Battleship

A armoured is large a Warship equipped with a thick Blindage, whose principal armament is made of parts of artillery larger gauge. Compared to the Cruiser S, they are larger, have a better shielding and a more powerful armament.

The battleships evolved/moved considerably during time, the new ships adapting continuously to technological advances to remain on the level of the foreign navy. In English, the word battleship appears towards 1794, contraction of line off battle ship (“ship of Ligne of battle”, and indicates the linerships, which dominated at the time the navy with veils. In French, the “armoured” word appears rather about the years 1860 to indicate the first armoured with iron hull; the name of battleship becomes standard in the anglophone countries as from the years 1880. As from the years 1890, it indicates the armoured pre '' Dreadnought '', in reference to the revolution of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906.

The battleships form as much a separate type of warships as a symbol of being able and national pride, and naval domination. During several decades, the number and the capacities of the battleships of a navy were determining factors in the diplomatic relations and the military strategies. Thus, the Arms race of the years 1900 with the accelerated construction of battleships was one of the big factors at the origin of the First World War, during which the Bataille of Jutland saw the confrontation of many battleships. After the war, treaties limit the construction of these ships, which did not prevent the deployment of recent battleships as well as older during the Second world war.

However, certain historians call into question the utility of these ships. Except during the battle of Jutland, there were few confrontations between battleships. And in spite of their great power of fire and their shielding, they remained vulnerable to lighter weapons, carried by smaller boats, like the Torpille S and the mines, then later the Avion S and the guided Missile S. The battleships were replaced little by little by the Porte-avions as a principal ship of the groups of combat as from the Second world war. Only the the United States preserved of it during the Cold war as ships of support; the last battleships, of the Class Iowa, were disarmed in 1990 and were striped registers in March 2006.

Linerships

High-explosive shells

Old the hulls in Bois resisted rather well the Boulet S of gun, like had shown it the battles of Smoothed, where the Austrian linership Kaiser penetrates a confused battle field, éperonne an Italian battleship and receives a broadside of several balls of 300 pounds; it loses its figurehead and its foremast, takes fire, but is ready for the combat all the same as of the next day. On the other hand, the guns which draw from the high-explosive shells or flamers represented a greater threat for the ships out of wooden, and these weapons start to be used massively as from the years 1840. During the Crimean War, the Russian fleet of the Black Sea destroys a flotilla of ships out of wooden Turkish with high-explosive shells with the Bataille of Sinop, in 1853. Later during this same war, of the French armoured floating batteries use similar weapons against defenses of Kinburn.

Shielding

The development of the high-explosive shells makes necessary the use of metal plates of Blindage. In 1859, France launches the ship Glory , first battleship of open sea. It has a profile of linership, tiny room to a bridge to reduce the weight. Although it was built of wood and is propelled mainly to the veil, Glory has a propeller and its hull is protected by a layer from shielding out of iron. Glory starts the reaction of Royal Navy, anxious to preserve its technological advantage: the frigate HMS Warrior more strongly armed is launched fourteen months later; the two countries then start a construction schedule of new battleships and convert their old linerships into armor-plated frigates. Two years after, Italy Austria, Spain and Russia ordered all such ships, and at the time of the Combat of Hampton Roads, at least eight navy has battleships.]]

The navy tests various positions for the position of the guns: out of turrets (as on the Monitor ), out of central batteries or Barbette S, or using the spur as arms principal. As the steam engines evolve/move, the masts are gradually removed. In the middle of the years 1870, the Acier starts to be used like construction material, with iron and wood. Frightening the , put on hold in 1873 and launched in 1876, is the first ship in the world to use steel like principal construction material.

The pre Dreadnought

The era of the Dreadnought

Origins of the Dreadnought

The general Vittorio Cuniberti, naval architect principal of the Italian navy, proposes the first the concept of the battleship algun in 1903. When the Italian navy (at the time, the Regia Marina ) decides not to follow its idea, it publishes an article in '' Jane' S '' proposing a future British battleship “ideal”, a heavily armor-plated ship of 17 000 tons, armed with a principal battery monocalibre (12 guns of 12 inches), with a shielding of 300 mm out of belt, and being able to reach a speed of 24 knots.

The Satsuma of the Japanese imperial Navy, conceived in 1904 and put on hold in 1905, becomes the first ship in the designed world following the principle algun , although its armament is not entirely finished because of the shortage of English guns Armstrong of 12 inches. The Satsuma preserves steam engines at triple expansion, while its twin ship Aki , launched in 1911, uses turbines.

An American ship, the '' South Carolina '' conceived in 1905, claims also title of “first Dreadnought”, but it is launched only in 1908 with its twin the Michigan . They use both of the machines with triple expansion, but their principal batteries are laid out better, without the side turrets of the Dreadnought .

The Guerre Russo-Japanese woman (1904-1905) gives the opportunity to validate the concept algun . With the battles of the Yellow sea and of Tsushima, fleets the preone exchange shootings of shell of 12 inches with 7 11 away km, beyond the range of the secondary batteries. If it is often heard that these engagements showed the superiority of the large gauges on smallest, certain historians suggest that the secondary batteries were also useful for them.

The Dreadnought was to be followed by three cruisers of Invincible battle of Classe; their construction is delayed to be able to use the experiment of the Dreadnought in their design. The intention of Fisher was to produce the Dreadnought as a last battleship of Royal Navy. In 1906, this advance was reduced to only one ship, the Dreadnought . This ship marks the beginning of an arms race with great strategic consequences. The principal naval powers start to build their clean Dreadnoughts to catch up with the United Kingdom: the possession of such a ship then ensures a particular status the country, like the possession of nuclear weapons at the end of the 20th century. In 1901, the first seven maritime powers align 88 battleships. The day before the First World War, same the increased states of the Austria-Hungary have 149 pre-dreadnoughts, of 68 dreadnoughts and cruisers of battle, about to be joined by 63 linerships in construction.

First World War

The First World War has the appearance of a counterpoint to the race in Dreadnoughts: practically no major confrontation of battleships comparable with the Battle of Tsushima. The role of the battleships remains marginal compared with the territorial fights in France and Russia, and compared with the first battle of the Atlantic, battles between the German submarines and the British tradind ships.

The geography makes it possible Royal Navy to relatively easily keep the German fleet in the the North Sea. The two camps know that the United Kingdom would have the advantage in the event of confrontation between battleships, because of the higher number of Dreadnoughts; the German strategy is thus to cause an engagement under favorable conditions, for example while making it possible only part of the British fleet to intervene, or to fight close to the German coasts where the destroyers and the submarines can help to balance the combat.

During the first two years of the conflict, the confrontations at sea of North are limited to skirmishes between cruisers of battle as to the Bataille of Dogger Bank, and to raids on the English coast. During the summer, an attempt to engage the English ships on a favorable ground leads to the Bataille of Jutland, with the result minus Net that envisaged.

On the other naval theaters, no decisive battle takes place. At sea Black, the Russian battleships and Turkish clash by skirmishes, without more. In the Baltic, the actions for the majority are limited to attacks of convoys to the installation of defensive mines; the only notable confrontation between battleships is the Bataille of the strait of Muhu where pre-Dreadnought Russian is cast. The Adriatic is in some kind the reflection of the Black Sea: the fleet of Dreadnought Austro-Hungarian is blocked there by the fleets Frenchwoman and English. In the Mediterranean, the most important use of battleships takes place at the time of the attack amphibian to Gallipoli.

The course of the war illustrates also the vulnerability of the battleships against lighter weapons. In September 1914, the threat of the submarines is shown by attacks on British cruisers; German U-9 runs three British heavy cruisers in less than one hour. The mines represent a serious danger during the first months, as when the super-Dreadnought Audacious is touched by one of them. As of at the end of October 1914, the British strategy at sea of North changed to reduce the risks related to the attacks of U-boots. Other attacks of submarines after Jutland cause a certain paranoia in the United Kingdom in connection with the vulnerability of the battleships. As of October 1916, Royal Navy gives up almost the North Sea: large Fleet should not go to the south of the Farne islands, unless being protected by destroyers.

German side, Hochseeflotte is determined not to engage the British without the assistance of submarines; those being used to attack the tradind ships, the fleet remains with the port for the remainder of the war. On the other theaters, the small units also manage to even damage to destroy of Dreadnoughts. Both Dreadnoughts Austrians lost into 1918 were run by destroyers and frogmen. The lost allied ships with Gallipoli were run by mines and torpedes, while pre-Dreadnought Turkish was attacked in Dardanelles by a British submarine.

Inter-war period

During the Inter-war period, the battleships are subjected to strong international restrictions, with an aim of preventing a new arms race.

During several years, the German battleships cease existing. The Armistice of 1918 involves the disarmament of most of the fleet of German open sea, which must be placed in a neutral port; fault of being able to find such a port, the ships remain under British control with Scapa Flow, in Scotland. The Traité of Versailles provides that the ships must be given the British, but the German crews scuttle the majority of the ships of June 21st, 1919, little before the signature of the treaty. This one limits the size of German marine, to prevent it to build or acquire a large warship.

If the victorious nations are not limited by the treaty of Versailles, many marines are assigned by the years of war. Vis-a-vis the possibility of an arms race with the United States, the United Kingdom concludes the Traité from Washington of 1922, which limits the number and the type of battleships that each navy can have. Great Britain thus arrives at equality with the USA, and gives up its alliance with Japan. The treaty of Washington east followed by several naval treaties like the naval conferences of Geneva (1927 and 1932) the naval treated of London (1930 and 1936), which limit all the battleships. They end on September 1st, 1939 with the beginning of the Second world war, but classifications of ships always apply. The limitations of these treaties mean that less new battleships are launched between 1919 and 1939 qu ' between 1905 and 1914. The Tonnage of the ships is also limited: certain projects remain in the paperboards like the British N3 battleship, the American class South Dakota (the hulls are put on hold but are not finished) and classifies it Kii Japanese.

Beginnings of the aircraft carriers

Since 1914, the British admiral Percy Scott provides that the battleships will be supplanted by the planes. At the end of the First World War, the planes started to be equipped with torpedes. The British consider even an attack on the German fleet in 1918 with a plane destroyer Sopwith Cuckoo.

In years 1920, general Billy Mitchell of United States Army Air Body, which thinks that the air forces made the navy obsolete, affirms in front of the Congress that “thousand bombers can be built and brought into service for the price of only one battleship” and that a squadron of these bombers can run a battleship, which allows a better use of the budget of defense. In spite of the oppositions of US Navy, it obtains the authorization to lead a series of tests of bombardments: in 1921, it bombards and runs many ships of which the German battleship “insubmersible” SMS '' Ostfriesland '' and pre-Dreadnought WORN American '' Alabama ''.

Although Mitchell wanted to recreate “conditions of war”, the ships are obsolete, do not have a control system of the damage and represent only motionless targets and without defense. During the bombardment of the Ostfriesland , the engineers of Navy were to be able to examine the effects of the various weapons; but the aviators of Mitchell do not hold account and run of it the ship in a few minutes in a coordinated attack. Michel concludes from it that “no surface vessel can sail where the air forces based with ground can intervene”. If the tests of Mitchell are not so conclusive, they discredit the partisans of the battleship.

Rearmament

In the years 1930, Royal Navy, US Navy and the Japanese imperial navy modernize their battleships of the war. One of the aspects of this rebuilding is the installation of turns sufficiently high and stable to support the instruments of aiming to guide the artillerists. Certain British ships receive a large superstructure called Queen Anne' S castle (“the castle of the Anne queen”), as on the Queen Elizabeth , the Warspite or King George V . The Japanese rebuild all their battleships as their cruisers of battle, with a typical superstructure in “Pagode”; the Hiei has a more modern footbridge which will inspire later that of the Yamato . The United States tests masts in tripod, then masts in “cage”. The optical aimings will be made obsolete later by the Radar.

However, even when the threats of war become again important at the end of the years 1930, the construction of battleships does not reach the level which it had before the First World War: the “pause” imposed by the treaties reduced the capacity of the shipyards. The development of the strategic Bombardier means that the navy is not any more the only means of projection of power to long distance. Moreover, the development of the Porte-avions means that the battleships have a competitor vis-a-vis the financial and material resources available.

In Germany, the ambitious Plan Z of naval rearmament is abandoned in favor of a strategy privileging the submarines, by using the cruisers of battle and the battleships of class Bismarck for the attack of the tradind ships. In Great Britain, there more needs anti-aircraft defenses and escort of convoys; the plans of rearmament relate to five armoured ships of the Classe King George V. In the Mediterranean, the navy remains more faithful to the battleship. France wishes to build six battleships of Classe Dunkirk and class Classe Richelieu, and the Italians two powerful ships of Classe Littorio; none of this navy builds notable aircraft carrier. The United States prefers to devote only one weak budget to the aircraft carriers until the Classe South Dakota. As for Japan, even if it gives the priority to the aircraft carriers, the construction of the three giant battleships of class Yamato starts all the same (although one of them was transformed into aircraft carrier). In April 1937, España touches a mine and runs without great human losses; in May 1937, Jaime I is damaged by a nationalist air attack and a failure. With the port for repairs, the ship is again touched by several bombs at the time of air raids; it is towed in a surer port, but undergoes an explosion during the towing and runs, causing 300 dead. Several Italian and German important ships take part in the blockade. May 29th, 1937, two republican planes manage to bombard the German battleship of pocket Deutschland close to Ibiza, causing great damage and many human losses. The Admiral Scheer counterpart two days later by bombarding Almería; destruction thus caused and the “incident Deutshland ” which results cause from it the end from the German and Italian support for non-intervention.

Second world war

In fact the German battleships - the pre-Dreadnoughts obsolete ones - fire the first shells from the Second world war, with the bombardment the Polish garrison with Westerplatte; Japanese rendering takes place on board an American battleship, the Missouri . But between these two event, it appears clearly that the battleships are from now on auxiliary, and that the aircraft carriers became the new ship-admirals of the fleets of war.

The battleships nevertheless play a part in major engagements of the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Mediterranean. In the Atlantic, the Germans try to use their battleships to attack tradind ships far from the usual zones of combat, but few engagements between battleships occur. The Bataille of the Atlantic is played more between the submarines and the destroyers, while in the Pacific the majority of engagements are dominated by the aircraft carriers.

In the first years of the war, the battleships and the cruisers of battle defy the predictions affirming that the planes would exceed the navy. The Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau manage to run by surprised the aircraft carrier '' Glorious '' in the west of Norway in June 1940. At the time of the Battle of Seas el Kébir, the British attack the French ships with shootings of shell since the battleships, then continue the French ships which could escape with planes launched since their aircraft carriers.

Tarente and Bismarck

Several engagements see the battleships threatened by embarked planes, at the end of 1940 and in 1941.

The first example of the power of the Naval Aviation is the Bataille of Tarente, where the British planes attack the Italian fleet which is stationed there, the night from November 11th to 12th 1940. With a handle of planes, Royal Navy succeeds in running a battleship and damaging two others of them. This attack forces the Italian navy to change its tactic, which does not prevent its defeat with the Bataille of the course Matapan.

In the Atlantic, Germany wants to use its battleships - the Bismarck and the Tirpitz - and its cruisers of battle to influence the Bataille of the Atlantic by destroying the convoys supplying the United Kingdom. This one counteracts by assigning more ships to the protection of the convoys and try some to seek and destroy the German ships by using aviation, whether it is embarked or based with ground, and by acts of Sabotage. May 24th, 1941, while trying to enter the North Atlantic, the battleship Bismarck is taken in hunting by British battleship HMS Prince off Wales and the cruiser of battle HMS Hood . This last is cast after having received a shell in its reserves of ammunition, but the Bismarck and the Prince off Wales receive three shells each one, which forces the German battleship to turn over to the port. Royal Navyprend drives out the Bismarck of it; an attack of a bomber-destroyer Swordfish of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal destroys its rudder and makes it possible the British battleships to catch up with it; the Bismarck is cast on May 27th.

Battles of the Pacific

In several of the crucial battles of the Pacific, as for example the Battle of the Coral sea or that of Midway, the battleships either absent or is relegated to the second plan by the aircraft carriers, which launch waves of successive attacks to several hundred kilometers by far. The battleships have mainly a role of coastal bombardment at the time of the unloadings and of anti-aircraft defense to protect the aircraft carriers. Even the largest battleships ever built, the Yamato Japanese , which carry nine guns of 460 mm, have only few chances to show their potential; the main reasons are the technical weaknesses (in particular their too low speed to remain with the aircraft carriers), erroneous naval doctrines (the Japanese await the “decisive battle” which never arrived), and a bad provision during the battles, as in Midway.

Pearl Harbor

Before the hostilities do not begin in the Pacific, the pre-war preparation is centered on Dreadnoughts. The Royal Navy cannot place the large sorry ones as many than the Japanese to Southeast Asia, not to dismantle the Atlantic and the North Sea. Winston Churchill thinks of being able to improve the situation in Europe, and allocates two ships with the defense of the Asian colonies like compromise. The American navy agrees to send its Fleet of the Pacific with eight battleships to Singapore, if the hostilities with Japan begin.

December 7th, 1941, the Japanese launch the Attaque on Pearl Harbor. In little time, five of the eight American battleships are run or running, the remainder is damaged. In an air attack, the Japanese succeeded in neutralizing the American armoured force of the Pacific, and thus proved the theory of Mitchell: as in Tarente, these ships are vulnerable to damping. However, the American aircraft carriers being with broad, they are not affected by the attack; they will take the changing in the Pacific.

The two British ships, battleships HMS Prince off Wales and the cruisers of battle HMS Repulse as for them are attacked by Japanese aviation and are run, still showing the vulnerability of the battleships without air escort. The two ships are on the way to reinforce the defense of Singapore when they are attacked by Japanese bombers and hunters on December 10th, 1941. The Prince off Wales is the first battleship run by a plane, while being on the way and able to be defended.

Midway

If the Bataille of Midway is generally seen like a victory of the aircraft carriers, it shows also weaknesses in the Japanese organization. Yamamoto considers that the battleships are its units most important and the place too with the back, according to the traditional practice; they are thus unable to help Nagumo, and in any case too slow to be able to help the remainder of the group of combat. However, when the aircraft carriers of Nagumo are run, Yamamoto loses an occasion to catch up with the situation: in spite of their potential, the aircraft carriers remain without defense the night and, if the battleships had remained close to the aircraft carriers the night from June 6th to 7th, the Yamato could have inflicted heavy losses with the forces of Fletcher

Guadalcanal

When lesUSA enters in war in December 1941, plus any battleship is not available in the Pacific: eights are run or seriously damaged in Pearl Harbor, and cannot in any case accompany the aircraft carriers. The fast battleships of the Class North Carolina and South Dakota are always under tests, and will be ready only at the summer 1942; they will get a crucial anti-aircraft cover during the Bataille of Solomon Eastern and that of the islands Santa Cruz.

On the other hand, the Japanese imperial Marine has a dozen battleships in operation in the Pacific, but chooses not to deploy them in the great battles. The ships of Class Fuso and Ise, in spite of their modern equipment and their high speed, have only one territorial protection and driving role, while the Nagato and the ships of class Yamato are preserved for the “decisive battle” of Yamamoto, which will never take place. Finally, the only Japanese battleships to really take part in the combat at the beginning of the war are those of Classe Kongō, which are used especially as escort with the aircraft carriers.

During the last part of the Battle of Guadalcanal to the autumn 1942, the Japanese and the USA are both obliged to engage their battleships with the combat, being given the need for operations of night and the exhaustion of the forces Naval Aviation. During the naval Battle of Guadalcanal, on November 13rd, the Japanese battleships Hiei and Kirishima are pushed back by the American cruisers and destroyers. The United States loses several ships, but the sudden Hiei of many damage and the crew give up the ship. The evening of November 15th, the American battleships South Dakota and Washington destroy the Kirishima .

It is also in Guadalcanal that the battleships prove their utility during the bombardments devastators on the airport of the island.

Gulf of Leyte

After the Bataille of the sea of Philippines, the losses raised in aviation make the aircraft carriers ineffective and force the Japanese to engage their Dreadnoughts, as well most recent that others older, in the Bataille of the gulf of Leyte. The objective one of this “decisive battle” is to stop the capture of Philippines by the Allies: this capture would mean the end of the oil provisioning of the Japanese Empire and thus of the marine. The battle of Samar, on October 25th, 1944, proves that the battleships remain a powerful weapon. The Escort carrier of US Navy escape from little from the guns from the battleships Yamato , Kongō , Haruna and Nagato and their cruisers. The American destroyers and planes engage the battleships, making it possible the aircraft carriers to escape. Curiously, the Japanese also break engagement, although very close to their goal: the American force amphibian in Leyte.

In the gulf of Leyte, on October 25th, 1944, six battleships, carried out by the admiral Jesse Oldendorf of the 7th American fleet, run the battleship Yamashiro of the admiral Shoji Nishimura, and would have run the Fusō if it had not already been cut into two by launched torpedes of the destroyers during the battle of the strait of Surigao a little before. It is the last time that battleships clash directly. The previous day, the Musashi is cast in an air attack, well before it can arrive at range of gun of the American ships.

Soviet and Finnish battles

During the War of Winter, the Soviet battleships Marat and Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya on several occasions try to neutralize the Finnish coastal batteries in order to renforder the naval Blocus. They inflict however only little damage; the Finns at least once retort and touch the Marat . During the German attack in Soviet Union, the Soviet battleships are used to escort the convoys during the evacuation of Tallinn, and are also used like floating batteries during the Siège of Leningrad. The German and Finnish minefields as well as the underwater nets restrict the Soviet traffic in the Golfe of Finland, obliging the largest ships to remain with the port. The Marat is finally cast with damping by a German Stuka controlled by Hans-Ulrich Rudel on September 23rd, 1944. The wreck continues to be used as floating battery during the remainder of the seat. The Marat is reinflated later, and the two battleships remain with the service until in the years 1950.

Role of fire support

Since the large German ships are run or obliged to remain with the port, the fire support becomes the first mission of the allied battleships of the Atlantic. Thus, WORN the Massachusetts covers the allied invasion of Morocco by putting except service the Jean Bart French on October 27th, 1942. During the operation Neptune, on June 6th, 1944, six battleships support by their shootings the unloadings with ground.

During the same unloading, two Dreadnoughts are also sacrificed to be used as dam of protection for the ports Mulberry.

Air defense

The attack on the HMS Prince off Wales in 1941 showed that even most modern of the battleships are vulnerable vis-a-vis the planes; it is the air patrol which proves to be the best form of protection in this case. However, the fast battleships also manage to be defended honourably and to push back the enemy planes which would have crossed the aerial cover. The North Carolina and the South Dakota prove it with the Bataille of Solomon Eastern like to that of the islands Santa Cruz: the North Carolina cuts down between 7 and 14 planes while the South Dakota cuts down of them 26 to 32. With not enough planes to obtain an effective aerial cover, the presence of these battleships remains essential.

In 1944, the admiral Raymond A. Spruance rearranges the provision of the forces: the first line of defense is an air patrol of combat, directed by radar; if an attacker penetrates it, it must face an anti-aircraft shooting since a line of cruisers and battleships. During the Battle of the sea of Philippines, the Japanese losses are so high that their planes do not manage to inflict any damage with their target, the aircraft carriers. the power struggle changed however considerably since 1942, the American pilots being tested and the more recent ships.

Anti-aircraft guns

At the beginning of the Second world war, the majority of the battleships comprise several batteries of anti-aircraft guns, often of the same type as on the smallest ships (like the light guns Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm on the Alliés ships) but in greater number. The development of the Radar and the detonator of proximity improve these weapons.

During the inter-war period, the battleships - and in particular Americans and British - gave up the Casemate with the profit of the double batteries out of turrets, gauge 5 or 6 inches. The secondary batteries are initially designed to push back the destroyers and destroyers attacking at high speed, but it is the air threat which ends up worrying the battleships more, in particular the bomber-destroyers. The idea being that a battleship has few chances to face at the same time destroyers and planes, and that to have two types of guns would take too much place, of the guns of the same gauge are employed vis-a-vis the two threats. That also makes it possible to simplify the provisioning of these weapons, the provision of the shielding, etc

The battleship of class Nelson (which incorporates several concepts of the cruiser of G3 battle) is the first ship to include such a secondary battery, used at the same time against of the forces of surface and the planes. If these guns have a weaker rate of shooting than the usual anti-aircraft guns, their longer range and their more great power arrive at touching the enemy planes more easily; they prove reliable vis-a-vis the Kamikaze S Japanese at the end of the Second world war. While drawing in water, they create also large sprays of water which submerge the planes destroyers (which fly to the short-nap cloth of the sea) under tons of water.

The German ships remain about it with the traditional format: anti-ship secondary batteries and anti-aircraft heavy batteries. The Bismarck has for example a secondary battery of twelve guns of 150 mm and another of sixteen guns of 105 mm against the air threats; the first cannot be drawn against the planes fault of being able to reach a sufficient rise. This provision complicates the provisioning, takes more place and reduces the quantity of each weapon.

The Japanese imperial navy knows the same problems as the Germans: the secondary guns of its battleships are too slow to follow the planes. The Japanese even use, on their class Yamato , the anti-aircraft shells San Shiki (“hive”) model 13 for the principal guns: in theory, they could have created a shooting of stopping against the planes, although it seems that was not a success.

Shielding

Following the battle of Jutland and with the First World War in general, the naval architects start to conceive a Blindage also adapted to the threats air and underwater. The five American ships of the class Tennessee and Tennessee have thus works sharp protected well better compared to the preceding battleships. The project of cruiser of G3 battle includes a defense system anti-torpedes, used later on the ships of class Nelson .

The battleships comprised already a belt armor-plated for underwater protection against the torpedes or the shells striking under the floating; after Jutland, they have also a defense system anti-torpedes. With the adoption of the turbo-electric propulsion, interior spaces are rearranged, the engine rooms subdivided better and reduced in order to offer more space in the sides of the ship, where a whole of vacuums, tanks and slightly armor-plated partitions are found. Contrary, the cruisers and the aircraft carriers more slightly armor-plated hope mainly on a great number of tight compartments to prevent a breach from invading the ship.

During the attack on the Yamato , according to documentary of PBS, the bombers American receive for orders to aim at the prow or the poop, where the armor-plated belt stops. The hunters saturate the anti-aircraft guns, the bombers ram the higher bridge to destroy these guns and the control systems of shooting, and the destroyers have the free field thus. The pilots must also aim in priority only one side of the ship, causing multiple breaches and an invasion difficult to slow down, leading to the upsetting of the ship. A blow with the prow is potentially mortal, since the water entry combined with the high speed of the ship can tear all before as well as the watertight bulkheads: it is the cause of the loss of the Musashi . The Bismarck and the Prince off Wales as for them are touched with the poop, which damages their propellers and saffrons.

Since the bridges are also armoured, the British Naval Aviation envisages to use perforating bombs to penetrate the shielding of the Tirpitz during the Tungsten operation. But the bombs are not released of a sufficient altitude, and the Tirpitz suffers damage only on its superstructures while its bridges remain intact. In the same way, the Japanese Kamikazes are effective only against the ships more slightly armor-plated.

The shielding cannot however follow the developments of the armaments. For example, the shielding of the Iowa and South Dakota are conceived for absorder the energy of an underwater explosion of 700 pounds (317 kg) of TNT, that is to say the high evaluation of the Japanese weapons by the USA in the years 1930. But the Japanese actually lay out of torpedes of the type 93 container a load equivalent to 891 pounds (405 kg) of TNT. And no shielding could have saved the Tipitz bomb Tallboy of 12 000 pounds (5,4 tons).

Innovating attacks

The Axis tests other methods that the air waves to attack the battleships. The Italians send frogmen to fix explosive loads on the ships and thus manage to run HMS '' Valiant '' and HMS '' Queen Elizabeth '' in not very deep water of the port of Alexandria, putting them out of combat until 1942. The Italians test also the “human torpedes” and of small boats of attack: stuffed explosives, directed towards their target, they sink on it while their pilot ejects boat literally.

The Germans develop a whole of ad hoc weapons as the guided bomb Fritz X which is some successes. September 9th, 1943, the Germans manage to run the Italian battleship Roma and to damage seriously its twin ship Italia , then ready to go. One week after, the Germans use again Fritz X against the British battleship '' Warspite ''.

The British try as for them to destroy the battleships with the port with pocket submarine and bombs surpuissantes released by the strategic bombers; the Tirpitz will make the expenses at the time of the Source operation of them, attacked by British submarines of class X, and bombers during the Tugnsten operation.

Cold war

After the Second world war, the majority of the great navy preserve their battleships, but it appears obvious that they are not worth any more their considerable price. The war showed that the combat between battleships are exceptional, the distance during engagements having become higher, making the guns of strong gauge obsolete. The shielding of a battleship is also obsolete vis-a-vis the nuclear threat : missiles with nuclear load of a range of more than 100 km are assembled as of the end of the year 1950 on the Soviet destroyers of Classe Kildin and on the submarines of Classe Whiskey.

The remaining battleships know various fates. The WORN '' Arkansas '' and the Nagato are cast during the nuclear tests of the Opération Crossroads in 1946. The two ships resist the blast of the explosion but not the underwater explosions. The Italian battleship Giulio Cesare is taken by the Soviets and famous Novorossiysk ; it is run by a German mine in the Black Sea on October 19th, 1955. The two ships of class Andrea Doria are demolished at the end of the years 1950. The Lorraine French is demolished in 1954, the Richelieu in 1964 and the Jean Bart in 1970. The four ships of class King George V British are demolished in 1957 and the Vanguard in 1960; all the other British battleships are demolished at the end of the years 1940. In Soviet Union, the Petropavlovsk is demolished in 1953, the Sevastopol in 1957 and the Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya in 1959. In Brazil, the Minas Gerais is demolished in 1954 and the São Paulo runs at the time of its voyage towards the demolition site, taken in a storm, in 1951. Argentina keeps its two ships of Classe Rivadavia until 1956 and Chile keeps the Almirante Latorre until 1959. The Turkish Yavuz is demolished in 1976; the Swedes keep some small battleships for the coastal defense, of which the '' Gustav V '' which survives until 1970. The Soviet Union envisages to build cruisers of battle, but this project is cancelled with the death of Stalin. Some old linerships are used as floating bases or deposits.

The American ships of Classe Iowa continue to be used like fire support. The Marines consider that the fire support of a ship is more precise, more effective and less expensive than strike them air. The Radar controls of shooting per computer make it possible to aim at the target with advantage of precision. The United States gives in service the four Iowa during the Guerre of Korea, and the '' New Jersey '' during the Guerre of Vietnam. They are mainly used for coastal bombardments: the New Jersey car seven times more shell against targets with ground during the war of Vietnam than during the Second world war.

In the years 1980, the four Iowa are again given in service, on the one hand because of the will of the Secretary of State to the navy John F. Lehman to build a “Marine of 600 ships”, on the other hand following the startup of the Soviet cruiser of battle Kirov . On several occasions, these battleships have a role of support in the air and sea groups, even carry out their own group of combat. They are modernized by the addition of missiles Tomahawk. The New Jersey bombards the Lebanon in 1983-84, while the '' Missouri '' and the '' Wisconsin '' fire their guns from 16 inches and the missiles against targets with ground during the Guerre of the Gulf in 1991. The Wisconsin is used as platform of command for missiles TLAM (Tomahawk terrestrial anti-targets) in the Persian Gulf, directs the sequences of launching which mark the beginning of the Opération Storm of the Desert, and draws a total from 4 missiles during the first two days of the countryside. It is about the last operation in time of war carried out by a battleship. During the war of the Gulf, the principal threat against the battleships is represented by the batteries of missiles with Iraqi ground: the Missouri is thus the target of two Silkworm missiles, which do not achieve however their goal.

The four Iowa are withdrawn from the active service to the beginning of the year 1990: they are then the last battleships in service. The Wisconsin and the Iowa are maintained until the financial year 2006 in a state such as they can be given quickly in service as ships of fire support, while waiting for the development of ships of replacement dedicated to this role. For the Marines, the actual position of the forces of surface does not allow an adequate support in the event of amphibious attack or of operations for ground.

Currently

With the disarmament of the last of the Iowa , no battleship is in service in the world, even in reserve. Some are preserved like ships museums, with flood or in the dry hold. The United States has some of them: WORN '' Massachusetts '', '' North Carolina '', '' Alabama '', '' New Jersey '', '' Wisconsin '', '' Missouri '' and '' Texas ''. The Missouri and the New Jersey are museums with Pearl Harbor and Camden; the Wisconsin is a museum with Norfolk, and was recently striped fleet. Only the other genuine visible battleship is pre-Dreadnought Japanese Mikasa . Some primitive battleships and linerships to veils are also preserved, of which the HMS Victory , the HMS Warrior , the Vasa Swedish , the Buffel and the Schorpioen Dutch and the Chilean trophy of war Huáscar . One can also note the Mary Pink , ancestor of the linerships.

Battleships in the naval doctrines

Doctrines

The battleships were one of the representations of the naval power of the countries. For Alfred Mahan and its partisans, a strong navy was a element-key of the success of a nation, and controls it seas was vital for the projection of power on sea and ground. In the theory of Mahan, the battleships have as a role to eliminate the enemies from the seas. While the roles of escort, blockade and raids can be accomplished by similar cruisers or other ships, the presence of battleships presented a potential threat. Mahan known as as well as the victory can be reached only by engagements between battleships, theory which leads to the assumption of the “decisive battle” in the Japanese navy, while the Guerre of race (developed by the Jeune School) cannot succeed, for Mahan.

Mahan had much influence in the naval circles and policies during the era of the battleships.

Tactics

If the role of the battleships in the two world wars reflected thinks it of Mahan, in practice the deployment of the battleships was more complex. Contrary to the old linerships, the battleships of the 20th century are more vulnerable to the torpedes and the mines, weapons being able to be used even by small boats. The Young School of the years 1870 and 1880 recommends to place the destroyers at the sides of the battleships; they would hide behind them and would only leave protected by smoke the guns in order to launch their torpedes. In September 1983, when the militia Druzes of the Shouf mountains in Lebanon draw on American blue helmets, the arrival of the New Jersey puts an end to the shootings. Later, lestirsdu New Jersey ends up killing out of the chiefs of this militia.

Appendices

References

Corbett, Sir Julian. " Maritime Operations In Russo-Japanese The War 1904-1905." (1994). Originally Classified and in two volumnes. ISBN 1-5575-0129-7.

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