I, the conduct of which remains controversial. Having served on numerous battleships at the Urabi Revolt and Boxer Rebellion early in his career, Jellicoe later served as the Governor-General of New Zealand as well as Third, Second and First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, but he was removed by a new First Lord because of differences over policy and Britain's ability to carry on the war.

General images -

The following are images from various battleship-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The French Redoutable (1876), the first battleship to use steel as the main building material (from Ironclad warship)
Image 2The appearance of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 rendered every other battleship obsolete (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 3Mexican frigate Guadalupe 1842 (from Ironclad warship)
Image 4The heavy guns and forward barbette of Mikasa's main battery (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 5A plan of Bellerophon (1907) showing the armament distribution of early British dreadnoughts. The main battery is in twin turrets, with two on the "wings"; the light secondary battery is clustered around the superstructure. (from Dreadnought)
Image 6
Growth in size of battleship designs from 1905 onwards, showing the dreadnought's rapid growth between 1905 and 1920, prior to the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922
(from Dreadnought)
Image 7Radetzky-class battleship, a pre-dreadnought class of the Austro-Hungarian Navy (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 8Japan's Admiral Togo on the bridge of Mikasa just before the Battle of Tsushima (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 9The conventional broadside of 68-pounders on HMS Warrior of 1860 (from Ironclad warship)
Image 10Mikasa as a museum ship (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 11HMS Canopus fires her 12-inch main guns at a Turkish shore battery (1915). Photo by Ernest Brooks. (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 12Paris on speed trials (1914) (from Dreadnought)
Image 13USS California (BB-44), one of two Tennessee-class battleships, steaming at high speed in 1921 (from Dreadnought)
Image 14The iron-and-wood armor of Warrior (from Ironclad warship)
Image 15A barbette of Redoutable (from Ironclad warship)
Image 16Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein in port around 1930. Both ships served into World War II. (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 17The Battle of Iquique, where Peruvian ironclad Huáscar sunk the Chilean wooden corvette Esmeralda (from Ironclad warship)
Image 18HMS Agamemnon, an example of taking the intermediate battery principle to its ultimate expression with ten 9.2-inch guns (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 19The Confederacy's French-built last ironclad was also Japan's first: Stonewall was later renamed Kōtetsu (from Ironclad warship)
Image 20USS Indiana, an example of the intermediate battery principle with its forward 13-inch and forward port 8-inch gun turrets (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 21The reloading mechanism onboard HMS Inflexible (from Ironclad warship)
Image 22USS Texas, the only dreadnought still in existence, was launched in 1912 and is now a museum ship (from Dreadnought)
Image 23HMS Dreadnought shows the low freeboard typical for early ironclad turret-ships. This ship, launched in 1875, should not be confused with her famous successor, launched in 1906, marking the end of the pre-dreadnought era. (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 24The water-tube boiler was the most efficient method of producing high-pressure steam for pre-dreadnought engines. (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 25USS Massachusetts, a pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1893 (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 26HMS Warrior (1860), Britain's first seagoing ironclad warship (from Ironclad warship)
Image 27The Argentine Rivadavia, first of its class, under construction in 1912 (from Dreadnought)
Image 28Canonicus-class monitor USS Mahopac on the Appomattox River, 1864 (from Ironclad warship)
Image 29HMS Audacious sinks after hitting a mine, October 1914 (from Dreadnought)
Image 3012-pounder anti-torpedo boat guns mounted on the roof of a turret on Dreadnought (1906) (from Dreadnought)
Image 31Retvizan sinks in Port Arthur, 1904 (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 32Breech-loading 110-pounder Armstrong gun on HMS Warrior (from Ironclad warship)
Image 33HMS Dominion of the King Edward VII class was launched towards the end of the pre-dreadnought era, in 1903 (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 34HMS Ramillies was the fourth ship of the influential Royal Sovereign class. The diagonal tubes are spars for torpedo nets. (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 35Mikasa, a typical pre-dreadnought in many respects; note the positioning of secondary and tertiary batteries, and the concentration of armour on turrets and engineering spaces (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 36French Navy ironclad floating battery Lave, 1854. This ironclad, together with the similar Tonnante and Dévastation, vanquished Russian land batteries at the Battle of Kinburn (1855). (from Ironclad warship)
Image 37SMS Szent István begins to roll over after being torpedoed in 1918 (from Dreadnought)
Image 38Unfinished Bayern-class battleship Württemberg (right) and the Mackensen-class battlecruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich in Hamburg after the war, in about 1920 (from Dreadnought)
Image 39HMS Ocean was typical of pre-dreadnought battleships (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 40Cross section of a German pre-dreadnought Wittelsbach-class battleship, circa 1914 (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 41A plan of HMS Dreadnought, showing the revolutionary design (from Dreadnought)
Image 42USS New York making full steam (1915) (from Dreadnought)
Image 43
City-class ironclads off Cairo, Illinois, during the American Civil War
(from Ironclad warship)
Image 44King George V (left) inspects HMS Neptune (from Dreadnought)
Image 45A Paixhans naval shell gun. 1860 engraving (from Ironclad warship)
Image 46Provence, a Bretagne-class battleship, launched in 1913 (pictured in 1942) (from Dreadnought)
Image 47The Royal Navy's revolutionary HMS Dreadnought, launched in 1906, gave its name to the type (from Dreadnought)
Image 48The first battle between ironclads: CSS Virginia (left) vs. USS Monitor, in the March 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads (from Ironclad warship)
Image 49The fleets engaging for the Battle of Lissa (from Ironclad warship)
Image 50Gloire under sail (from Ironclad warship)
Image 51The working of a triple-expansion steam engine. High-pressure steam is used three times to produce motive power, gradually cooling as it goes. (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 52HMS Royal Sovereign (1891) was the first pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 53Cross-section view amidships of USS Kearsarge, showing how the armour scheme relates to the innards of the ship (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 54Model of the French Gloire (1858), the first ocean-going ironclad (from Ironclad warship)
Image 55Royal Navy Orion-class super-dreadnoughts in line c. 1914 (from Dreadnought)
Image 561904 illustration of H.G. Wells' December 1903 The Land Ironclads, showing huge armored land vessels, equipped with Pedrail wheels. (from Ironclad warship)
Image 57The Confederate ironclad Atlanta on the James River in 1864–1865 after her capture by Union forces (from Ironclad warship)
Image 58The French battleship Justice at speed (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 59The gun trials of the Brazilian dreadnought Minas Geraes in 1910, where all the guns capable of training to the port side were fired, forming what was at that time the heaviest broadside ever fired from a warship (from Dreadnought)
Image 60Punch cartoon from May 1876 showing Britannia dressed in the armor of an ironclad with the word Inflexible around her collar and addressing the sea god Neptune. Note the ram sticking out of Britannia's breast plate. The caption reads: OVER-WEIGHTED. Britannia. "Look here, Father Nep! I can't stand it much longer! Who's to 'rule the waves' in this sort of thing?" (from Ironclad warship)
Image 61French armored floating battery Arrogante (1864) (from Ironclad warship)
Image 62HMS Agamemnon, an all-big-gun mixed-calibre ship of the Lord Nelson class. It carried four 12-inch (305 mm) and ten 9.2-inch (234 mm) guns. (from Dreadnought)
Image 63Postcard of USS Connecticut being used for troop transport in 1919 (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 64Napoléon (1850), the first steam battleship (from Ironclad warship)
Image 65The Japanese battleship Settsu (1911) (from Dreadnought)
Image 66Schematic section of a typical pre-dreadnought battleship with an armoured upper and middle deck and side belt (red), lateral protective coal bunkers (grey), and a double-bottom of watertight compartments. The machinery was arranged in the protected internal void. (from Pre-dreadnought battleship)
Image 67Barbette of the Vauban (from Ironclad warship)
Image 68The obturator invented by de Bange allowed the effective sealing of breeches in breech-loading guns (from Ironclad warship)
Image 69HMS Inflexible, after the replacement of her sailing masts with military masts (from Ironclad warship)
Image 70Loa being fitted after its conversion in the Callao harbour, 1864 (from Ironclad warship)
Image 71This section of SMS Bayern shows a typical dreadnought protection scheme, with very thick armour protecting the turrets, magazines and engine spaces tapering away in less vital areas (from Dreadnought)
Image 72Animated diagram of gun turret loading and firing, based on the British 15-inch gun used on super-dreadnoughts (from Dreadnought)

Selected picture

USS Iowa (BB-61) fires a full broadside of nine 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 guns and six 5"/38 caliber guns during a target exercise near Vieques, Puerto Rico on 1 July, 1984. Note concussion effects on the water surface, and 16-inch gun barrels in varying degrees of recoil.

Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Ivan Beshoff, the last survivor of the mutiny on the Potemkin, emigrated to Ireland where he established a fish and chip shop that is still run by his descendants?
... that countertenor Christopher Lowrey's voice has been described as "packed with enough character to sink a battleship"?
... that an attempted British-Norwegian attack on the German battleship Tirpitz was abandoned after two Chariot manned torpedoes were lost due to bad weather?

More Did you know -

... that the Japanese battleship Kirishima was sunk in the middle of the night by an unseen ship?
... that the German pre-dreadnought battleship SMS Wörth represented the Kaiserliche Marine at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review in 1897?
... that the Russian battleship Ioann Zlatoust was named for Saint John Chrysostom?
... that of the nine British battlecruisers built before World War I only HMS Tiger was retained by the Royal Navy after the tonnage limits of the Washington Naval Treaty came into effect in 1922?

Selected quote

“

[T]he thunderous blast of the 16-inch guns struck the chest like the blow of a baseball bat. The sharp crack of the five-inch was skull splitting, even more painful to the ears. Like waiting for the other shoe to drop, the next 16-inch salvo could not be anticipated. No matter how one might try to brace his body in advance, there was no way to avoid bruises inflicted on elbows, knees and shins, as the entire ship lurched in angry recoil with every main battery salvo. Dust and debris would burst from every crack and corner, asbestos lagging would fly from piping, and insulation would tear loose from the overhead. Every object not bolted down would bounce or ricochet as though kicked by angry gremlins. Topside, solid sheets of flame with great clouds of searing gas and smoke erupted from the gun muzzles with every salvo. Often as not, much of this was carried by the wind back across the ship, to envelop men at exposed stations and be sucked inside through the ventilation system. At the end of such a day, all hands suffered from throbbing headaches, and most were virtually deaf. Red-rimmed eyes smarted from the pall of smoke. Every man's entire body was grimy with dust and the abrasive residue of burned gun powder. All of this could be, and was, endured. There was no pleasure whatever in it; only the grim satisfaction of helping our Marines survive to win the battle ashore.

”

— Ben Blee, speaking of his time as a Lieutenant aboard USS North Carolina

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