The rapid development of military shipbuilding in this country is a striking example of what a state can do when it is constantly aroused to activity by the will and wisdom of its sovereign. In 1870, Germany had only one shipyard - in Danzig, where it was possible to build ships of any larger size. But, after that, in a short time, shipyards began to be built with incredible speed in other parts of the empire, and the Kiel Canal was also dug, and that same Germany, which 25 or 30 years ago did not have sufficient funds to start at least a small fleet, and which, no more than 10 years before, bought half of its warships in England, is now not only building all its own warships at home, but is also successfully endowing most of the foreign states.
Tactical and technical data of battleships built or built in the late 19th - early 20th century
| Year of the project | 1900 | 1899 | 1897 | 1900 | 1896 | 1899 | 1897 |
| Name | H and J | "Wittelsbach" | "Suffren" | "Vittorio Emanuele" | "Canopus" | "Borodino" | "Potemkin" |
| The country | Germany | Germany | France | Italy | England | Russia | Russia |
| Displacement, t | 13000 | 12000 | 12728 | 12625 | 12950 | 13566 | 12500 |
| Length, f | 400 | 416,5 | 410 | 435 | 390 | 397 | 371 |
| Width, f | 73 | 67 | 70 | 73,5 | 74 | 76 | 72,5 |
| Average deepening, f | 25 | 25 | 27,5 | 25,5 | 26,5 | 26 | 27 |
| Heavy artillery number/caliber | 4 11-inch | 4 9.4-dm | 4 12-inch | 2 12-inch | 4 12-inch | 4 12-inch | 4 12-inch |
| Medium artillery number/caliber | 14 6.7-in. | 18 5.9-in. | 10 6.4-in., 8 4-in. | 12 8-in., 12 4-in. | 12 6-in., 10 12-lb. | 12 6-in, 22 12-lb | 16 6-in, 14 12-lb |
| Light artillery number/caliber | 12 20-fn. 12 1-fn. | 12 20-lb 13 12 1-lb | 12 3-lb, 2 9-lb, 2 1-lb | 12 3-fn | 6 3-fn, 2 Maxims | 8 1-fn | 20 1-fn |
| Underwater mine vehicles number/caliber | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Surface mine vehicles number / caliber | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Armor | |||||||
| Deck, dm | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2,5 | 2-4 | 4 |
| Bulkheads, dm | VL belt | VL belt | VL belt | VL belt | 12 | VL belt | 7-9 |
| Lower deck on slopes, dm | 6 (redoubt) | 6 (redoubt) | 5 (redoubt) | 8 dm (redoubt) | 9 (redoubt) | 2,5-6 | 6 (redoubt) |
| Protection of heavy artillery, dm | 10 | 10 | 12 | 8 dm | 8 | 11 | 12 |
| Tower base protection, dm | 10 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 12 |
| Protection of medium artillery, dm | 6 | 6 | 5-6 | 6 (tower) | 6 (tower) | ||
| Base protection, dm | 6 | 5 | 5-6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Conning tower, dm | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 10 |
| Armor belt length | all | all | all | all | floor length | all | floor length |
| Armor belt height, f | 7 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 7 | - | 7,5 |
| Armor weight, t | 4200 | 3000 | 3500 | unknown | 1740 | OK. 4000 | ok 4000 |
| The power of machines, ind. forces | 15000 | 15000 | 16200 | 20000 | 13500 | 16300 | 10600 |
| Maximum stroke, knots | 18 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 18,25 | 18 | 18 |
| Normal supply of coal, t | 800 | 653 | 820 | 1000 | 1000 | unknown | 670 |
| Maximum coal reserve, t | 1650 | 1000 | 1150 | 2800 | 2300 | 1250 | 870 |
| Boiler system | Torn./cyl. | Tornikr./cylinder. | Niklos | unknown | Belleville | Belleville | 24 Belleville |
If we take the case of a normal deepening; then we will see that in wartime the ship cannot save it; before the battle it will be so loaded with coal and ammunition that the armor belt will almost completely go under water. As a result, the waterline is not protected on side roll or during circulation. Otherwise, i.e. if the immersion is too small, the lower edge of the armor belt will come out of the water and again the waterline will be unprotected. In addition, it is impossible to expect that the ship, even in good weather, would always be without a list (when turning all the guns on one side, with uneven filling of coal pits, etc.). With even a slight hole at the waterline, the water rushing into it will violate the horizontality of the ship, you will have to let water into the compartments of the opposite side, the ship will sink, and with it the belt.
So, in all cases, it turns out that the armor belt is too narrow. It is true that on modern battleships the armor reaches the waterline, but this is only in the middle part of the ship, while the bow and stern are protected only by a narrow armor belt, while the underwater part in the middle part of the hull is not protected, and here it is necessary to continue the armor belt with a thickness of at least 160 mm. Indeed, in practice it has already become clear that the penetration of the underwater part often occurs not from the direct impact of the projectile, but when it breaks near the ship, when the projectile or its fragments still have the strength to overcome the resistance of the water and pierce the underwater unarmored part of the hull. When you think that such an insignificant reason is enough to put a ship out of commission, then it is worth thinking about increasing the armor belt, not worrying about the increase in displacement resulting from this.
How to proceed with underwater protection is a matter of technology. We, on the latest ships, for example, on the Tsesarevich, used a special kind of protection: the underwater part is not armored, and on each side there is a longitudinal armored bulkhead, which is located relatively far from the submerged part of the hull. This bulkhead is only 38 mm thick and should, by its location, represent a significant weight without increasing, especially the safety of the ship. These partitions protect only the middle part of the ship. It goes without saying that underwater armor would also have to be designed so that the ship could withstand the explosion of self-propelled and fixed mines of the barrier.
The conning tower is also subject, of course, to modifications. The modern conning tower, so to speak, hangs in the air, and only a thin armored tube (to protect the wires) connects it to the armored deck.
It is worth quoting the words of the German naval writer, Count Reventlov, after the incident with the “Tsesarevich”: “In the conning tower, the instruments for controlling the ship were damaged, all the officers and sailors in it were killed or seriously wounded - all this was due to the action of gases and fragments of a shell that exploded at the outer wall of the felling without breaking through it. It was necessary that the shell (when shooting at the “Tsesarevich”, the Japanese most of all aimed at the conning tower, which can be seen from the number of hits in front and behind the cabin, and therefore it can be said with certainty that the shell that hit the cabin itself did not accidentally hit it) exploded near a narrow gap left for the horizon. Fragments or gases got inside the cabin through this gap, maybe both, which put the ship out of action for a long time without damaging at the same time a single important mechanism. There are no such mechanisms in the conning tower.
The possibility of a repetition of such a case is unacceptable. It is unthinkable to put up with the fact that a few fragments of a shell that fell into the wheelhouse could deprive the ship of all the combat ability concentrated in it. Again, it must not be allowed that at one point of the ship, in the conning tower, both the squadron commander and the commander, and all the chief officers, would be simultaneously during the battle. If it is difficult to achieve complete protection of the commander due to the need to have a free outlook, then other participants, controls can be completely protected, since during the battle the helmsman, for example, does not need a field of vision. In this case, in no case should the question of severity be frightening: the complete safety of the participants in the control and possibly greater safety for the commander are of more importance than part of the artillery weapons.
The points chosen to control the ship should be protected with armor no less than 400 or even 500 mm thick, and the armor should be extended to the very armored deck - for the conning tower, the latter condition is all the more necessary. The cases with the “Tsesarevich” and “Rurik” should draw attention to the often repeated cases of damage to the steering wheel, almost at the very beginning of the battle. As a result, the ship is disabled or loses almost all of its combat capability. It is necessary to protect the rudder head, tiller, steering gears - in general, the entire steering compartment.
In general terms, battleships of the H class (Braunschweig) and N (Deutschland) are exactly the same - displacement, length, width, recess, number of horsepower, etc. The speed of the N class is slightly higher than that of the H class. The N class has water tube boilers. These boilers are less heavy than cylindrical boilers, due to which the stock of coal in class N is greater than in class H (normal 800 tons, instead of 700). Heavy and medium artillery are the same. On the "Deutschland" class - 17-cm guns placed in a casemate are farther apart than on the "Braunschweig". This reduces the ability to shoot down two guns with one shot. This was achieved by a large slope of the front and rear walls of the casemate and a slight lengthening of the entire casemate.
The gun ports are significantly improved thanks to wedge-shaped holes, the angle of fire reaches 137 °. This form of ports is borrowed from the American Navy. On the Braunschweig class, at each corner of the casemate, one turret with a 17-cm gun is placed; on the Deutschland class, instead of towers, separate casemates were arranged: this put an end to the tower system for medium artillery. On the roofs of the casemates there are 88-mm guns: There are a total of 22 such guns. This shows that light artillery has also undergone a change and this is due to the increase in the size of destroyer fighters, which have a huge move, which are difficult to hit.
Over the 50-year history of battleships (in the classical sense of this type of warships), engineers and shipbuilders in different countries have given a considerable number of them into the light of God. There were some truly unique projects among them.
Let's start with Italy. The shipbuilders of this country after the disaster at Lissa were very limited in funds. The shipbuilding budget was cut. Probably, it was this circumstance, as well as the specifics of the proposed theater of operations of the fleet, that prompted them to create not very well-protected, but fast and well-armed ships. This trend continued until the construction of the Italia-class battleships before World War II. But let's go back to the 19th century. The chief designer of the Italian fleet, Bendetto Brin, due to the reduction in the budget of the fleet, proposed the design of a ship that was truly revolutionary for its time - battleships of the Caio Duilio type. These were the first large sparless battleships built in Europe. A powerful armor belt covered only the central part of the hull (less than half the length of the ship), in which steam engines, artillery cellars and the bases of gun turrets were mounted. In the next series, Brin decided to do without belt armor at all - the new Italia-class battleships were protected only by a powerful armored 406-mm deck. Onboard protection was provided by many compartments filled with cellulose. The creators believed that sea water that got into the side holes would lead to swelling of the cellulose, which would tighten these holes.
And the rest of the Italia-class battleships were amazing ships: high speed for their time - about 18 knots and very powerful artillery - the main caliber was four 17-inch guns, which were considered the most powerful artillery systems of the 19th century.
The next type of battleships that I would like to talk about is our "priests". These ships can be called rather a kind of monitors, they had all the signs for this: a low side and poor seaworthiness. But this is not surprising, but the very geometry of the hull - the ships were round. After the unsuccessful Crimean War, Russia did not have the right to keep large warships on the Black Sea. Vice Admiral Popov suggested building round self-propelled batteries armed with 11-inch guns (on the second ship, Kyiv, the guns were 12-inch).
The steam engines of these ships set in motion six propellers, which allowed the battleships to somehow stay on course. The low side could allow these ships to operate only in the coastal zone, the speed was extremely low, but in general the ships coped with their combat missions.
Battleship Oldenburg
This warship was created in a single copy. The battleship was originally planned as the fifth ship of the Sachsen class, but due to lack of budgetary funds, it was decided to redesign it in the direction of reducing the size and caliber of artillery.
The result was a very peculiar small coastal defense battleship. Slow-moving, insufficiently seaworthy, with a hopelessly outdated casemate location of the main caliber artillery, he fully justified the nickname “iron”, which was firmly entrenched in him among the sailors of the German fleet, but this did not prevent him from remaining in service for 28 years, and serving as a moto for another 7 years as target ship.
Battleship Capitán Prat
This battleship is notable, firstly, for its name.
The ship is named after the captain of the corvette "Esmeralda" Arthur Prat, who accomplished a feat that bordered on recklessness. At the moment when the monitor's ram pierced the side of the corvette, he shouted: "Follow me, guys!", brandishing a naked saber, jumped onto the side of the enemy. The "guys" did not follow him (according to the official version, they did not hear the commands over the noise of the battle), and the attempt to board the battleship ended in the death of a brave man. However, the battleship, built at the French shipyard Forge e Chantier Mediteran in 1890, turned out to be quite good: it was reconstructed and remained in service until 1935.
Triumph-class battleships
There were two battleships of this type, Triumph and Swiftsure. These were apparently unremarkable battleships of the 2nd class, and they would never have appeared in the British Navy if Chile, for various reasons, had not refused to purchase these ships. So the British fleet was replenished with two ships that were absolutely unnecessary in terms of technical and tactical data.
In the course of the “adaptation” of the ships for the needs of the British fleet, the inscriptions in vital places, applied in Spanish, were replaced with English ones, but, for example, on the doors of the crew’s latrines, “Vacante” (free) and “Occupado” (Busy) remained. It was under these nicknames that the battleships served in the British Navy.
Squadron battleship "Agamemnon"
Ironclads of this type were the last "classic" ironclads built for the British Navy. Two warships of this type were built - the above-mentioned Agamemnon and its sistership - Lord Nelson. The last pre-dreadnoughts of His Majesty's fleet were typical representatives of their class, with all their advantages and disadvantages. The construction of a new type of battleship - the famous "Dreadnought" - according to the opinion of the naval commanders of that time, made all the battleships of that time "second-class battleships". But this circumstance did not prevent Agamemnon from remaining in service for almost 20 years. The ship was built for a long time - more than three years, and this was due to the fact that the main guns intended for the Agamemnon and Lord Nelson were installed on the Dreadnought.
The combat career of these battleships was eventful, both ships took part in the Dardanelles operation. It is with this moment that the most curious incident that has ever happened to armadillos is connected. In the spring of 1915, during the shelling of Turkish batteries, the squadron battleship Agamemnon received a return hit. The ship was hit by a stone (!!!) cannonball fired from an old muzzle-loading 17-inch cannon.
Squadron battleships of the "Kearsarge" and "Virginia" types
The American school of the late 19th century was still taking its first independent steps, however, American shipbuilders also had a desire to make the most powerful, well-armed ships possible, while saving in linear dimensions. This explains the appearance of ships with a unique arrangement of artillery of the main and auxiliary caliber - in two-story towers.
However, this arrangement of artillery was more of a disadvantage than an advantage. For guns in two-story towers, both the process of aiming and loading were significantly difficult, so this design, for all its apparent elegance, was never repeated. The service of the Virginia-class battleships (it was a series of five ships launched in 1902-1907) was short-lived - this is due to the "dreadnought" fever that swept all the naval powers of that time, although the ships turned out to be very good especially in terms of seaworthiness. But the Kearsarge, which was commissioned in 1900, served for a long time: until 1919 - in its main capacity, and then, after re-equipment, until 1955 it served as a floating crane.
"Dupuy de Lome"
(French armored cruiser 1895)
The cruiser's hull, with its characteristically French deep freeboard blockage and far protruding ram prow, was cigar-shaped. Its length was 114 meters, with a width of 15.7 meters. Draft at normal loading was 7.07 meters.
The armament of the cruiser was designed for the most powerful overtaking and retirade fire, since the creators of the Dupuis de Loma assumed that their ship would mainly fight either moving away from the enemy or catching up with the victim.
The entire side of the ship was fully protected by 100 mm steel armor. The belt went 1.38 meters below the waterline and rose to the main deck. The thickness of the armor guaranteed protection against 120-mm shells from British cruisers' rapid-fire guns at almost any distance.
Armadillo killed by a bottle
On December 12, 1862, during the war between the United States and the Confederate States of America, on a minefield set up by the Confederates on the Yazoo River, the Unionist battleship Cairo blew up and sank - the first ship in history to die from this new and, as it turned out, very effective weapons.
Nobel mines, first used by the Russians against the English fleet eight years earlier, in the Crimean War, were too weak (only four kilograms of black powder) to lead to the destruction of the ship. None of the English steamship-frigates that ran into them sank, escaping with relatively minor damage.
And the Confederate mine contained five gallons (about 19 liters) of gunpowder in a large glass bottle, and this was enough to sink a river wheeled battleship with a displacement of 512 tons. Previously, "Cairo" managed to distinguish himself in the Battle of Memphis, having withstood artillery shells hitting steel sides, but he was defenseless against an explosion under a wooden bottom.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the basis of any fleet was battleships - large ships with strong artillery and powerful armor protection. Let's remember three Russian ships of this class - participants in the Russo-Japanese and World War I.
Squadron battleship "Sevastopol"
The battleship Sevastopol was commissioned in 1900. The ship carried four 305 mm main battery guns. Eight 152 mm guns were located in pairs in four towers, and four more six-inch guns on the battery.
By the time the Russo-Japanese War began, Sevastopol, along with the Poltava and Petropavlovsk of the same type, was far from a new ship, but it was very problematic to destroy it in an artillery battle.
"Sevastopol" took part in the battle on January 27, 1904, supporting the actions of the ground forces at Port Arthur and the naval battle in the Yellow Sea. Several times the battleship was damaged by Japanese mines, but, unlike the Petropavlovsk, it happily escaped death. In October 1904, Japanese troops began a methodical shooting of the ships of the 1st Pacific Squadron in the inner roadstead of Port Arthur. Only when most of the squadron died under fire from Japanese siege artillery, did the commander of the battleship, Captain 1st Rank Essen, on his own initiative, manage to obtain permission to bring the battleship to the outer raid of the fortress in White Wolf Bay, where the crew began preparing an independent breakthrough of the blockade.
However, the lack of people in the team, the lack of part of the artillery transferred to the shore forced the breakthrough to be postponed. Meanwhile, the Japanese command, having discovered the Sevastopol in the outer roadstead, decided to destroy the Russian battleship with destroyer attacks. For several nights, the Sevastopol, which was under the protection of coastal batteries, the gunboat Groshiy and several destroyers, was subjected to numerous mine attacks.
Having fired up to 80 torpedoes at the Russian ship, the Japanese achieved one hit and two close explosions of torpedoes. On the "Sevastopol" a number of compartments were flooded and the battleship received a significant roll. True, this success cost the Japanese dearly. Destroyer No. 53 died on a Russian mine barrier with the entire crew, and destroyer No. 42, damaged by the fire of Sevastopol, was finished off by a torpedo from the destroyer Angry. 0
Another two dozen Japanese fighters and destroyers were damaged, and some, apparently, were no longer commissioned until the end of the war. The damage received by the Russian ship already ruled out the possibility of a breakthrough, and the Sevastopol crew switched to fighting Japanese batteries, which continued until the very last day of the defense of Port Arthur. In connection with the surrender of the fortress, the battleship was towed from the shore and sunk at a depth of more than 100 meters. Thus, the Sevastopol became the only Russian battleship sunk in Port Arthur, which was not raised by the Japanese and did not fall into the hands of the enemy.
Squadron battleship "Evstafiy"
The squadron battleship "Evstafiy" was a further development of the project of the battleship "Prince Potemkin Tauride". Unlike its prototype, the Evstafia has 152 mm. the guns at the extremities were replaced by 203 mm guns. However, the experience of the Russo-Japanese War made it necessary to reconsider the design of the ship. As a result, the already lengthy construction was delayed.
In 1907, all battleships of the Russian fleet were reclassified into battleships. With the advent of the Dreadnought battleship in England, all the battleships of the world of the “pre-dreadnought” type, including the Eustathius, instantly became obsolete. Despite this, both the Eustathius and the John Chrysostom of the same type represented an impressive force on the Black Sea, and the Ottoman Empire, as the main potential adversary, in principle, could not oppose anything serious to the Russian battleships.
To reinforce the Turkish fleet, the German command transferred the newest battlecruiser Goeben and the light Breislau, which Russia's allies in the Entente so obligingly let into the Black Sea.
The first collision with the "Goeben" occurred at Cape Sarych on November 5, 1914. The battle, in fact, came down to a duel between the flagship Eustathius and the German cruiser. The rest of the Russian ships, due to fog and errors in determining the distance, fired with large flights or did not open fire at all.
From the first salvo, the commandors of Eustache managed to cover the Goeben, which, according to various sources, received from three to fourteen direct hits in 14 minutes of the battle. As a result, the German cruiser withdrew from the battle and then underwent a two-week repair. The Eustathius was hit by five German shells that did not cause fatal damage.
The second clash between the Eustathius and the Goeben took place on April 27, 1915 near the Bosphorus, when a German raider attempted to destroy the core of the Black Sea Fleet in parts. However, faced with three dreadnought battleships, the Germans did not tempt fate and hurried out of the battle after a short skirmish. The fate of "Evstafiy", which successfully operated in the First World War, turned out to be sad. In 1918, he fell into the hands of the German command, and then - the former allies in the Entente. Leaving Sevastopol, they blew up the Eustathius cars. The successful restoration of the battleship, which required skilled workers and a powerful industrial base, proved impossible immediately after the end of the Civil War, and in 1922 the ship was cut into metal.
Coastal defense battleship "Admiral Ushakov"
Coastal defense battleships of the Admiral Ushakov type were built to protect the Baltic coast. Each of them carried four 254 mm guns (three Apraksin), four 120 mm guns and small-caliber artillery. Having a relatively small displacement (a little over 4,000 tons), the ships were distinguished by powerful weapons.
After the fall of Port Arthur, the formation of the 3rd Pacific squadron began, which, along with the Apraksin and Senyavin, included the Admiral Ushakov. The value of these ships consisted, first of all, in the well-trained crews, which, as part of the artillery training detachment, were engaged in the preparation of fleet commanders. However, before the ships were sent, the crews were replaced, and the battleships were sent to the Far East without replacing the main caliber guns, which subsequently played a fatal role in the fate of the Admiral Ushakov.
In the Battle of Tsushima, “Admiral Ushakov was part of the 3rd combat detachment, closing the column of the main forces of the squadron. In a daytime battle on May 14, 1905, the ship, at about 15:00, during a firefight with Admiral Kamimura's armored cruisers, received two large holes in the bow and lagged behind the squadron. The speed of the battleship dropped to 10 knots.
At night, the Admiral Ushakov, walking without lighting, managed to avoid attacks by Japanese destroyers, but the next day was overtaken by the armored cruisers Yakumo and Iwate. At the offer of the Japanese to surrender, the Russian ship opened fire. Each of the Japanese cruisers carried four 203 mm and fourteen 152 mm guns, significantly outperforming the Russian battleship in speed. And if the first volleys of "Ushakov" covered the "Iwate", causing a fire on the Japanese cruiser, then in the future the Japanese ships kept out of reach of the armadillo's guns at a favorable battle distance for themselves. After a 40-minute battle, the Admiral Ushakov, when further resistance became pointless, was flooded by the crew. Among the 94 dead officers and sailors of the Ushakov was the commander of the battleship Vladimir Nikolaevich Miklukha (brother of the famous explorer of Oceania N. N. Miklukho-Maklay). According to one version, he was mortally wounded by a shrapnel, and according to another, he himself refused to be rescued, pointing out to the Japanese a sailor drowning nearby.
Briefly about the article: The history of battleships and battlecruisers - the most powerful war machines ever created by man.
Twilight of the Giants
Battleships of the latest generation
A lifeless Concordian dreadnought sailed past us. The battleship got the first number, and it’s hard for me to imagine what else, besides the armor-piercing silumin shells of other battleships, can so disfigure a mighty flying fortress.
Alexander Zorich "Tomorrow the war"
The largest warships have always been considered the beauty and pride of the state, the embodiment of the strength, wealth and technical excellence of the state. But prosperity and failure always go hand in hand. In the 30-40s of the 20th century, heavy artillery ships reached the limit of perfection. This means that they could no longer develop further, keeping up with the times. We present to your attention the story of the rise and fall of the most powerful fighting machines created by man.
"Treaty of the Five Powers"
In 1922, Great Britain, the USA, France, Japan and Italy concluded an agreement on the limitation of armaments at sea - the so-called " Washington Treaty ».
Surprisingly, the main instigator of disarmament was England - the strongest maritime power, going according to the treaty for the greatest sacrifices. If other states parted with only a few obsolete ships and limited the construction of new ones, then the British “put under the knife” half of their battle fleet.
The reasons for this "generosity" were, of course, predominantly economic. The war drained the resources of the kingdom. The British, in any case, were forced to make their "Great Fleet", where 400,000 sailors served, half as great.
Tactical considerations also played their part. At the beginning of the 20th century, England thoughtlessly built ships, trying to maintain a two-fold superiority over the Germans. The classic dreadnought had a speed of about 20 knots and was not suitable for active operations. For shelling coastal targets, monitors with a small draft were much better suited. The only purpose of the battleship was to fight with similar enemy ships. And if the enemy did not go out to battle, the ship became only a "finance destroyer".
No one was particularly eager to fight, and for almost the entire war the English and German fleets stood at their bases. There was nothing to fight for: the German fleet from Hamburg could not threaten the communications of England; the British saw no reason to invade the North Sea.
| running boar |
Speed solved not only the problem of battleship mobility, but also significantly reduced its vulnerability. The flight time of the projectile at a distance of 20-25 km reaches 40 seconds. During this time, the battleship shifted by 2-3 hulls and, noticing the flash of an enemy salvo, could change course. An increase in speed by one and a half times also reduced the number of enemy submarines that had time to intercept the ship. The accuracy of torpedo fire turned out to be much worse. Destroyers, whose speed was most often 35-37 knots at that time, could hardly be dangerous. In order to catch up with the fleeing giant, they needed to spend 2-3 hours in the range of its guns. |
fast battleships
By the end of the war, it became clear that the battleship, with the previous level of armor and armament, should have a speed of at least 27 knots. More powerful machines would have increased the displacement of the ship to about 45,000 tons, but such giants would have required few. Faster ships are easier to transfer from one theater of operations to another. Instead of waiting years for a general battle with enemy battleships, a high-speed ship could participate in operations, escorting and supporting cruisers.
But the Washington Treaty, among other things, forbade the construction of ships with a displacement of more than 35,000 tons. The high-speed battleship did not fit into this framework. As a result, in the 20-30s, the powers did not even use the established limit on the number and total displacement of battleships. The restrictions still did not allow the creation of a ship with the capabilities that corresponded to the requirements of the time. The effects of the Great Depression also affected.
Until the end of the 30s, the British launched only " Rodney " and " Nelson "- ships of by no means outstanding merits: well-armed (9 406-mm guns) and protected, but slow-moving. The Americans decided on 3 similar battleships of the " Maryland ". The Italians, French and Japanese did not build anything. The Germans were bound by the Versailles restrictions. And socialism was built in the USSR.
The situation revived only in the last pre-war years. As soon as there was a smell of gunpowder, the powers rushed to arm themselves, unanimously rejecting the Washington restrictions. But it was already too late. In total, only 23 high-speed battleships were built during the pre-war and war years.
Dry figures do not give a completely adequate idea of the combat capability of these ships. So, in terms of the ratio of protection, speed, armament and displacement, “ Littorio ". But if Italian ship armor by that time was the best in the world, then the guns of this country were of very low quality.
In one respect, it was the Italians who demonstrated the overwhelming advantage of the fast battleship over the conventional one. During the battle at Matapan, the Vittorio Veneto received a torpedo in the stern, lost half of the screws and settled into the water along the deck ... But even after that, the old English Valiant could not catch up with him.
On the other hand, formally unremarkable German battleships, due to their well-thought-out design, showed incredible survivability under enemy fire. The British put into Bismarck » about 40 shells with a caliber of 356-406 mm. Moreover, the last shots were fired from a distance of only 2500 m. In addition, the battleship was hit by 4 torpedoes. But after the war, an inspection of the hull lying at the bottom showed that the Bismarck had sunk. as a result of the discovery by the crew of the kingston.
Just as unpleasantly surprised the enemy and " Tirpitz ". He remained afloat after the explosion of four 2-ton mines under the bottom, laid by saboteurs. The British managed to "get" it only with bombs weighing 5.5 tons. Tirpitz did not sink immediately, but after 3 direct and several close hits. By the way, " Roma "- the last of the three battleships of the "Littorio" type - disappeared under water after 2 hits with bombs weighing 1800 kg.
If you ask yourself which of the projects was the best, then you have to admit that most types of high-speed battleships were approximately equal in strength. The European ones had better protection, the American ones had more powerful weapons. The title of the best ship in the class is traditionally claimed by " Yamato " and " Iowa ". Moreover, one can hardly doubt that the much more powerful Japanese battleship would easily have emerged victorious from the duel.
Gigantism did not make the Yamato a clumsy ugly, like a German supertank " Mouse ". Careful selection of the hull shape provided her with even better maneuverability than many other battleships, acceptable speed and the ability to operate in shallow water.
For their part, the Iowas had better balanced characteristics, and would have surpassed the Yamato in any combat mission (except, in fact, the battle with the Yamato). The speed of these ships is sometimes even indicated as 33 knots. The wave raised by the battleship going at full speed posed a serious threat to the destroyers accompanying it. But sometimes it was also saving: experienced captains specially sent their ships to it so that the water that swept the decks would put out the fires.
| Soviet Union |
By the beginning of World War II, the USSR had only three old battleships built back in the days of the empire. One of them was based in Sevastopol, in order to neutralize the Turkish battlecruiser on occasion. Yavuz " (former German " Goeben "). The other two in the Baltic were preparing to join the salvos of their guns to the fire of the coastal batteries of Kronstadt. After all, the indicators Marat », « Paris Commune " and " October revolution ” looked modest even by the standards of the First World War. This state of affairs did not seem acceptable to the Soviet leadership. Adopted in 1938 Large shipbuilding program"involved the construction of 15 giant battleships of the type" Soviet Union ". But by the summer of 1941, only 4 were laid down. The country's industry was not yet ready to produce either armor or vehicles for battleships. After the victory, the completion of the Soyuz did not resume. Both because of the devastation, and because it became known that at a significantly higher cost, Soviet battleships and battlecruisers would have been no better than the American Iows and Alaskas. |
battlecruisers
Another option for a heavy artillery ship was the battlecruisers that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. With the same displacement and armament as battleships, ships of this type had lighter armor, but increased speed to 25-29 knots. It was assumed that the combination of agility and weapons would allow the battlecruiser to participate in both raids and battles.
But in reality, for patrolling on communications, the battlecruisers turned out to be excessively armed. Guns with a caliber of 343-381 mm could only be needed to fight battleships. But with them, the cruiser was not allowed to engage in battle armor. Also in Tsushima battle it was the battlecruiser that went to the bottom first " Oslyabya ". AT Jutland In the same battle, the British lost 3 battlecruisers, but not a single battleship. The Germans also lost an old battleship and a battlecruiser.
However, after the First World War, it was the battlecruiser " Hood "- the largest and closest to the ideal of a" high-speed battleship "ship. But the result of his meeting with a real high-speed battleship - the Bismarck - was quite predictable. After the second hit, Hood exploded. Whereas the battleship Prince of Wales ”, Even having received 5 shells from Bismarck, he left the battle only due to a technical malfunction.
The battlecruisers of the new generation were designed only for combat with other cruisers, which made it possible to reduce the caliber of the guns. By the beginning of the war, the French had built " Dunkirk " and " Strasbourg ", the Germans acquired" Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau ". And if the French ships were distinguished primarily by the original placement of weapons (the main caliber in two 4-gun turrets at the bow, auxiliary guns at the stern), then the German version was distinguished by an absurdly powerful armor for a battlecruiser. Having limited themselves to protection only from the fire of 203-mm guns, the Germans would have received a truly ideal "killer of cruisers" with a speed of 34-35 knots.
The original characteristics of the Scharnhorsts were connected with the fact that, having freed themselves from the Versailles (but not Washington!) Restrictions in 1935, the Germans tried to get both a full-fledged battleship and a raider at once. Moreover, keeping within the permitted 35,000 tons. Naturally, the result left much to be desired.
Designed battlecruisers in other countries. But the American Alaska " and " Guam "(undoubtedly, the best ships in their class) appeared only towards the end of the war, and did not have time to take part in the hostilities. Two Soviet cruisers of the " Kronstadt » were not completed.
battleship vs aircraft carrier
In our time, it is often argued that by the beginning of World War II, the battleship was an obsolete type of ship. The outcome of battles was determined by aircraft carriers, because the most powerful guns hit a maximum of 40-45 km, and carrier-based aircraft are able to detect and attack the enemy at a distance of 300-400 km.
But the strategists of the 40s did not share this point of view, rightly believing that comparing a battleship with an aircraft carrier is just as ridiculous as with a submarine. No one disputed the advantages of naval aviation, but after all, on land, aircraft did not replace guns. Only in Japan, the production of battleships ceased in 43. In the United States and Great Britain, battleships were built until the end of the war.
Aircraft carriers aroused quite justified distrust among the admirals. After all, aviation is active only during the day and only in good weather. During the night, the fast battleship managed to strike and go beyond the reach of torpedo bombers. The best sailors - the British and Japanese - were preparing to fight at night. And preferably in heavy storm conditions. The exercises of the fleets of these nations were so extreme that they often led to the loss of ships. Down to the battleships.
But hard in teaching - easy in battle. At night, the Japanese used ordinary binoculars to detect American ships earlier than the Americans were able to notice the enemy with the help of radar. The British, on the other hand, conducted convoys through the Strait of Sicily in such weather when enemy destroyers sent to intercept disappeared in the waves, radioing: “We are sinking, long live Italy!”.
According to the pre-war ideas of the British, Japanese, German and American admirals, the aircraft carrier had to constantly accompany 2-3 battleships, carrying out reconnaissance and covering them from air attacks. Accordingly, he was forced to act regardless of the weather and approach the enemy at the same distance as his "wards". And this, in turn, required the ship to be equipped with powerful armor even to the detriment of the number of aircraft on board. The Japanese went the farthest, arming some of their aircraft carriers with 8-inch guns.
Aircraft carriers would have remained an auxiliary force in the battle fleet. But in 1941 Admiral Yamamoto made a revolutionary decision to apply them independently and massively. Only by choosing the time and place of the battle at its own discretion, naval aviation could fully use its advantages. Lost battleships in Pearl Harbor , the Americans were forced to adhere to the same tactics. The British, on the other hand, remained unconvinced for a long time.
American aircraft sank the giant Yamato and Musashi, and this fact is often regarded as evidence of the superiority of aircraft carriers. Indeed, neither the most powerful anti-aircraft artillery (24 universal 127-mm guns and up to 150 25-mm machine guns) nor barrage salvos from 460-mm guns saved the battleships from the armada of bombers. But ... no aircraft carrier would have held out for so long against a quarter of the forces thrown at the Yamato. The only thing was that the battleship was still not designed for operations in conditions of complete domination of the enemy in the air.
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In the 1930s, 12-20 universal guns with a caliber of 114-133 mm, intended for firing at both surface and air targets, became the standard armament of battleships. The exceptions were the German Scharnhorsts and Bismarcks. Their creators were so sure that a caliber of at least 150 mm was required to fight destroyers that they tried to put 6-inch guns even on their own destroyers. Naturally, the battleship also received 12 of these guns. Another 14-16 anti-aircraft guns were intended to combat aircraft. As a result, the total weight of the salvo of auxiliary artillery in relation to the weight of the salvo of the main caliber was 26% for Scharnhorst, instead of 3-13% for "normal" battleships. Undoubtedly, the "standard set" of auxiliary artillery with less weight would have better protected the ship from attacks both from the sea and from the air. With the last salvos of World War II, the history of battleships basically ended. Although they were still under construction. In 1946, the British launched " Wangard "- an unremarkable ship, differing from its counterparts of the King George type only by its speed increased to 30 knots and armed with eight 381-mm cannons taken from old dreadnoughts. The French, in 1950, completed the construction of the same type with "Richelieu" " Jean Bart ». In the USSR, new battleship projects continued to be worked out until 53. But none of the plans was embodied in metal. As a result, the flagship of the Soviet fleet remained " Novorossiysk "- Captured Italian battlecruiser" Giulio Cesare " (type " Cavour”) Born in 1914. In 1955, in the harbor of Sevastopol, the Novorossiysk was destroyed by an underwater explosion of unknown origin. Such an explanation as "sabotage by foreign intelligence agencies" can apparently be dismissed from the threshold. For this ship no longer represented any combat (and even propaganda) value. In the very near future, like other battleships, it was expected to be scrapped. By the end of the 50s, not only the old battleships, but also most of the new ones, had already undergone metal cutting. Only 4 "Iowa" Americans were sorry. They decided to preserve up to chance. As a result, the eternal rest of these battleships turned out to be very restless. "Iowas" fought off the coast of Korea, then they were "awakened" during Vietnam War. They then supported the landing of American troops in Lebanon. In 84, the battleships even decided to re-commission "on a permanent basis", re-arming 32 " tomahawks". It was assumed that with the help of cruise missiles and guns they would be able to protect aircraft carriers and hit ground targets. "Iowas" would still have served ... If the USSR had not collapsed.
***It is worth mentioning another quality of the battleship, which in 1984 seemed to the Americans an important advantage. The ship of the line looks like more impressive aircraft carrier and, unlike it, can get close enough to a hostile shore that the natives can see the US military presence with the naked eye. Is that why battleships do not let go of the human imagination and still remain the flagships of space squadrons in science fiction novels and electronic games? |
Foreword
Battleship is an abbreviation for a battleship. The battleship is the largest, most powerful and balanced combat ship in all respects among the ships of other classes contemporary to it. The battleship was the strike force of the navy from the 17th century to the middle of the 20th century.
The ship got its name from the original tactics of using battleships. The squadrons of the opposing sides approached each other in wake formation, i.e. lining up in one line, after which a hot artillery duel began. Initially, battleships had artillery. Subsequently, with progress in the field of naval weapons systems, the artillery armament of the battleships was supplemented by torpedo and mine weapons.
During its evolution, the battleship class included many different subclasses. However, all these types of warships are still battleships. In this article, we will analyze all the main stages in the development of a battleship, and also try to find out at what stage their evolution suddenly switched to those rails that ultimately led to the fact that today battleships have completely disappeared from the composition of all military navies of the world. Someone may object: the battleships were killed not by their allegedly incorrectly chosen appearance, but by the rapid development of naval weapons systems. In particular, submarines and mine and torpedo weapons, naval aviation and aviation weapons, guided missile weapons. There is something to answer such a seemingly obvious argument. Ships of other classes - minesweepers, minelayers, landing ships, destroyers, cruisers, etc. - have not gone away and quite coexist with these modern types of naval weapons, although they are an order of magnitude more vulnerable to them compared to even outdated battleships of the 19th century. So what killed the battleships? We will try to find an answer to this question. To some, this article may seem crazy, but someone, obviously, will be able to find a rational grain in it. To begin with, we will consider the main classes of the battleship step by step.
Sailing ship of the line
They appeared in the 17th century. Wooden three-masted ships with a displacement of 500 to 5000 tons. As a rule, these ships structurally had three battery decks (from which they were called three-deck), which housed from 30 to 130 muzzle-loading guns of various calibers. The guns fired through the gun ports - special holes in the side. In a non-combat situation, the guns usually moved inside the hull, and the ports were closed with special semi-porches. Protection was provided by wooden boards of very large thickness. The premises for the command staff were concentrated in the stern of the vessel. Below the battery decks were cargo holds, which stored water supplies, provisions, as well as gunpowder and ammunition. The sailing ship of the line was set in motion by means of sails located on three masts. Naturally, he could move only in the presence of wind. With sufficient seaworthiness and autonomy, the speed capabilities of the sailing battleship left much to be desired. A typical representative of sailing ships of the line is HMS Viktory, Admiral Nelson's flagship, which is still carefully preserved in Portsmouth. The most powerful sailing ship of the line is the domestic ship "The Twelve Apostles".
battery battleship
They were a further development of sailing battleships and differed little from them in their architecture. Ships with a displacement of 2000-10000 tons and a length of 60 to 100 m. Their design was either combined or purely metal. In the case of the combined design, the base of the ship's hull was wooden, and steel armor plates were hung on top of the wooden side in the most threatened areas. In the case of a metal structure, the entire hull of the ship was made of metal, and armor plates were an integral part of its still fairly simple design. The ships had one battery deck, on which, by analogy with sailing battleships, artillery was located - up to 40 breech-loading or muzzle-loading guns, usually no more than 203 mm in caliber. At that stage, the composition of naval artillery was rather chaotic and did not have any logic in the matter of its tactical use. The composition of the armor was also quite primitive, and its thickness was about 100 mm. The power plant is a piston single-shaft coal-fed steam engine. Allowed battery battleships to reach speeds from 8 to 14 knots. In addition, there were still masts with sailing weapons as a backup mover. A good idea of this type of battleship is provided by HMS Warrior, which is berthed in Portsmouth.
Battery battleship "Warrior". Dimensions: 9358 tons and 127x17.7 m. Armament: ten 179-mm (7”) guns, twenty-eight 68-pound guns, four 120-mm (4.7”) guns. Booking: board - 114 mm. Mobility: 1x5267 hp PM and 14 knots. (26 km/h). On sails - up to 13 knots. (24 km/h). This ship differed from its combined wood-and-metal brethren by its all-steel hull, divided into 35 compartments with a double bottom. Also, this ship had normal dimensions to ensure proper seaworthiness and autonomy and to accommodate the necessary weapons and mechanisms.
Casemate battleship
These are the battleships of the period when the era of steam and armor began to enter its mature age: the 70s of the XIX century. Casemate battleships differed from battery battleships in their improved design, a sharp increase in the number of on-board mechanisms, devices and instruments, as well as a radical complication of their design. And although their size and displacement (about 10,000 tons and up to 110 m in length) have changed little in comparison with the largest battery battleships, the casemate battleships already completely surpassed them in their combat potential. The principal differences were as follows. Firstly, the caliber and number of guns were standardized and began to have a clear classification in accordance with their performance characteristics and the purpose arising from these performance characteristics. On casemate battleships, all artillery was already divided into the main caliber (GK) and the anti-mine caliber (PMK). The first was intended to destroy all types of surface targets and deliver artillery strikes against coastal targets, the second was intended to destroy attacking destroyers, destroyers, torpedo boats and other small-sized high-speed targets that could not "catch" bulky artillery systems of the main caliber. As the main caliber, 4-8 heavy breech-loading or muzzle-loading guns of caliber from 240 mm to 340 mm were used. As an anti-mine caliber, small-caliber guns with a caliber of up to 76 mm were used. This composition of artillery was less numerous compared to the artillery of the battery battleships, but was much more powerful and effective. The second innovation is a partial rejection of the battery deck. The main caliber guns were now placed in individual casemates and were separated from neighboring ones by armored partitions. This significantly increased the survivability of such artillery in battle. Battery decks now, if used, were only used to accommodate secondary artillery. Part of the PMK artillery began to be placed on the upper deck in deck installations of circular rotation. In addition, the gigantic size and weight of the new large-caliber guns, as well as ammunition for them, required the introduction of partial or complete mechanization of the process of loading and aiming such guns. For example, the fighting compartment of a 340-mm main-caliber gun on the French casemate battleship Courbet resembled a small mechanical factory. All this made it possible with full right to abandon the term "gun" at this stage, replacing it with the more correct term "gun mount" (AU) in this case. The gun ports of some casemate gun mounts began to receive anti-fragmentation protection. There have been changes in the design of the case, and in the elements of its protection. Firstly, in order to increase survivability and unsinkability in case of combat and navigational damage, battleships of this period began to receive a double bottom. Secondly, in order to withstand the super-heavy "suitcases" of the new large-caliber guns of the main caliber, the armor began to be pulled together into relatively narrow belts, the thickness of which quickly reached 300 mm or more. The remaining sections of the corps either had no protection at all, or had purely symbolic protection. The power plant now included several steam piston engines running on 1 or 2 shafts. Maximum travel speed - up to 15-16 knots. Seaworthiness has become almost absolute (storm up to 11 points). In addition, some battleships of this type began to receive torpedo tubes with torpedo ammunition and barrage mines. Such weapons already made it possible to hit targets with artillery fire at a distance of up to 4-5 km and finally destroy them with torpedoes, if the target still retained buoyancy after shelling. The disadvantages of casemate armadillos include very small firing angles for main gun mounts, their extremely low rate of fire (1 shot in 15-20 minutes), difficult use of artillery in fresh weather, and a primitive fire control system of the fire control system. The most powerful battleships belonging to the casemate battleship category were French Courbet-class battleships.
Casemate battleship "Admiral Courbet" in 1881. Naked power. At the time of entry into service, it certainly caused shivers in the Lords of the British Admiralty. The side ended with the upper deck at a height of about the 4th floor of a multi-storey building, which made the seaworthiness of this imposing floating fortress almost absolute. Dimensions: 10450 t and 95x21.3 m. Armament: four 340 mm/L21 (13.4”) M1881 and four 279 mm/L20 (10.8”) M1875 AU GK, six 140 mm (5.5 ”) M1881 AU SK, twelve 1-pound PMK guns, five 356-mm TA. Reservation: board - up to 380 mm (wrought iron). Mobility: 2x4150 hp PM and 15.5 knots. (29 km/h). It is obvious that such equipment will not fall apart and will not sink from a couple of hits of anti-ship missiles such as Exocet / Penguin / Otomat / Harpoon, etc., as happens with modern high-tech warships, and it has overall dimensions about the same (even much less in length).
turret battleship
The shortcomings in the design of casemate battleships forced the designers to look for ways to increase the efficiency of using the already quite solid firepower of battleships. The solution was found - the creation of not casemate, but tower gun mounts of the main caliber, which were located on the upper deck and, as a result, had much larger angles of fire. In addition, the turret gun mount is more secure than the casemate, although it is heavier. One- and two-gun turret artillery mounts of the main caliber were created with guns of caliber from 240 mm to 450 mm. From one to three such installations (rarely more) were installed on turret battleships. The artillery of the UK and PMK continued to remain in the battery deck, in casemates and deck installations. Since space was required on the upper deck to accommodate huge installations, sailing weapons were finally abandoned. Battleships now carried one or two masts, designed to accommodate observation posts, searchlights, small-caliber artillery and signal equipment. Armor protection and power plant remained approximately at the level of the best casemate battleships. However, the number of auxiliary equipment to control new, complex tower installations has become even greater. Two ships claim the title of the best turret battleships: the Italian battleship of the Duilio type and the domestic battleship Peter the Great.
The battleship Duilio is an armored monster with a displacement of 11,138 tons. The main armament of the battleship was two twin-gun mounts placed diagonally in the center of the ship's hull. Each gun mount had two 450 mm RML-17.72 muzzle-loading guns weighing 100 tons each. The drives of the loading and guidance mechanisms are hydraulic. They fired shells weighing almost a ton at a distance of up to 6 km and could penetrate steel armor 500 mm thick from a distance of 1800 m. Rate of fire - 1 volley in 15-20 minutes. The ship had three 120-mm gun mounts and several small guns as SK and PMK artillery. The picture was supplemented by 3 torpedo tubes. In the stern there was a dock chamber for a Nomibio-class torpedo boat. The ship had a total mechanization of all work processes. The battleship "Peter the Great" anticipated the appearance of modern squadron battleships. Its architecture already corresponded to the canons that shipbuilders adhere to at the present time. Artillery of the main caliber - two twin-gun turret gun mounts with 305 mm/L20 guns. One installation was located at the bow, the second at the stern of a smooth-deck ship. This made it possible to use both gun mounts (all four guns) in a side salvo, as well as to act on the bow and stern with half of the artillery. In the center there was a superstructure with deckhouses, masts, pipes, combat posts and bridges. The firepower of the ship was supplemented by two 229-mm mortars in the stern of the ship. Six 87-mm deck guns were used as secondary artillery. Armor up to 365 mm. The booking scheme has been improved. Speed up to 15 knots.
The Dandolo turret battleship is one of the Duililo-class battleships. It looks rather unsightly, however, in terms of the number of innovative technical solutions, the caliber of main guns and the level of mechanization, at one time it was far ahead of the rest. Its disadvantages are poor seaworthiness and not very good layout of weapons and control posts. Dimensions: 11138 tons and 109.2x19.8 m. Armament: 2x2-450 mm / L20.5 (17.7 ”- fired shells weighing 908 kg) RML-17.72 AU GK, three 120-mm (4.7”) AU SK and several small PMK guns, three 356-mm TA, a Nomibio-type torpedo boat in the inner dock (on the Duilio). Reservation: board - up to 550 mm, deck - 50 mm. Mobility: 2x3855 hp PM and 15 knots. (28 km/h). The “dreadnought” type of protection “all or nothing” of this ship made it possible to well withstand heavy single strikes of large-caliber “suitcases”, but did not provide almost any protection against heavy fire from SC and PMK from short and medium distances.
barbette armadillo
Structurally, they repeated the type of a turret battleship, but instead of towers they had barbettes. The barbet was a structure built into the ship's hull in the form of a well of armor rings, in which the guns were located along with all the necessary mechanisms and devices. The guns towering above the barbette were not a big target, and they decided not to defend them. From above, such a design was also not protected. Then the rotating part of the barbette gun mount received a light tower-like anti-fragmentation cover. In the process of evolution, the turret and barbette gradually merged into a single structure, in which the barbette is a fixed part of the gun mount, and the turret with guns crowning it is a moving rotating part. One of the most powerful barbette battleships in the world was the domestic Black Sea battleships of the Ekaterina-II type.
The monumental image of the Russian barbette battleship "George the Victorious" - one of a series of battleships of the "Ekaterina-II" type (four ships). What is identified in the photo as a classic turret gun mount is actually a two-gun barbette mount of the main caliber with a light anti-fragmentation cover. The first step towards merging together the turret and barbette artillery layout. Dimensions: 11032 tons and 103.5x21 m. Armament: 3x2-305-mm / L35 (12”) AU GK, seven 152-mm / L35 (6”) AU SK, eight 47-mm and ten 37-mm AU PMK , 7 - 381 mm TA. Reservations: board - up to 406 mm, deck - up to 63 mm (steel). Mobility: 2x4922 hp PM and 16.5 knots. (31 km/h).
Monitor
A variant of a flat-bottomed turret battleship for operations in shallow water. They had a flat hull with minimal draft and a very low freeboard. Add-ons are kept to a minimum. As the main armament - one or two tower gun mounts. The caliber of their guns could reach 305 mm and even more. As a rule, there were no other weapons, although a few small cannons could still be present. The power plant allowed to gain speed of 10-12 knots. Such ships were conditionally seaworthy and were intended for operations at most in the near sea zone, rivers and lakes.
Squadron battleship
Ships of the heyday of the era of "steam and armor" and the beginning of a period of rapid development of electrical engineering and instrumentation. This is the time from the 80s of the 19th century to the end of the first decade of the 20th century. Squadron battleships are powerful and versatile warships capable of operating in any area of the oceans. Their displacement was 10,000-16,000 tons. The length was from 100 to 130 m. These ships had powerful multi-row armor from the armor of the best grades of armor steels, and not from ordinary steel, like the first battleships. The thickness of multi-row armor barriers reached 400 mm or more. Appeared internal and local booking. Increased anti-torpedo protection (PTZ). Progress in the development of electrical engineering and instrumentation made it possible to equip squadron battleships with optical instruments, sights, horizontal-base rangefinders, a centralized fire control system and radio stations. Progress in the field of naval weapons systems, gunpowder and explosives made it possible to equip them with the most modern artillery, torpedo and mine weapons in terms of performance characteristics, utterly superior to similar systems used ten years earlier. Artillery armament was clearly systematized. The development of new varieties of gunpowder, new shells and the latest long-barreled artillery systems made it possible to equalize the effectiveness of 305-mm guns with the previous 406-450-mm ones. In most cases, two turret gun mounts began to be used as the main caliber on battleships, each with a pair of 305-mm guns. According to the type of "Peter the Great", one gun mount was located on the bow, the other on the stern. There were exceptions: some domestic and British squadron battleships had only one bow gun mount for the main gun. On the German battleships of the Brandenburg type, the main artillery, including three two-gun 283-mm gun mounts, was placed in the same way as it was later done on dreadnoughts: all three mounts were placed in a row along the center plane of the ship, which made it possible to achieve the maximum side salvo. On domestic battleships of the Sinop type (the ships fall under the definition of both squadron and barbette battleships), three twin 305-mm gun mounts were placed in a triangle around the massive central superstructure. Artillery of medium SK and anti-mine caliber PMK was located in casemate and deck installations, as well as on the fore and main masts. In addition, given the large area of unarmored areas, as well as a large number of superstructures, bridges and deckhouses, which housed numerous equipment and combat posts necessary to control the ship and fire it, it was decided to sharply strengthen the so-called rapid-firing artillery or medium-caliber gun mounts on squadron battleships. . These gun mounts are quite large in caliber by land standards (120 mm, 140 mm and 152 mm), however, they allowed for manual loading and therefore had a rate of fire of 5-8 rounds per minute. Squadron battleships had from 8 to 16 such guns. They threw out a huge amount of metal in a minute and made colossal havoc on the upper superstructures of enemy ships, which are almost impossible to reliably protect. What happens in this case with a still quite, in general, combat-ready battleship, was very well shown, for example, by a night battle near Guadalcanal in 1942. The capabilities of the updated artillery of the main caliber allowed the squadron battleships to conduct artillery fire at targets located at a distance of 13-18 km, but the range of effective fire according to the capabilities of the SLA was limited to approximately 10 km. At such a distance, the medium-caliber artillery of the squadron battleships was more than effective. As a rule, it was located in side casemates or deck gun mounts. The most high-tech squadron battleships had SC artillery, located in the same way as the main guns, in turret deck gun mounts with full mechanization and large firing angles. This further increased the effectiveness of medium-caliber artillery and allowed it to fully support the main caliber in battle. Also, medium-caliber artillery was used to repel mine attacks and therefore was quite versatile. The power of two- and four-shaft triple expansion steam engines reached 15,000-18,000 hp. which allowed the best squadron battleships to reach speeds of 16-19 knots. with a long range and almost absolute seaworthiness. Some squadron battleships also had the so-called "intermediate" caliber. These are several guns of caliber 203 mm - 229 mm - 234 mm. They were located in casemate gun mounts (rarely in tower ones) and served to enhance firepower. Tactically, it was the artillery of the main caliber. Such guns could not be loaded manually, and therefore their rate of fire was not much higher than that of the 305 mm main caliber guns, with a much lower fire rate. It is still not known whether such a technical solution was justified. Bursts from 12" and 9" shells were poorly distinguished, which confused the spotters and made it difficult to control the fire. And the reserve of displacement and space for these installations could well be directed to strengthening the main or medium caliber itself, as well as armor protection and driving performance. Domestic squadron battleships of the Borodino type and their prototype Tsesarevich are considered one of the best classical squadron battleships in the world. Real floating tanks, armored from head to toe, with a displacement of about 14,000 tons and a length of 120 m, these ships were distinguished by their perfect design and excellent performance characteristics. All of their main long-range artillery was housed in twin turret gun mounts at high altitude. Total electric drives and full mechanization of everything and everything. A highly efficient system for centralized fire control of artillery and torpedo weapons from a single post. A very complex design of the armored hull at the level of battleships of the Second World War. The total reduced thickness of the armor of multi-row armored barriers is more than 300 mm vertically and up to 150 mm horizontally. Protection of both vital and auxiliary parts of the ship. Powerful PTZ. Speed up to 18 knots.
A real floating tank under the proud name "Eagle" is one of the five battleships of the Borodino series. The concept of a squadron battleship in these ships was brought to the limit of its perfection. The most complex protection scheme at the level of battleships of the 2nd World War. The ships of this series are still an excellent combat platform for installing the latest missile-torpedo and artillery combat systems. Dimensions: 14400 tons and 121.2x23.2 m. Armament: 2x2-305-mm/L40 (12”) AU GK, 6x2-152-mm/L45 (6”), twenty 75-mm and twenty 47-mm guns PMK, ten 7.62-mm P, four 381-mm TA, 20 mine barriers. Equipment: TsSUO mod. 1899 (2 - VCN at sighting posts, two 1.2-meter rangefinders, optical sights in AU), radio station. Booking: board (reduced, total) - up to 314 mm (Krupp armor), deck (total) - up to 142 mm. Mobility: 2x7900 hp PM and 17.8 knots. (33 km/h). They had optimal dimensions in terms of efficiency / cost / mass, which made it possible to produce them in large quantities. This significantly expanded the operational capabilities of connecting such ships, since even the Yamato is not able to be in two places at the same time.
Coastal defense battleship
Ships built according to all the canons of squadron battleships, but three times smaller than them in terms of displacement, at the level of 4000 tons. Designed for combat operations near their coasts in the coastal defense system. As the main caliber, they had one or two gun mounts with guns of caliber from 203 mm to 254 mm. Sometimes they also put 305-mm gun mounts from the "big brothers" on them. They were built in small batches until the 2nd World War.
Battleship 2 class
Ships built according to all the canons of squadron battleships, but less than them in terms of displacement by about 1.5 times - 8000-10000 tons. Artillery of the main caliber - guns 254 mm - 305 mm. Designed both for a general battle, and for carrying out patrol and sentinel service on communications and guarding convoys. They were built in small batches.
Dreadnought
Ships of dramatically increased size and displacement compared to squadron battleships. The first representative of this class of battleships was the famous HMS "Dreadnought" ("Fearless"), which entered service with the British fleet in 1906. Its displacement was increased to 20,000 tons, and its length was up to 160 m. The number of 305-mm main gun mounts was increased from two to five, and the SK gun mounts were abandoned, leaving only the PMK artillery. In addition, a four-shaft steam turbine was used as a power plant, which made it possible to reach speeds of 21-22 knots. All other dreadnoughts were built on this principle. The number of barrels of the main caliber reached 12 and even 14. They decided to return to medium-caliber artillery, because, among other things, it also performed the function of a secondary battery, but they began to place it like on the first squadron battleships - in onboard casemate installations. The place of the PMK on decks and superstructures was taken by anti-aircraft artillery (ZA). On some dreadnoughts, piston steam engines continued to be installed, since they were more economical in comparison with turbines. The SLA continued to improve, as a result of which the range of effective artillery fire increased to 15 km, and the maximum range to 20 km. Again, it is not known if the dreadnoughts were more efficient than the squadron ironclads. If at long distances the advantage of dreadnoughts is obvious, then at medium and small distances everything could be exactly the opposite. Such experiments were not carried out: all naval battles of squadron battleships against dreadnoughts in the 1st World War took place at the maximum possible distances. The only exception, perhaps, was the first battle near Cape Sarych, where, due to bad weather (there was fog), the German battlecruiser Goeben ran into the Russian squadron battleship Efstafiy, establishing visual contact with it at a distance of only 38 cables (about 7 km). A fleeting and furious firefight did not reveal a winner: "Efstafiy" received four 283-mm shells (301 kg each), two of which hit at random and did no particular harm. "Goeben" also received four hits: one 305-mm projectile (331.7 kg), one 203-mm (112.2-139.2 kg) and two 152-mm (41.5 kg). According to other sources, there were 14 hits on the German ship, which led to huge casualties and forced the Goeben to hastily leave the battlefield. Sources from the opposite side claim that there was only one hit, and the Goeben fled because of the danger of the rest of the Russian battleships approaching and turning the battle with the Goeben into beating him. How it really was there, it is now unlikely to be established (there are no living witnesses left), but the fact that Goeben then fled is an indisputable fact.
In general, a comparison of a single dreadnought and a squadron battleship is rather meaningless, since there were no classic squadron battleships with a displacement of 20,000-30,000 tons, although there were dreadnoughts with a displacement of 16,000 tons. The most powerful classical dreadnoughts are considered to be German dreadnoughts of the Koenig type and domestic ones of the Alexander-III type (Black Sea Fleet). The German had heavy-duty protection. Ours is a highly effective artillery system.
The battleship "Alexander III" had the classic angular appearance of the first dreadnoughts with greatly reduced superstructures. Subsequently, in the course of numerous upgrades, for the normal control of the ship, as well as the placement of all the necessary equipment and combat posts, the superstructures were again developed, and dreadnoughts (rather, already superdreadnoughts and battleships) began to look like enlarged battleships with a powerful island of superstructures in the center of the hull . Dimensions: 23400 tons and 168x27.3 m. Armament: 4x3-305-mm/L52 (12”) MK-3-12 AU GK, twenty 130-mm/L50 (5.1”) AU SK/PMK, four 75 -mm ZAU, four 457-mm TA. Booking: board (reduced, total) - up to 336 mm (Krupp armor), deck (total) - 87 mm. Equipment: TsSUO (two 6-meter range finders DM-6, optical sights in the AC), 2 radio stations (2 and 10 kW). Mobility: 4x8300 hp Fri and 21 knots. (39 km/h). In terms of the artillery complex of the main caliber, battleships of this type were leaders among dreadnoughts with 305-mm guns. The rest of the characteristics were also up to the mark.
Dodreadnought, or Transitional battleship
They were built simultaneously with the first dreadnoughts. Ships with a displacement of 16000-18000 tons and a length of 130-150 m. The hull design did not differ from the squadron battleships, but there were changes in the composition of the artillery. The place of medium-caliber rapid-fire gun mounts on such ships was mostly or entirely taken by artillery of an intermediate caliber of 203 mm, 234 mm, 240 mm or 254 mm. Despite the fact that the fire control of such a motley, but close in terms of performance characteristics, artillery was not an easy task, lighter intermediate-caliber gun mounts were more numerous, and therefore many battleships of this type were quite powerful combat units, quite capable of defeating the first dreadnoughts in artillery combat. In general, the term "pre-dreadnought" refers to any squadron battleship, but is usually associated with just such ships. Transitional battleships include domestic battleships of the St. Andrew the First-Called type (four 305-mm + fourteen 203-mm), French Danton (four 305-mm + twelve 240-mm), British Agamemnon-class (four 305-mm + ten 234 mm), Austro-Hungarian type "Radetsky" (four 305 mm + eight 240 mm), etc.
The battleship "Danton" is a typical representative of transitional battleships. Powerful six-pipe handsome man. Dimensions: 19763 tons and 146.6x25.8 m. Armament: 2-2x305-mm/L45 (12”) Mle.1906 AU GK, six 2x240-mm/L50 (9.4”) Mle.1902 AU GK, sixteen 75-mm Mle.1906 AU PMK, ten 47-mm AU PMK, two 457-mm TA. Booking: board (total, reduced) - up to 366 mm, deck (total) - 95 mm. Equipment: TsSUO (rangefinders, optical sights in AC), radio station. Mobility: 4x6625 hp Fri and 19.5 knots. (36 km/h).
Superdreadnought
The further evolution of the battleship gradually turned them into very expensive toys that were very afraid of losing. Such a ship already had a tangible burden on the economy of its country, and their number was limited. For example, in its entire history, the domestic military-industrial complex has never been able to hand over a single ship of this class to the fleet, while it had previously handed over dozens of battleships. The superdreadnought differed from the usual dreadnought by a further increase in size, displacement, enhanced protection and artillery of an even larger caliber, but less numerous, while maintaining mobility characteristics at the level of dreadnoughts. Ships with a displacement of up to 30,000 tons and a length of 180-200 m had the most powerful armor up to 350-400 mm thick. Instead of main gun mounts with 10-14 guns of 305 mm caliber, two-, three- and even four-gun main gun mounts with 8-9 guns of 343 mm caliber (the first super-dreadnoughts of the Orion type), 356 mm, 381 mm and even 406 mm were installed. They fired projectiles weighing from 700 kg to more than one ton at a distance of up to 30 km. The range of effective fire has long been determined by the horizon and was still no more than 15 km. On these ships, mine-torpedo weapons were abandoned, making them non-universal and weakening their combat potential to some extent. The most powerful superdreadnoughts are the British Warspite and Royal Sovereign-class battleships, as well as American designs.
Battle cruiser
The ships that were the crowning achievement of the development of armored cruisers, but structurally and in tactical / operational-strategic terms, are battleships. They differed from modern dreadnoughts and superdreadnoughts either by weakened armor (mainly on British models) or weakened weapons (mainly on German models), due to which they could reach speeds of up to 28-32 knots. They were a high-speed wing with a squadron of dreadnoughts / superdreadnoughts, like once armored cruisers with squadron battleships. They proved to be very large, expensive, but at the same time very vulnerable ships and therefore did not win much love from the sailors. A good example is the battle between the German battleship Bismarck and the British battlecruiser Hood, with fatal consequences for the latter. This despite the fact that "Hood" was considered the most powerful of all known battlecruisers of that time. He was sometimes even called the "battleship-cruiser".
The idea of creating such ships, unbalanced to the point of absurdity, belonged, apparently, to Admiral Fisher. Some countries picked it up, some didn't. In our country, battle cruisers of the Izmail type were laid down, but they had only one name from battle cruisers. In fact, the Izmails were typical superdreadnoughts that surpassed the previous series of Baltic and Black Sea battleships in all respects, except for cost and problems.
The battle cruiser "Inflexible" is the first representative of this class of battleships. It looks like a normal armadillo, but a certain “slimness” in appearance betrays its inferiority. Despite 8 guns of 305mm caliber, in battle, most likely, it will yield to any squadron battleship built after 1900. Dimensions: 18490 tons and 172.8x24 m. Armament: 4x2-305-mm / L45 (12”) Mark.X AU GK, 16 - 102-mm (4”) Mk.III AU PMK, 5 - 457-mm TA . Booking: side (total, reduced) - up to 318 mm, deck (total) - up to 63 mm. Equipment: TsSUO (rangefinders, optical sights in AC), radio station. Mobility: 4x10250 hp and 25.5 knots. (47 km/h).
Battleship or fast battleship
The crown of the development of the class of battleships. In architecture, it resembles a squadron battleship enlarged three times - in the center is a massive superstructure with pipes, cabins, masts, control posts, artillery of medium (universal) caliber and MZA. Fore and aft - one or two, as a rule, built-in main gun mounts with guns of caliber from 381 mm to 460 mm. The maximum range of artillery fire reached 40 km. The range of effective fire remained at the level of 15-20 km, but thanks to the presence of radar and night vision devices, the battleships became all-weather, i.e. got the opportunity to conduct effective fire at night, in fog and other adverse weather conditions. Medium-caliber artillery was intended to support main battery fire at accessible distances, to repel torpedo attacks and as an air defense weapon, and therefore began to be officially called universal. Many of these ships also had more than a hundred units of MZA small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery. Giants with a displacement of 40,000 to 70,000 tons. With the most powerful and complex armor protection up to 400 mm thick. Up to 270 m long - like several football fields. Able to reach speeds of 27-32 knots. As powerful as they are useless. By their very presence they ruin the economy of their own country. Quite few due to the gigantic cost of construction. In a one-on-one artillery duel, the battleship of the Second World War, of course, will easily overcome all the previous options, but how to "organize" such a duel in the conditions of a modern war? Due to its size and small number, it attracts various types of naval weapons - from torpedo bombers, bombers and adjustable bombs to submarines with their torpedoes, as well as mines. The most powerful battleships created in the history of mankind are the Japanese super battleships Yamato and Musashi. Both of them demanded colossal expenses. Both were created as the most powerful battleships in history. Both spent almost the entire war on the Khasir raid in Japan. Both during the entire war never hit a single enemy ship. Both died under the bombs and torpedoes of the American naval aviation, never having fired a single shot at the American battleships, which they were called upon to destroy. The Japanese valued these ships too much, which ultimately led to the useless death of both.
The mighty super battleship "Yamato" is the most powerful battleship in the history of mankind. And probably the most useless. In a duel artillery battle, any other ship of any country will overcome. The Americans are still somehow trying to compare their Iowa with him, but the comparison, despite all the efforts, turns out to be not childishly naive. Dimensions: 72810 tons and 262x38.7 m. Armament: 3x3-460-mm/L45 (18.1”) 40-SK model 94 AU GK (fired with shells weighing 1460kg), 4x3-155-mm/L60 (6.1 ”) AU SK/PMK, 6x2-127mm UAU, 8x3-25mm Type-96 MZA, 2x2-13mm P, 7 LA6. Equipment: TsSUO Type-98 (four 15-meter rangefinders, one 10-meter rangefinder, two 8-meter rangefinders, two directors, a target tracking device, a shot resolution device, a ballistic computer, radar7 21.Mod.3, 2 type radars -22, 2 Type-13 radars, noise direction-finding stations ShMS, optical and infrared day and night sights and sights in the AU and VP), radio stations. Booking: board (reduced) - up to 436 mm, deck (reduced) - up to 232 mm. Mobility: 4x41250 hp TZA and 27 knots. (50 km/h).
Results
Starting with primitive wooden sailing ships, the development of battleships stopped at the gigantic, ultra-modern Yamato. After the end of World War II, only one ship of this class, the British Vanguard, joined the navy. The construction of all other battleships was cancelled. The domestic battleships of the "Soviet Union" type were no exception, which, if they were completed, would, perhaps, yield only to the Yamato in their power and size. However, the navy did not end there. The composition of the Navy of developed countries was actively replenished by ships of other classes: aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, submarines. Why did they abandon the battleship? There were several reasons for that. The golden age of battleships was the time from the 80s of the XIX century and ending with the First World War. At this time, they were already technically mature designs, and the ball on the battlefield was still ruled by artillery. Aviation at that time was still in its infancy, and submarines, due to their low performance characteristics, were dangerous for the merchant fleet, but were considered relatively harmless for high-speed warships. The battleships of that time were powerful and versatile warships with excellent protection and combat survivability. Able to solve any maritime and near-sea problems. The most combative and effective of them were squadron battleships, which were massively built, took an active part in all conflicts (including the First World War). Squadron battleships were produced in huge numbers and made up the strike force of the fleet of any maritime power in the world. They were not embarrassed to use anywhere and were not particularly taken care of (you can still build it). In general, it was an effective military equipment for a real war. In addition to the First World War, battleships took an active part in the Sino-Japanese conflict, the Spanish-American conflict and the Russo-Japanese War. In terms of activity of use and "omnipresence", squadron battleships roughly corresponded to light cruisers of the Second World War or corvettes / frigates / destroyers of our time.
With the advent of dreadnoughts, everything began to change. The first signs of the collapse of the chosen strategy for the development of "sea tanks" appeared, which did not provide for anything new - in pursuit of improving performance characteristics, dimensions, weight and cost inexorably increased. If armadillos were built by almost the whole world, then only the most industrialized countries could massively build dreadnoughts: Britain, the USA, Germany and France. Russia, hitherto quite regularly handing over battleships of the latest design in the required quantity, was able to master the construction program of only four dreadnoughts for the Baltic Fleet and four for the Black Sea Fleet. Almost all of these ships were long-term construction and entered service when superdreadnoughts had already appeared abroad, against which an ordinary dreadnought had even less chances than a squadron battleship against a dreadnought. Considering the number of dreadnoughts in the Russian Navy, it can be said that the Russian dreadnought fleet was weaker than its own armadillo fleet, which formed the basis of the striking power of the Russian fleet before the Russo-Japanese war (which showed the complete inadequacy of the country's military-political leadership). Other countries found themselves in the same position, with huge efforts and losses for the country's economy, rather for the sake of prestige, having built two or three or four dreadnoughts. With the funds that the domestic shipyards built the Baltic and Black Sea dreadnoughts, it was possible to arm an entire army, which our ground forces lacked so much. But when spending incredible funds on the fleet (also a necessary thing), one would expect that the new dreadnoughts, in order to justify the efforts expended on them, would at least use, as they say, to their fullest. Alas and ah - this did not happen. Only those countries that had the possibility of their mass production actively used dreadnoughts. Those countries for which the construction of even one dreadnought cost a lot of effort (our country is one of them) used dreadnoughts in any way: as a "scarecrow", as prestigious toys, as flagships at naval parades, but not for their intended purpose. The use for its intended purpose was very cautious and therefore unproductive. For example, in the Baltic Fleet, dreadnoughts of the Sevastopol type have never taken part in any battle at all. The brunt of the fierce battles with powerful German dreadnoughts in the Baltic had to be endured by the squadron battleships (in 1906 reclassified as battleships) Slava (Borodino type) and Grazhdanin (former Tsesarevich). The squadron of the Black Sea pre-dreadnoughts also made up the main striking power in the hunt for the German battlecruiser Goeben and inflicted considerable damage on it. Dreadnoughts of the "Empress Maria" type did not achieve much success. Approximately the same thing happened with the dreadnought fleet in other not very industrial countries. As for superdreadnoughts, domestic shipyards were never able to master a single such ship - the revolution prevented it.
Summing up the dreadnoughts, we can conclude that they justified themselves only as part of the industrialized superpowers. In the "poor" fleets, ships of this type were no longer more than expensive toys, designed more for moral pressure than for real combat operations. The first world war was left behind, the second began. Battleships turned into huge floating cities, like the Yamato described above. By that time, only the United States, Britain and Japan could build such battleships and maintain their fleet. Germany and Italy also had battle fleets, but more modest. It was the heyday of naval aviation and submarines. Battleships fought on all seas and oceans during World War II. And although there were many old-style artillery battles during it, most of the dead ships of this type were destroyed by bombs and torpedoes of naval aviation based on aircraft carriers. The Second World War showed that the time of giants like the Yamato had expired, and the reason for this was purely economic - building and maintaining such ships turned out to be too expensive even for the United States and Britain, not to mention other countries. During the Second World War, a huge number of cruisers, destroyers and other ships died from the same weapons, but no one was going to give them up. Even despite the fact that they turned out to be an order of magnitude more vulnerable than battleships. The relative cheapness and mass production allowed these cardboard boats to occupy a niche that was once occupied by battleships of the battleship class, which were stronger both in terms of armament and protection.
One of the Project 68bis light cruisers. A ship with a displacement of 17,900 tons and a length of 214 m (!) With purely symbolic protection. Outwardly, it resembles an enlarged kayak, ready to break in half just on a big wave. With a length like that of a battleship of the Second World War, it had 12 “guns” of 152 mm caliber as its main armament (for comparison: the Aurora has 14 almost the same) in four gun mounts, and the same battleships of the Borodino type have these twelve 152 mm guns were only an auxiliary universal caliber with a smaller displacement. These are the absurd ships that replaced the compact and powerful naval tanks of the early 20th century. It is easy to guess about their real effectiveness. Where is his weaponry? Where is his booking? Where did they spend 17,900 tons? Is it really all about speed, which, after the war, with the advent of rocket weapons, ceased to be a determining factor? Looking at this ship, you understand that the saying “Generals are preparing for the previous war” very often applies to design bureaus…
To date, the most massive warships are destroyers, frigates and corvettes. Ships 120-160 m long, i.e., approximately the size of a squadron battleship / dreadnought, and with a displacement of 4,000 tons to 10,000 tons, i.e., approximately like coastal defense battleships or class II battleships. The experience of their real combat use is summarized in a table, in which, for clarity, a similar experience of battleships of different generations is added.
As can be seen from the table, all this modern technology is no good. One "Eagle" of the same length withstood more than all these frigates / destroyers combined. The question arises ... Battleships like the Yamato cannot be built, because their construction and maintenance are too expensive. But, as practice shows, the construction of such cardboard boats also does not justify itself! Our shipbuilding industry, with difficulty, gives birth to one such frigate for years, and in case of war, the Americans will sink them in five minutes! Someone will object: modern ships do not need armor, they have highly effective air defense / missile defense systems as part of air defense systems, ZAK, jammers, etc. As can be seen from the table, this does not help. But it is not necessary to build giants like Yamato. As practice has shown, the most advanced and effective battleships in terms of quantity / quality ratio are squadron battleships, whose survivability is also several orders of magnitude higher than that of modern destroyers, and an order of magnitude higher than that of artillery cruisers of the 2nd World War.
The Russian Navy should seriously consider the issue of creating warships in the hulls of squadron battleships of the early 20th century. Of course, their armor will not protect against a volley of P-700 Granit, but they will quite withstand the same Exocet / Harpoon, and more than one. They will not explode from the hit of an RPG-7 grenade either. They will not sink from the explosion of the F1 "lemon" and will not turn over from the explosion at the side of a motor boat with explosives. The requirements for such ships are approximately the following.
Displacement: 10000-15000 tons
Dimensions: length no more than 130 m, width no more than 25 m.
Reservations: common-citadel with internal and local reservations. The total thickness of Chob-Ham composite armor is up to 300 mm (side) and up to 150 mm (deck). The presence of a complex of built-in dynamic protection.
Mobility: maximum speed not less than 25 knots.
Armament: 1-2 heavy gun mounts with 203-305 mm guns. Active, active-rocket projectiles and anti-ship missiles launched through the barrels of these guns. 4-6 universal gun mounts caliber 100-130 mm. The location of these gun mounts is onboard. Missile complex for launching operational-tactical missiles with a nuclear warhead and their anti-ship variants. 4-6 torpedo tubes with homing torpedoes and a missile-torpedo system. Anti-submarine defense complex. Anti-aircraft missile system. 8-12 installations ZAK or ZRAK of the near zone of air defense / missile defense. Necessary electronic equipment. One helicopter.
On the example of the battleships of the Borodino series, it will look something like this:
And no matter how ridiculous this idea looks, with the current boat fleet we are clearly not on our way. You need a large number of compact and powerful naval tanks. Those that once made the hearts of Japanese samurai tremble and the British Grand Fleet reckon with themselves.
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