What is the largest battleship in the world. The world's largest battleship

Here is the USS Iowa - the first of the largest and most powerful battleships that have ever served in the United States Navy. Equipped with 406 mm guns capable of firing nuclear shells, this ship is the only one in American history to have such a capability.

Let me tell you more about this ship...

These nine guns firing simultaneously are a terrifying but fascinating sight. However, it should be recognized that in a real combat situation this method of attack is far from optimal. The shock waves of the projectiles are so strong that they begin to influence each other, disrupting the flight path. The military solved this problem by firing the guns in rapid succession - each individual gun being able to fire independently.

The USS Iowa served in the Pacific Theater during World War II, but soon after it became apparent that the battleship's time was over. Aircraft carriers with their bombers and fighters became the most powerful force at sea. The United States canceled construction of two of the six Iowa-class battleships before the end of the war. The States also planned to create a new class of battleships - the 65,000-ton Montana class ships with 12 406 mm guns, but canceled their development in 1943.

On January 2, 1944, as the flagship of the 7th Battle Division, the battleship Iowa set sail for the Pacific Ocean, where she received her baptism of fire during the operation in the Marshall Islands.

From April 8 to October 16, 1952, the battleship Iowa participated in the Korean War in combat operations off the east coast of the country, supporting ground forces with artillery strikes on Songjin, Hungnam and Koyo in North Korea.

However, after the war, the four Iowa-class battleships built—USS Iowa, USS New Jersey, USS Missouri, and USS Wisconsin—were an active part of the most powerful battleship the world had in existence for several decades. In the 1980s, 32 Tomahawk and 16 Harpoon missiles, as well as 4 Phalanx systems, were added to the impressive arsenal of these battleships.

Also, the Iowa class battleships were the only ships in the US Navy capable of firing nuclear missiles. Their shells were marked W23, and “with a yield of 15 to 20 kilotons of TNT, they made the 406 mm guns of the Iowa battleships the largest caliber nuclear artillery in the world.”

On February 24, 1958, the battleship Iowa was withdrawn from the US Navy and transferred to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. But in the early 80s he returned to service, completely updating the anti-aircraft artillery and receiving the latest electronics. The main caliber guns remained in place. The weight of the projectile of such a weapon is one ton. Firing range - 38 km. Six years ago, the US Congress rejected the Secretary of the Navy's proposal to decommission the Iowa, citing the undesirability of weakening the firepower of the American fleet.

It was finally decommissioned in 1990 and for a long time was parked in the reserve fleet in Sesun Bay (California). On October 28, 2011, she was towed to the Port of Richmond, California for restoration before moving to her permanent home base in the Port of Los Angeles. There it will be used as a museum

Battleships type "Iowa" are considered the most advanced in the history of shipbuilding. It was during their creation that the designers and engineers managed to achieve the maximum combination of all the main combat characteristics: weapons, speed and protection. Iowa-class battleships marked the end of the evolution of battleships. They can be considered an ideal project. Here are their names: “Iowa” (BB-61), “New Jersey” (BB-62), “Missouri” (BB-63) and “Wisconsin” (BB-64).

Information on weapons:

Overall, the Iowa was an undoubted triumph of American shipbuilding. It corrected most of the shortcomings of the first American squadron battleships, and it had excellent seaworthiness, high speed, excellent security and powerful weapons. Although American heavy guns were inferior in quality to modern heavy guns of the Old World, nevertheless, the 35-caliber 305-mm Iowa guns, mounted in balanced turrets, were significantly more effective than the formally more powerful Indian guns. An important argument in favor of the Iowa was also its powerful intermediate artillery and the first truly fast-firing American guns.

As a result, the Americans managed to create (with virtually no experience) a battleship that was only slightly inferior to its European contemporaries. But the Americans themselves were apparently unable to discern the strengths of the project, since the next two series of battleships borrowed almost nothing from the Iowa design (which was clearly not the most correct act).

Exactly seventy years ago, the Soviet Union began implementing a seven-year program of “large naval shipbuilding” - one of the most expensive and ambitious projects in the history of domestic, and not only domestic, military equipment.

The main leaders of the program were considered to be heavy artillery ships - battleships and cruisers, which were to become the largest and most powerful in the world. Although the super-battleships were never completed, there is still great interest in them, especially in light of the recent fashion for alternative history. So what were the projects of the “Stalinist giants” and what preceded their appearance?

Lords of the Seas

The fact that the main force of the fleet is battleships has been considered an axiom for almost three centuries. From the time of the Anglo-Dutch wars of the 17th century until the Battle of Jutland in 1916, the outcome of the war at sea was decided by an artillery duel of two fleets lined up in wake lines (hence the origin of the term “ship of the line”, or battleship for short). Faith in the omnipotence of the battleship was not undermined by either the appearance of aviation or submarines. After World War I, most admirals and naval theorists continued to measure the strength of fleets by the number of heavy guns, the total weight of the broadside, and the thickness of the armor. But it was precisely this exceptional role of battleships, considered the undisputed rulers of the seas, that played a cruel joke on them...

The evolution of battleships in the first decades of the twentieth century was truly rapid. If at the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the largest representatives of this class, then called squadron battleships, had a displacement of about 15 thousand tons, then the famous “Dreadnought”, built in England two years later (this name became a household name for its many followers), had a full the displacement was already 20,730 tons. The Dreadnought seemed to its contemporaries a giant and the height of perfection. However, by 1912, compared to the latest super-dreadnoughts, it looked like a completely ordinary ship of the second line... And four years later, the British laid down the famous Hood with a displacement of 45 thousand tons! Incredibly, powerful and expensive ships, in the context of an unrestrained arms race, became obsolete in just three or four years, and their serial construction became extremely burdensome even for the richest countries.

Why did this happen? The fact is that every warship is a compromise of many factors, three of which are considered the main ones: weapons, protection and speed. Each of these components “ate up” a significant part of the ship’s displacement, since artillery, armor, and bulky power plants with numerous boilers, fuel, steam engines or turbines were very heavy. And designers, as a rule, had to sacrifice one of the fighting qualities in favor of another. Thus, the Italian shipbuilding school was characterized by fast and heavily armed, but poorly protected battleships. The Germans, on the contrary, prioritized survivability and built ships with very powerful armor, but moderate speed and light artillery. The desire to ensure a harmonious combination of all characteristics, taking into account the trend of constant increase in the main caliber, led to a monstrous increase in the size of the ship.

Paradoxical as it may seem, the appearance of the long-awaited “ideal” battleships - fast, heavily armed and protected by powerful armor - brought the very idea of ​​​​such ships to complete absurdity. Of course: because of their high cost, floating monsters undermined the economies of their own countries more significantly than the invasions of enemy armies! At the same time, they almost never went to sea: the admirals did not want to risk such valuable combat units, since the loss of even one of them was practically equivalent to a national catastrophe. Battleships have transformed from a means of warfare at sea into an instrument of big politics. And the continuation of their construction was no longer determined by tactical expediency, but by completely different motives. Having such ships for the prestige of the country in the first half of the twentieth century meant about the same as having nuclear weapons now.

The governments of all countries were aware of the need to stop the spinning flywheel of the naval arms race, and in 1922, at an international conference convened in Washington, radical measures were taken. Delegations of the most influential states agreed to significantly reduce their naval forces and fix the total tonnage of their own fleets in a certain proportion over the next 15 years. During the same period, the construction of new battleships was stopped almost everywhere. The only exception was made for Great Britain - the country forced to scrap the largest number of completely new dreadnoughts. But those two battleships that the British could build would hardly have had an ideal combination of combat qualities, since their displacement should have been measured at 35 thousand tons.

The Washington Conference was the first real step in history to limit offensive weapons on a global scale. It gave the global economy some respite. But nothing more. Since the apotheosis of the “battleship race” was yet to come...

The dream of a "big fleet"

By 1914, the Russian Imperial Navy ranked first in the world in terms of growth rates. On the stocks of shipyards in St. Petersburg and Nikolaev, powerful dreadnoughts were laid one after another. Russia recovered quite quickly from its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and again laid claim to the role of a leading maritime power.

However, the revolution, civil war and general devastation left no trace of the former naval power of the empire. The Red Fleet inherited from the “tsarist regime” only three battleships - “Petropavlovsk”, “Gangut” and “Sevastopol”, renamed respectively “Marat”, “October Revolution” and “Paris Commune”. By the standards of the 1920s, these ships already looked hopelessly outdated. It is not surprising that Soviet Russia was not invited to the Washington Conference: its fleet was not taken seriously at that time.

At first, the Red Fleet really did not have any special prospects. The Bolshevik government had much more urgent tasks than restoring its former naval power. In addition, the first persons of the state, Lenin and Trotsky, looked at the navy as an expensive toy and a tool of world imperialism. Therefore, during the first decade and a half of the existence of the Soviet Union, the ship composition of the RKKF was replenished slowly and mainly only with boats and submarines. But in the mid-1930s, the naval doctrine of the USSR changed dramatically. By that time, the “Washington battleship vacation” was over and all the world powers began feverishly to catch up. Two international treaties signed in London tried to somehow restrain the size of future battleships, but everything turned out to be in vain: practically none of the countries participating in the agreements was going to honestly fulfill the signed conditions from the very beginning. France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, the USA and Japan began creating a new generation of leviathan ships. Stalin, inspired by the success of industrialization, also did not want to stand aside. And the Soviet Union became another participant in a new round of the naval arms race.

In July 1936, the Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR, with the blessing of the Secretary General, approved a seven-year program of “large naval shipbuilding” for 1937-1943 (due to the cacophony of the official name in the literature, it is usually called the “Big Fleet” program). In accordance with it, it was planned to build 533 ships, including 24 battleships! For the Soviet economy of that time, the figures were absolutely unrealistic. Everyone understood this, but no one dared to object to Stalin.

In fact, Soviet designers began developing a project for a new battleship back in 1934. The matter progressed with difficulty: they completely lacked experience in creating large ships. We had to attract foreign specialists - first Italian, then American. In August 1936, after analyzing various options, the terms of reference for the design of battleships of type “A” (project 23) and “B” (project 25) were approved. The latter was soon abandoned in favor of the Project 69 heavy cruiser, but Type A gradually developed into an armored monster that left far behind all its foreign counterparts. Stalin, who had a weakness for giant ships, could be pleased.

First of all, we decided not to limit the displacement. The USSR was not bound by any international agreements, and therefore, already at the technical design stage, the standard displacement of the battleship reached 58,500 tons. The thickness of the armor belt was 375 millimeters, and in the area of ​​the bow towers - 420! There were three armored decks: 25 mm upper, 155 mm main and 50 mm lower anti-fragmentation. The hull was equipped with solid anti-torpedo protection: in the central part of the Italian type, and in the extremities - of the American type.

The artillery armament of the Project 23 battleship included nine 406-mm B-37 guns with a barrel length of 50 calibers, developed by the Stalingrad Barrikady plant. The Soviet cannon could fire 1,105-kilogram shells to a range of 45.6 kilometers. In terms of its characteristics, it was superior to all foreign guns of this class - with the exception of the 18-inch guns of the Japanese super-battleship Yamato. However, the latter, having heavier shells, were inferior to the B-37 in terms of firing range and rate of fire. In addition, the Japanese kept their ships so secret that until 1945 no one knew anything about them. In particular, Europeans and Americans were confident that the caliber of the Yamato artillery did not exceed 16 inches, that is, 406 millimeters.

The Japanese battleship Yamato is the largest warship of World War II. Laid down in 1937, entered service in 1941. Total displacement - 72,810 tons. Length - 263 m, width - 36.9 m, draft - 10.4 m. Armament: 9 - 460 mm and 12 - 155 -mm guns, 12 - 127 mm anti-aircraft guns, 24 - 25 mm machine guns, 7 seaplanes

The main power plant of the Soviet battleship is three turbo-gear units with a capacity of 67 thousand liters each. With. For the lead ship, the mechanisms were purchased from the Swiss branch of the English company Brown Boveri; for the rest, the power plant was to be manufactured under license by the Kharkov Turbine Plant. It was assumed that the speed of the battleship would be 28 knots and the cruising range at 14 knots would be over 5,500 miles.

Meanwhile, the “large maritime shipbuilding” program was revised. In the new “Great Shipbuilding Program”, approved by Stalin in February 1938, “small” battleships of type “B” were no longer listed, but the number of “large” type 23 battleships increased from 8 to 15 units. True, none of the experts doubted that this number, as well as the previous plan, belonged to the realm of pure fantasy. After all, even the “mistress of the seas” Great Britain and ambitious Nazi Germany expected to build only 6 to 9 new battleships. Realistically assessing the capabilities of the industry, the top leadership of our country had to limit themselves to four ships. And this turned out to be impossible: the construction of one of the ships was stopped almost immediately after laying.

The lead battleship (Soviet Union) was laid down at the Leningrad Baltic Shipyard on July 15, 1938. It was followed by “Soviet Ukraine” (Nikolaev), “Soviet Russia” and “Soviet Belarus” (Molotovsk, now Severodvinsk). Despite the mobilization of all forces, construction was behind schedule. By June 22, 1941, the first two ships had the highest degree of readiness, 21% and 17.5%, respectively. At the new plant in Molotovsk, things were much worse. Although in 1940 they decided to build one instead of two battleships, by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War its readiness had reached only 5%.

The deadlines for the production of artillery and armor were also not met. Although in October 1940, tests of an experimental 406-mm gun were successfully completed and before the start of the war, the Barrikady plant managed to deliver 12 barrels of naval superguns, not a single turret was assembled. There were even more problems with the release of the armor. Due to the loss of experience in the manufacture of thick armor plates, up to 40% of them were scrapped. And negotiations on ordering armor from the Krupp company ended in nothing.

The attack of Nazi Germany crossed out the plans for the creation of the “Big Fleet”. By government decree of July 10, 1941, the construction of battleships was stopped. Later, the armor plates of the “Soviet Union” were used in the construction of pillboxes near Leningrad, and the experimental B-37 gun also fired at the enemy there. “Soviet Ukraine” was captured by the Germans, but they did not find any use for the gigantic corps. After the war, the issue of completing the battleships according to one of the improved designs was discussed, but in the end they were dismantled for metal, and a section of the hull of the parent "Soviet Union" was even launched in 1949 - it was planned to be used for full-scale testing of the anti-torpedo protection system. At first they wanted to install the turbines received from Switzerland on one of the new light cruisers of the 68-bis project, but then they abandoned this: too many alterations were required.

Good cruisers or bad battleships?

Heavy cruisers of Project 69 appeared in the “Great Shipbuilding Program,” of which, like A-type battleships, it was planned to build 15 units. But these were not just heavy cruisers. Since the Soviet Union was not bound by any international treaties, the restrictions of the Washington and London conferences for ships of this class (standard displacement up to 10 thousand tons, artillery caliber no more than 203 millimeters) were immediately discarded by Soviet designers. Project 69 was conceived as a destroyer of any foreign cruisers, including the formidable German “pocket battleships” (displacing 12,100 tons). Therefore, at first its main armament was supposed to include nine 254 mm guns, but then the caliber was increased to 305 mm. At the same time, it was necessary to strengthen the armor protection, increase the power of the power plant... As a result, the total displacement of the ship exceeded 41 thousand tons, and the heavy cruiser turned into a typical battleship, even larger in size than the planned Project 25. Of course, the number of such ships had to be reduced. In reality, in 1939, only two “supercruisers” were laid down in Leningrad and Nikolaev - “Kronstadt” and “Sevastopol”.

The heavy cruiser Kronstadt was laid down in 1939, but was not completed. Total displacement 41,540 tons. Maximum length - 250.5 m, width - 31.6 m, draft - 9.5 m. Turbine power - 201,000 l. s., speed - 33 knots (61 km/h). The thickness of the side armor is up to 230 mm, the thickness of the turrets is up to 330 mm. Armament: 9 305 mm and 8 - 152 mm guns, 8 - 100 mm anti-aircraft guns, 28 - 37 mm machine guns, 2 seaplanes

There were many interesting innovations in the design of Project 69 ships, but in general, according to the “cost-effectiveness” criterion, they did not stand up to any criticism. Conceived as good cruisers, the Kronstadt and Sevastopol, in the process of “improving” the design, turned into bad battleships, too expensive and too difficult to build. In addition, the industry clearly did not have time to produce the main artillery for them. Out of despair, the idea arose to arm the ships instead of nine 305 mm guns with six German 380 mm guns, similar to those installed on the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz. This gave an increase in displacement by another thousand-plus tons. However, the Germans were in no hurry to fulfill the order, of course, and by the beginning of the war not a single gun had arrived from Germany to the USSR.

The fate of “Kronstadt” and “Sevastopol” was similar to their counterparts such as “Soviet Union”. By June 22, 1941, their technical readiness was estimated at 12-13%. In September of the same year, the construction of “Kronstadt” was stopped, and “Sevastopol”, located in Nikolaev, was captured by the Germans even earlier. After the war, the hulls of both “supercruisers” were dismantled for metal.

The battleship Bismarck is the strongest ship of the Nazi fleet. Laid down in 1936, entered service in 1940. Total displacement - 50,900 tons. Length - 250.5 m, width - 36 m, draft - 10.6 m. Thickness of side armor - up to 320 mm, turrets - up to 360 mm. Armament: 8 - 380 mm and 12 - 150 mm guns, 16 - 105 mm anti-aircraft guns, 16 - 37 mm and 12 - 20 mm machine guns, 4 seaplanes

Last attempts

In total, 27 battleships of the latest generation were built in the world in 1936-1945: 10 in the USA, 5 in Great Britain, 4 in Germany, 3 each in France and Italy, 2 in Japan. And in none of the fleets did they live up to the hopes placed on them. The experience of World War II clearly showed that the time of battleships was over. Aircraft carriers became the new masters of the oceans: carrier-based aircraft, of course, were superior to naval artillery both in range and in the ability to hit targets in the most vulnerable places. So we can say with confidence that Stalin’s battleships, even if they had been built by June 1941, would not have played any noticeable role in the war.

But here’s a paradox: the Soviet Union, which spent somewhat less money on unnecessary ships compared to other states, decided to make up for lost time and became the only country in the world that continued to design battleships after World War II! Contrary to common sense, designers worked tirelessly for several years on drawings of the floating fortresses of yesterday. The successor of the “Soviet Union” was the Project 24 battleship with a total displacement of 81,150 tons (!), the successor of the “Kronstadt” was the 42,000-ton heavy cruiser of Project 82. In addition, this pair was complemented by another so-called “medium” cruiser of Project 66 with 220- mm main caliber artillery. Note that although the latter was called medium, its displacement (30,750 tons) left all foreign heavy cruisers far behind and was approaching battleships.

Battleship "Soviet Union", project 23 (USSR, laid down in 1938). Standard displacement - 59,150 tons, full displacement - 65,150 tons. Maximum length - 269.4 m, width - 38.9 m, draft - 10.4 m. Turbine power - 201,000 l. s., speed - 28 knots (with boost, respectively, 231,000 hp and 29 knots). Armament: 9 - 406 mm and 12 - 152 mm guns, 12 - 100 mm anti-aircraft guns, 40 - 37 mm machine guns, 4 seaplanes

The reasons that domestic shipbuilding in the post-war years clearly went against the grain are mainly subjective. And in the first place here are the personal preferences of the “leader of the peoples.” Stalin was very impressed by large artillery ships, especially fast ones, and at the same time he clearly underestimated aircraft carriers. During a discussion of the Project 82 heavy cruiser in March 1950, the Secretary General demanded that the designers increase the ship’s speed to 35 knots, “so that it would panic the enemy’s light cruisers, disperse them and destroy them. This cruiser must fly like a swallow, be a pirate, a real bandit.” Alas, on the threshold of the nuclear missile era, the Soviet leader’s views on issues of naval tactics were one and a half to two decades behind their time.

If projects 24 and 66 remained on paper, then according to project 82 in 1951-1952, three “bandit cruisers” were laid down - “Stalingrad”, “Moskva” and the third, which remained unnamed. But they did not have to enter service: on April 18, 1953, a month after Stalin’s death, the construction of the ships was stopped due to their high cost and complete uncertainty of tactical use. A section of the hull of the lead "Stalingrad" was launched and for several years was used to test various types of naval weapons, including torpedoes and cruise missiles. It’s very symbolic: the world’s last heavy artillery ship turned out to be in demand only as a target for new weapons...

Heavy cruiser "Stalingrad". Laid out in 1951, but not completed. Total displacement - 42,300 tons. Maximum length - 273.6 m, width - 32 m, draft - 9.2 m. Turbine power - 280,000 l. s., speed - 35.2 knots (65 km/h). The thickness of the side armor is up to 180 mm, the thickness of the turrets is up to 240 mm. Armament: 9 - 305 mm and 12 - 130 mm guns, 24 - 45 mm and 40 - 25 mm machine guns

The "supership" obsession

In conclusion, it should be noted that the desire to create a “supership”, stronger than any potential opponent of its class, puzzled designers and shipbuilders of different countries at different times. And here there is a pattern: the weaker the economy and industry of the state, the more active this desire is; for developed countries, on the contrary, it is less typical. Thus, in the interwar period, the British Admiralty preferred to build ships that were very modest in combat capabilities, but in large numbers, which ultimately made it possible to have a well-balanced fleet. Japan, on the contrary, sought to create ships stronger than the British and American ones - in this way it hoped to compensate for the difference in economic development with its future rivals.

In this regard, the shipbuilding policy of the then USSR occupies a special place. Here, after the decision of the party and government to build a “Big Fleet,” the obsession with “superships” was actually brought to the point of absurdity. On the one hand, Stalin, inspired by successes in the aviation industry and tank building, too hastily considered that all problems in the shipbuilding industries could be solved just as quickly. On the other hand, the atmosphere in society was such that the project of any ship proposed by industry and not superior in its capabilities to its foreign counterparts could easily be considered “sabotage” with all the ensuing consequences. Designers and shipbuilders simply had no choice: they were forced to design the “most powerful” and “fastest” ships, armed with the “world’s longest-range” artillery... In practice, this resulted in the following: ships with the size and armament of battleships began to be called heavy cruisers (but the strongest in the world!), heavy cruisers - light, and the latter - “destroyer leaders”. Such a substitution of some classes for others would still make sense if domestic factories could build battleships in the quantities in which other countries built heavy cruisers. But since this was, to put it mildly, not at all true, the reports going to the top about the outstanding successes of the designers often looked like a banal fraud.

It is characteristic that almost all “superships” ever embodied in metal have not justified themselves. It is enough to cite the Japanese battleships Yamato and Musashi as examples. They died under the bombs of American planes, without firing a single main-caliber salvo at their American “classmates.” But even if they had a chance to meet the US fleet in a linear battle, they could hardly count on success. After all, Japan was able to build only two battleships of the latest generation, and the United States - ten. With such a balance of forces, the individual superiority of “Yamato” over an individual “American” no longer plays any role.

World experience shows: several well-balanced ships are much better than one giant with exaggerated combat characteristics. And yet, in the USSR the idea of ​​a “supership” did not die. A quarter of a century later, the Stalinist leviathans had distant relatives - nuclear-powered missile cruisers of the Kirov type, followers of the Kronstadt and Stalingrad. However, this is a completely different story...

To fully understand the picture: a battleship is a class of heavy armored artillery warships with a displacement of 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length of 150 to 280 m, with a main caliber gun of 280-460 mm, with a crew of 1500-2800 people.

Battleships became an evolutionary development of battleships in the second half of the 19th century. But before they were sunk, written off, and turned into museums, the ships had to go through a lot. Let's talk about this.

Richelieu

• Length - 247.9 m
• Displacement - 47 thousand tons

Named after the famous French statesman Cardinal Richelieu. It was built with the aim of stopping the raging Italian fleet. I never saw real combat, except for participation in the Senegalese operation in 1940. Sadness: in 1968, “Richelieu” was sent for scrap. Only one of his guns survived and was installed in the port of Brest as a monument.

Source: wikipedia.org

Bismarck

• Length - 251 m
• Displacement - 51 thousand tons

Left the shipyard in 1939. The Fuhrer of the entire Third Reich, Adolf Hitler himself, was present at the launch. The Bismarck is one of the most famous ships of World War II. He heroically destroyed the English flagship, the cruiser Hood. He paid for this just as heroically: they organized a real hunt for the battleship, and finally caught it. In May 1941, British ships and torpedo bombers sank Bismarck after a long battle.

Source: wikipedia.org

Tirpitz

• Length - 253.6 m
• Displacement - 53 thousand tons

Although the second largest battleship of Nazi Germany was launched in 1939, it was practically unable to take part in real battles. By his presence, he simply kept the hands of the Arctic convoy of the USSR and the British fleet tied. In 1944, Tirpitz was sunk as a result of an air raid. And then with the help of special super-heavy bombs like Tallboy.

Source: wikipedia.org

Yamato

• Length - 263 m
• Crew - 2500 people

Yamato is one of the largest battleships in the world and the largest warship in history ever sunk in a naval battle. Until October 1944, he practically did not participate in battles. So, “little things”: he fired at American ships.

On April 6, 1945, he went out on another campaign, the goal was to confront the Yankee troops that had landed on Okinawa. As a result, for 2 hours in a row, the Yamato and other Japanese ships were in hell - they were fired upon by 227 American deck ships. The largest battleship in Japan caught 23 hits from aerial bombs and torpedoes → the bow compartment exploded → the ship sank. Of the crew, 269 people survived, 3 thousand sailors died.

Source: wikipedia.org

Musashi

• Length - 263 m
• Displacement - 72 thousand tons

The second largest Japanese ship from World War II. Launched in 1942. The fate of “Musashi” is tragic:

• the first trip - a hole in the bow (torpedo attack by an American submarine);
• last trip (October 1944, in the Sibuyan Sea) - came under attack by American planes, caught 30 torpedoes and aerial bombs;
• Along with the ship, its captain and more than a thousand crew members died.

On March 4, 2015, 70 years after its death, the sunken Musashi in the waters of Sibuyan was discovered by American millionaire Paul Allen. The battleship rested at a depth of one and a half kilometers.

Source: wikipedia.org

Soviet Union

• Length - 269 m
• Displacement - 65 thousand tons

Sovki did not build battleships. They tried only once - in 1938 they began to lay down the “Soviet Union” (Project 23 battleship). By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the ship was 19% ready. But the Germans began to actively advance, and terribly frightened Soviet politicians. The latter, with trembling hands, signed a decree to stop the construction of the battleship, throwing all their efforts into stamping the “thirty-fours”. After the war, the ship was dismantled for metal.

The battleship is a heavy warship with large-caliber turret artillery and strong armor protection that existed in the first half of the 20th century. It was intended to destroy ships of all types, incl. armored and actions against coastal fortresses. A distinction was made between squadron battleships (for combat on the high seas) and coastal defense battleships (for operations in coastal areas).

Of the numerous battleship fleets remaining after the First World War, only 7 countries used them in the Second World War. All of them were built before the outbreak of the First World War, and in the period between the wars many were modernized. And only the coastal defense battleships of Denmark, Thailand and Finland were built in 1923-1938.

Coastal defense battleships became a logical development of monitors and gunboats. They were distinguished by their moderate displacement, shallow draft, and were armed with large-caliber artillery. They have received noticeable development in Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Russia and France.

A typical battleship of that time was a ship with a displacement of 11 to 17 thousand tons, capable of speeds of up to 18 knots. The power plant on all battleships was triple expansion steam engines, operating on two (less often three) shafts. The main caliber of the guns is 280-330 mm (and even 343 mm, later replaced by 305 mm with a longer barrel), the armor belt is 229-450 mm, rarely more than 500 mm.

Estimated number of battleships and ironclads used in the war by country and type of ship

A battleship (battleship) is a class of the largest armored artillery warships with a displacement from 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length from 150 to 280 m, armed with main caliber guns from 280 to 460 mm, with a crew of 1500 - 2800 people. Battleships were used to destroy enemy ships as part of a combat formation and provide artillery support for ground operations. They were an evolutionary development of armadillos.

The bulk of the battleships that took part in World War II were built before the start of World War I. During 1936 - 1945, only 27 battleships of the latest generation were built: 10 in the USA, 5 in Great Britain, 4 in Germany, 3 each in France and Italy, 2 in Japan. And in none of the fleets did they live up to the hopes placed on them. Battleships, from a means of warfare at sea, turned into an instrument of big politics, and the continuation of their construction was no longer determined by tactical expediency, but by completely different motives. Having such ships for the prestige of the country in the first half of the twentieth century meant about the same as having nuclear weapons now.

The Second World War marked the decline of battleships, as new weapons were established at sea, the range of which was an order of magnitude greater than the longest-range guns of battleships - aviation, deck and coastal. At the final stage of the war, the functions of battleships were reduced to artillery bombardment of the coasts and protection of aircraft carriers. The world's largest battleships, the Japanese Yamato and Musashi, were sunk by aircraft without ever meeting with similar enemy ships. In addition, it turned out that battleships are very vulnerable to attacks by submarines and aircraft.

Performance characteristics of the best examples of battleships

Iowa-class battleships are considered the most advanced ships in the history of shipbuilding. It was during their creation that designers and engineers managed to achieve the maximum harmonious combination of all the main combat characteristics: weapons, speed and protection. They put an end to the development of the evolution of battleships. They can be considered an ideal project.

The rate of fire of the battleship's guns was two rounds per minute, and independent fire was ensured for each gun in the turret. Of her contemporaries, only the Japanese superbattleships Yamato had a heavier main gun salvo weight. Firing accuracy was ensured by the artillery fire control radar, which gave an advantage over Japanese ships without radar installations.

The battleship had an air target detection radar and two surface target detection radars. The altitude range when firing at aircraft reached 11 kilometers with a stated rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute, and control was carried out using radar. The ship was equipped with a set of automatic friend-foe identification equipment, as well as radio reconnaissance and radio countermeasures systems.

The performance characteristics of the main types of battleships and battleships by country are presented below.

Defeat in the First World War seemed to have finally eliminated Germany from the list of contenders for naval dominance. According to the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans were allowed to operate ships with a displacement of up to 10 thousand tons with guns with a caliber of no more than 11 inches. Therefore, they had to say goodbye to the hope of preserving even their very first dreadnoughts and be content only with hopelessly outdated battleships such as Deutschland and Braunschweig. When the opportunity arose to replace the latter with ships of new projects (and this was allowed to be done no earlier than after 20 years of their being in service), it was these “Versailles” restrictions that led to the appearance of “capital” ships of the “Deutschland” type, unusual in all respects.

When creating it, the Germans proceeded from the fact that the new ship would primarily be used on enemy communications as a raider. The successful actions of the Emden and Königsberg against British shipping in 1914 clearly showed that the weak armament of light cruisers leaves them no chance when a more serious enemy appears. Therefore, the Deutschland must be stronger than any enemy heavy cruiser and at the same time faster than any battleship. This idea, frankly speaking, is not new, but attempts to implement it previously rarely led to the desired result. And only the Germans managed to finally realize it in metal as closely as possible to the plan. The Deutschlands, with a very limited displacement, received powerful weapons, decent (by cruising standards) protection and an enormous cruising range. In the German Navy, the new ships were officially classified as armadillos (panzerschiffe), essentially heavy cruisers, but due to the overly powerful main-caliber artillery they remained in the history of world shipbuilding as “pocket battleships.”

Indeed, the Deutschland's armament - two three-gun 11-inch turrets and another 8 six-inch guns as a medium caliber - looked quite "battleship-like". The new 283 mm gun (the Germans officially called it “28 cm”, and therefore in the literature it is often listed as 280 mm) - with a barrel length of 52 calibers and an elevation angle of 40, could fire 300 kg shells at a range of 42.5 km. “Squeezing” such artillery into cruising dimensions was made possible, firstly, by the comprehensive lightening of the hull due to the widespread introduction of electric welding and, secondly, by the use of fundamentally new engines - four twin diesel units with hydraulic transmission. As a result, the project left room for both an armor belt 60-80 mm thick and anti-torpedo protection about 4.5 m wide (including bulges), ending with a 40 mm longitudinal bulkhead.

The entry into service of the lead “pocket battleship” coincided with Hitler’s rise to power and resulted in a noisy propaganda campaign designed to convince the average person that the revival of the German fleet began with the creation of the “best in the world” ships. In reality, these statements were far from the truth. For all their originality, the Deutschland and the Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee that followed it were far from superior to all Washington cruisers in terms of armor protection, and in speed they were inferior to all of them by an average of 4-5 knots. The seaworthiness of the “pocket battleships” initially turned out to be unimportant, which is why they had to urgently redo the bow of the hull. To top it all off, it should be noted that their actual standard displacement exceeded the declared one (10 thousand tons) by 17-25%, and the total displacement on the Admiral Graf Spee generally reached 16,020 tons!

The obvious limited capabilities of “pocket battleships” in the light of the new naval doctrine declared by Hitler forced the abandonment of the construction of three more ships of the same type in favor of full-fledged battleships. In June 1935, an agreement was concluded in London allowing Germany to have a fleet that was 35% of the British one. Having won a diplomatic victory, the Germans could now build battleships quite legally.

The creation of the ships was under the personal control of the Fuhrer. It is he who is considered to be the author of the new role assigned to the armored giants of the Kriegsmarine in the brewing war. The fact is that, being unable to compete with the British fleet in a general battle, the Nazis intended to use their battleships as ocean raiders. It was in the actions of powerful ships against transport shipping that Hitler saw the opportunity to bring the “mistress of the seas” to her knees.

Based on the totality of their parameters, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are often (and quite rightly) called battlecruisers. However, their continuity with their outstanding ancestors - "Derflinger" and "Makensen" - is very conditional. The Scharnhorst project largely traces its origins to “pocket battleships.” The only thing that the designers borrowed from the Kaiser's battlecruisers was the armor scheme. Otherwise, the Scharnhorst is simply a Deutschland grown to normal size with a third 283 mm turret and a steam turbine unit.

The Scharnhorst's armor protection design was old-fashioned, but at the same time very powerful. A vertical belt of 350 mm cemented armor was attached externally and could withstand 1016 kg 406 mm projectiles at ranges of more than 11 km. Above there was an additional 45 mm belt. There were two armored decks: 50 mm upper and 80 mm (95 mm above the cellars) lower with 105 mm bevels. The total weight of the armor reached a record value - 44% of the normal displacement! The anti-torpedo protection had an average width of 5.4 m on each side and was separated from the hull by an inclined 45 mm bulkhead.

The 283-mm guns of the SKC-34 model were slightly improved compared to the previous SKC-28 model: the barrel length increased to 54.5 calibers, which allowed the heavier 330-kg projectile to provide the same firing range - 42.5 km. True, Hitler was dissatisfied: he considered the German ships of the First World War to be clearly under-armed and demanded that 380-mm guns be installed on the Scharnhorst. Only his reluctance to delay the entry of battleships into service for a long time (and new weapons would delay their readiness for at least a year) forced him to compromise, postponing the rearmament of the ships until their future modernizations.

The mixed deployment of medium artillery in two-gun turrets and deck-mounted shield installations looks very strange. But this fact can be explained very easily: the latter had already been ordered for the failed 4th and 5th “pocket battleships”, and the Scharnhorst designers simply “disposed of” them.

Already during the construction of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, it became clear that the international community's attempts to limit the naval arms race had failed. The leading naval powers immediately began designing super-battleships, and the Germans, naturally, did not stand aside.

In June 1936, the Bismarck and Tirpitz, the largest warships ever built in Germany, were laid down at the shipyards of Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven. Although it was officially stated that the displacement of the new battleships was 35 thousand tons, in reality this value was almost one and a half times higher!

Structurally, the Bismarck was largely the same as the Scharnhorst, but was fundamentally different primarily in its main caliber artillery. A 380-mm cannon with a barrel length of 52 calibers could fire 800-kg projectiles with an initial speed of 820 m/s. True, by reducing the maximum elevation angle to 30, the firing range compared to the 11-inch gun decreased to 35.5 km. However, this value was considered excessive, since fighting at such distances then seemed impossible.

The armor differed from the Scharnhorst mainly in the increase in the height of the main belt and the thickening of the upper belt to 145 mm. The deck armor, as well as the width of the torpedo protection, remained the same. Approximately the same can be said about the power plant (12 Wagner boilers and 3 four-case turbo-gear units). The relative weight of the armor has decreased slightly (up to 40% of the displacement), but this cannot be called a disadvantage, since the ratio between protection and weapons has become more balanced.

But even such giants as Bismarck and Tirpitz could not satisfy the growing ambitions of the Fuhrer. At the beginning of 1939, he approved the design of an "N" type battleship with a total displacement of over 62 thousand tons, armed with eight 406 mm guns. In total it was supposed to have 6 such ships; two of them were laid in July-August. However, the outbreak of war thwarted the Nazi plans. Programs for the construction of surface ships had to be curtailed, and in September 1939, Hitler could oppose 22 British and French battleships and battlecruisers with only the “11-inch” Scharnhorst and Gneisenau (“pocket battleships” do not count). The Germans had to rely only on new raider tactics.

The first joint corsair operation, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, was carried out in November 1939. The result was the sinking of the English auxiliary cruiser Rawalpindi, a former passenger liner armed with old guns. The success was, to put it mildly, modest, although Goebbels’s propaganda inflated this unequal duel to the scale of a major naval victory, and in the “Library of German Youth” series they even published a separate book called “The End of Rawalpindi.”

In April 1940, both sisterships provided cover for the German invasion of Norway and for the first time entered into battle with a worthy opponent - the battle cruiser Rhinaun. The duel took place in poor visibility conditions and lasted intermittently for more than two hours. The Gneisenau scored two hits on the British, but also received two 381-mm shells, one of which silenced the rear turret. The Scharnhorst was not hit, but its bow turret was also disabled due to damage caused by the storm.

Soon another battle took place in Norwegian waters, which received a huge response in navies around the world. On June 8, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau stumbled upon the British aircraft carrier Glories, which was escorted by the destroyers Ardent and Ekasta. Using radar, the Germans opened fire from a range of 25 km and quickly scored hits that damaged the flight deck and prevented the planes from taking off. The Glories caught fire, capsized and sank. Trying to save the aircraft carrier, the destroyers bravely rushed into a suicidal attack. Both were shot, but still one torpedo from the Ekasta hit the Scharnhorst. The battleship took on more than 2500 tons of water and received a list of 5 to starboard; two artillery turrets - a rear 283 mm and one 150 mm - were out of action; the speed decreased sharply. All this somewhat blurred the undoubted success of the operation.

The results of the first battle between battleships and an aircraft carrier inspired admirals with conservative views on naval warfare, but, alas, not for long. Very soon it became clear that the shooting of "Glories" was just a tragic coincidence, an exception to the rule...

The finest hour of "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" was their joint "ocean voyage" in January - March 1941. During two months of piracy in the Atlantic, they captured and sank 22 allied ships with a total tonnage of over 115 thousand tons and returned to Brest with impunity.

But then fortune turned away from the Germans. While in French ports, the battleships began to come under massive air attacks. It was barely possible to complete the repair of some damage before the British bombs caused new ones. I had to carry my feet away. The breakthrough across the English Channel into Germany in February 1942 was the last joint operation of Hitler's super-raiders.

On the night of February 27, the Gneisenau, which had just arrived in Kiel, was hit by a British 454-kg armor-piercing bomb in the area of ​​the first tower. The explosion caused enormous destruction and fire (230 main-caliber powder charges ignited at once). 112 sailors were killed and 21 wounded. The battleship was towed to Gotenhafen (Gdynia) for repairs. During the latter, by the way, it was planned to replace the main artillery with six 380-mm guns. Alas, these plans remained on paper. In January 1943, all work was stopped, and on March 27, 1945, the skeleton of the Gneisenau was flooded in order to block the entrance fairway.

"Scharnhorst" after lengthy repairs (it was blown up by two mines during the English Channel breakthrough) moved to Norway, where it then mainly defended itself in the fjords. On December 26, 1943, under the flag of Admiral Erich Bey, while attempting to attack the allied convoy JW-55B, it was intercepted by British cruisers. The very first hit from the cruiser Norfolk disabled the German radar, which led to fatal consequences in the conditions of the polar night. Soon the battleship Duke of York joined the cruisers, and the Scharnhorst's position became hopeless. After stubborn resistance, the raider, crippled by heavy shells, was finished off by torpedoes from British destroyers. The British picked up 36 people from the water - the remaining 1,932 crew members of the fascist battleship died.

"Bismarck" and "Tirpitz" entered service with the Kriegsmarine during the war. The first combat campaign for the lead ship turned out to be the last. The beginning of the operation, it would seem, was going well: the unexpected death of the Hood in the eighth minute of the battle on May 24, 1941 plunged the British admirals into shock. However, the Bismarck also received a fatal hit from a 356-mm shell that dove under the armor belt. The ship took on about 2 thousand tons of water, two steam boilers failed, and the speed decreased by 3 knots. What happens next is well known. Three days later, the fascist battleship sank. Of the 2092 people on board, 115 were saved. Among the dead was Admiral Lutyens, the former hero of the Atlantic raid of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

After the death of the sistership, the Germans used the Tirpitz extremely carefully. As a matter of fact, he also had only one military operation to his name - an almost fruitless campaign to Spitsbergen in September 1942. The rest of the time, the super-battleship hid in the Norwegian fjords and was methodically “beaten up” by British aircraft. In addition, on September 11, 1943, it received a severe blow from under the water: the British midget submarines X-6 and X-7 detonated 4 two-ton mines under its bottom. The last Nazi battleship never had the chance to go to sea under its own power:

It should be noted that in maritime historical literature, Bismarck and Tirpitz are often called almost the most powerful battleships in the world. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, this is what Nazi propaganda said. Secondly, the British played along with it in order to justify the not always successful actions of their many times superior fleet. Thirdly, the rating of Bismarck was greatly increased by the generally accidental death of Hood. But in reality, compared to their counterparts, the German super-battleships did not stand out for the better. In terms of armor, armament and torpedo protection, they were inferior to the Richelieu, Littorio, and South Dakota, not to mention the Yamato. The weak points of the “Germans” were capricious energy, the “non-versatility” of 150-mm artillery, and imperfect radar equipment.

As for Scharnhorst, it is usually criticized, which again is not entirely fair. Although it had the same shortcomings as the Bismarck (to which was initially added poor seaworthiness, which forced the reconstruction of the bow of the hull), thanks to its smaller size, in accordance with the cost-effectiveness criterion, it deserves a good rating. In addition, we must take into account that this was the second project in the world (after Dunkirk) to implement a high-speed battleship project, ahead of its more powerful “class brothers” in time. And if the Scharnhorst could be rearmed with six 380-mm guns, then it could generally be considered a very successful battlecruiser, superior to the British Repulse in almost all respects.