The first battleship in the world. Battleship Iowa

The authorship of a new leap in the development of large artillery ships is attributed to English admiral Fischer. Back in 1899, while commanding the Mediterranean squadron, he noted that firing with the main caliber could be carried out at much longer distance, if you go by the splashes from falling shells. However, it was necessary to unify all artillery in order to avoid confusion in determining the bursts of main-caliber and medium-caliber artillery shells. Thus was born the concept of all-big-guns (only big guns), which formed the basis of a new type of ship. The effective firing range increased from 10-15 to 90-120 cables.

Other innovations that formed the basis of the new type of ship were centralized fire control from a single ship-wide post and the spread of electric drives, which speeded up the targeting of heavy guns. The guns themselves have also changed seriously, due to the transition to smokeless powder and new high-strength steels. Now only the lead ship could carry out zeroing, and those following in its wake were guided by the splashes of its shells. Thus, the construction in wake columns again allowed in Russia in 1907 to return the term battleship. In the USA, England and France, the term “battleship” was not revived, and new ships began to be called “battleship” or “cuirass?” In Russia, “battleship” remained the official term, but in practice the abbreviation battleship.

The Russo-Japanese War finally established superiority in speed and long-range artillery as the main advantages in naval battle. Discussions about a new type of ship took place in all countries, in Italy Vittorio Cuniberti came up with the idea of ​​a new battleship, and in the USA the construction of ships of the Michigan type was planned, but the British managed to get ahead of everyone due to industrial superiority.

The first such ship was the English Dreadnought, whose name became a household name for all ships of this class. The ship was built in record time, entering sea trials on September 2, 1906, a year and one day after being laid down. A battleship with a displacement of 22,500 tons, thanks to a new type of power plant with a steam turbine, used for the first time on such a large ship, could reach speeds of up to 22 knots. The Dreadnought was equipped with 10 guns of 305 mm caliber (due to the haste, the two-gun turrets of the completed squadron battleships laid down in 1904 were taken), the second caliber was anti-mine - 24 guns of 76 mm caliber; There was no medium-caliber artillery.

The appearance of the Dreadnought made all other large armored ships obsolete. This played into the hands of Germany, which began building a large navy, because now it could immediately begin building new ships.

In Russia after Battle of Tsushima carefully studied the shipbuilding experience of other countries and immediately drew attention to a new type of ship. However, according to one point of view, the low level of the shipbuilding industry, and according to another, an incorrect assessment of the experience of the Russo-Japanese War (the requirement for the maximum possible booking area) led to the fact that new Gangut-class battleships received an insufficient level of protection that did not provide the required freedom of maneuver under fire from 11-12 inch guns. However, on subsequent ships of the Black Sea series this drawback was eliminated.

Superdreadnoughts. "All or nothing"

The British did not stop there and, in response to the massive construction of dreadnoughts, responded with ships of the Orion type, armed with 343 mm artillery and twice the weight of the onboard salvo of the previous dreadnoughts, for which they were nicknamed “super-dreadnoughts” and marked the beginning of a race in the calibers of the main artillery - 343 mm, 356 mm, during the First World War, ships of the Queen Elizabeth class were built, equipped with eight 381 mm guns and setting the standard for the strength of new battleships.

Another important milestone in the evolution of battleships there were American ships. After a series of ships with 12-inch guns, a pair of New York-class battleships with ten 14-inch guns in 2-gun turrets were built, followed by the Nevada class, the evolution of which led to the creation of a whole series of ships of the so-called. n. "standard type" with a dozen 14-inch guns in 4-end turrets, which formed the backbone of the American navy. They were characterized by a new type of armoring scheme, based on the “all or nothing” principle, when the main systems of the ship were covered with armor of the maximum possible thickness with the expectation that at long combat distances only direct hits from heavy armor-piercing shells could cause damage to the ship. Unlike the previous “English” reservation system for squadron battleships, on super-dreadnoughts the armored traverses were connected to the side belt and armored deck, forming one large unsinkable compartment (English: “raft body”). The last ships of this direction belonged to the "West Virginia" class, had a displacement of 35 thousand tons, 8 16-inch (406 mm) guns (projectile weight 1018 kg) in 4 towers and were completed after the First World War, becoming the crown development of “super-dreadnoughts”.

Battlecruisers. “Another incarnation of a battleship”

The high role of the speed of new Japanese battleships in the defeat of the Russian squadron at Tsushima forced to reverse the most close attention on this factor. The new battleships not only received a new type of power plant - a steam turbine (and later also oil heating of the boilers, which made it possible to increase thrust and eliminate stokers) - but also relatives of a new, albeit closely related type - battlecruisers. The new ships were initially intended for reconnaissance in force and pursuit of heavy enemy ships, as well as combat with cruisers, but for a higher speed - up to 32 knots - they had to pay a considerable price: due to weakened protection, the new ships could not fight with their contemporary battleships . When progress in the field of power plants made it possible to combine high speed with powerful weapons and good protection, battlecruisers became a thing of history.

World War I

During the First World War, the German "Hochseeflotte" - High Seas Fleet and the English "Grand Fleet" held most time at their bases, since strategic importance the ships seemed too large to risk in battle. The only thing in this war combat clash battleship fleets (Battle of Jutland) took place on May 31, 1916. German fleet intended to lure the English fleet out of the bases and break it up piece by piece, but the British, having guessed the plan, took their entire fleet out to sea. Faced with superior forces, the Germans were forced to retreat, escaping traps several times and losing several of their ships (11 to 14 British). However, after this, until the very end of the war, the High Seas Fleet was forced to remain off the coast of Germany.

In total, during the war, not a single battleship sank from artillery fire alone; only three British battlecruisers were lost due to weak defenses during the Battle of Jutland. The main damage (22 dead ships) to the battleships was caused by minefields and submarine torpedoes, anticipating the future importance of the submarine fleet.

Russian battleships did not participate in naval battles - in the Baltic they stood in harbors, bound by the threat of mines and torpedoes, and in the Black Sea they had no worthy rivals, and their role was reduced to artillery bombing. The battleship "Empress Maria" was lost in 1916 from an explosion of ammunition in the harbor of Sevastopol for an unknown reason.

Washington Maritime Agreement

The First World War did not put an end to the naval arms race, because European powers replaced largest fleets America and Japan, which practically did not participate in the war, stood up. After the construction of the newest super-dreadnoughts of the Ise class, the Japanese finally believed in the capabilities of their shipbuilding industry and began to prepare their fleet to establish dominance in the region. A reflection of these aspirations was the ambitious “8+8” program, which provided for the construction of 8 new battleships and 8 equally powerful battlecruisers, with 410 mm and 460 mm guns. The first pair of ships of the Nagato class had already launched, two battlecruisers (with 5×2×410 mm) were on the stocks when the Americans, concerned about this, adopted a response program for the construction of 10 new battleships and 6 battlecruisers, not counting smaller ships. England, devastated by the war, also did not want to lag behind and planned the construction of ships of the Nelson type, although it could no longer maintain the “double standard”. However, such a burden on the budgets of world powers was extremely undesirable in the post-war situation, and everyone was ready to make concessions in order to maintain the existing situation.

On February 6, 1922, the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan concluded Washington Agreement on the Limitation of Naval Arms. The countries that signed the agreement retained the most modern ships at the time of signing (Japan managed to defend the Mutsu, which was actually being completed at the time of signing, while maintaining the 410 mm main caliber guns that slightly exceeded the agreements), only England could build three ships with 406 mm main caliber guns ( since, unlike Japan and the USA, there were no such ships), those under construction, including 18" and 460 mm guns, were not completed as artillery ships (mostly converted into aircraft carriers). The standard displacement of any new warship was limited 35,560 tons, the maximum caliber of guns was not to exceed 356 mm (later increased, first to 381 mm, and then, after Japan refused to renew the agreement, to 406 mm with an increase in displacement to 45,000 tons). participants were limited to the total displacement of all warships (533,000 tons for the USA and Great Britain, 320,000 tons for Japan and 178,000 tons for Italy and France).

When concluding the agreement, England was guided by the characteristics of its Queen Elizabeth-class ships, which, with their R-class brethren, formed the basis of the English fleet. In America, they proceeded from the data of the latest ships of the “standard type” of the West Virginia series. The most powerful ships of the Japanese fleet were the closely related high-speed battleships of the Nagato class.

The agreement established a “naval holiday” for a period of 10 years, when no large ships were laid down, an exception was made only for two English battleships of the Nelson class, which thus became the only ships, built with all restrictions. To do this, we had to radically rework the project, placing all three turrets in the bow of the hull and sacrificing half of the power plant.

Japan considered itself the most deprived side (although in the production of 460 mm guns they lagged significantly behind the ready-made and tested 18" barrels of Britain and the USA - the latter’s refusal to use them on new ships benefited the land of the rising sun), which was allocated a displacement limit of 3: 5 in favor of England or the USA (which, however, they eventually managed to revise to 3:4), according to the views of that time, did not allow them to counteract the offensive actions of the latter.

In addition, the Japanese were forced to stop building already laid down cruisers and battleships new program. However, in an effort to use the hulls, they converted them into aircraft carriers of unprecedented power. The Americans did the same. Later, these ships will have their say.

Battleships of the 30s. a swan song

The agreement lasted until 1936, and the British tried to convince everyone to limit the size of new ships to 26 thousand tons of displacement and 305 mm main caliber. However, only the French agreed to this when building a pair of small battleships of the Dunkirk type, designed to counter the German pocket battleships of the Deutschland type, as well as the Germans themselves, who sought to somehow get out of the scope of the Treaty of Versailles, and agreed to such restrictions during the construction of ships of the Scharnhorst type, however, without keeping promises regarding displacement. After 1936, the naval arms race resumed, although the ships were still technically subject to the restrictions of the Washington Agreement. In 1940, already during the war, it was decided to raise the displacement limit to 45 thousand tons, although such a decision no longer played any role.

The ships became so expensive that the decision to build them became purely political and was often lobbied by industrial circles in order to secure orders for heavy industry. The political leadership agreed with the construction of such ships, hoping to provide employment for workers in the shipbuilding and other industries during the Great Depression and subsequent economic recovery. In Germany and the USSR, considerations of prestige and propaganda also played a role when deciding to build battleships.

The military was in no hurry to abandon proven solutions and rely on aviation and submarines, believing that the use the latest achievements technology will allow new high-speed battleships to successfully perform their tasks in new conditions. The most noticeable innovations on the battleships were the gear units introduced on the Nelson-class ships, which allowed the propellers to operate in the most favorable modes and made it possible to increase the power of one unit to 40-70 thousand hp. This made it possible to increase the speed of the new battleships to 27-30 knots and merge them with the class of battlecruisers.

To counter the ever-increasing underwater threat on ships, the size of anti-torpedo protection zones was increasingly increasing. To protect against shells coming from afar, therefore, at a high angle, as well as from aerial bombs, the thickness of the armored decks was increasingly increased (up to 160-200mm), which received a spaced design. The widespread use of electric welding made it possible to make the structure not only more durable, but also provided significant savings in weight. Mine-caliber artillery moved from the side sponsons to the towers, where it had large firing angles. The number of anti-aircraft artillery, which received separate guidance posts, was constantly increasing.

All ships were equipped with onboard reconnaissance seaplanes with catapults, and in the second half of the 1930s the British began installing the first radars on their ships.

The military also had at its disposal many ships from the end of the “super-dreadnought” era, which were being modernized to meet new requirements. They received new machine installations to replace the old ones, more powerful and compact. However, their speed did not increase, and often even fell, due to the fact that the ships received large side attachments in the underwater part - boules - designed to improve resistance to underwater explosions. The main caliber turrets received new, enlarged embrasures, which made it possible to increase the firing range; thus, the firing range of the 15-inch guns of the Queen Elizabeth class ships increased from 116 to 160 cables.

In Japan, under the influence of Admiral Yamamoto, in the fight against their main supposed enemy - the United States - they relied on general battle all naval forces, due to the impossibility of a long-term confrontation with the United States. the main role at the same time, it was allocated to new battleships, which were supposed to replace the unbuilt ships of the 8+8 program. Moreover, back in the late 20s, it was decided that within the framework of the Washington Agreement it would not be possible to create sufficiently powerful ships that would be superior to American ones. Therefore, the Japanese decided to ignore the restrictions, building ships of the highest possible power, called the Yamato class. The world's largest ships (64 thousand tons) were equipped with record-breaking 460 mm caliber guns that fired shells weighing 1,460 kg. The thickness of the side belt reached 410 mm, however, the value of the armor was reduced by its lower quality compared to European and American [ source not specified 126 days] . The huge size and cost of the ships led to the fact that only two were able to be completed - Yamato and Musashi.

In Europe, over the next few years, ships such as the Bismarck (Germany, 2 units), Prince of Wales (Great Britain, 5 units), Littorio (Italy, 3 units), Richelieu (France, 2 units) were laid down units). Formally, they were bound by the restrictions of the Washington Agreement, but in reality all the ships exceeded the treaty limit (38-42 thousand tons), especially the German ones. The French ships were actually an enlarged version of the small battleships of the Dunkirk type and were of interest in that they had only two turrets, both at the bow of the ship, thus losing the ability to fire directly at the stern. But the turrets were 4-gun, and the dead angle in the stern was quite small.

In the United States, when building new ships, a maximum width requirement was imposed - 32.8 m - so that the ships could pass through the Panama Canal, which was owned by the United States. If for the first ships of the “North Caroline” and “South Dakota” type this did not yet play a big role, then for the last ships of the “Iowa” type, which had an increased displacement, it was necessary to use elongated, pear-shaped hull shapes. American ships were also distinguished by super-powerful 406 mm caliber guns with shells weighing 1225 kg, which is why the six ships of the first two series had to sacrifice side armor (310 mm) and speed (27 knots). On four ships of the third series (“Iowa type”, due to the larger displacement, the shortcomings were partially corrected: armor 330 mm (although officially, for the purposes of the propaganda campaign, 457 mm was announced), speed 33 knots.

IN The USSR began construction of battleships of the "Soviet Union" type (project 23). Not being bound by the Washington Agreement, the Soviet Union had complete freedom in choosing the parameters of new ships, but was bound by the low level of its own shipbuilding industry. Because of this, the ships in the project turned out to be significantly larger than their comparable Western counterparts, and the power plant had to be ordered from Switzerland. But overall, the ships were supposed to be some of the strongest in the world. It was planned to build even 15 ships, however, this was more of a propaganda campaign; only four were laid down. J.V. Stalin was a big fan of large ships, and therefore construction was carried out under his personal control. However, since 1940, when it became finally clear that the upcoming war would not be against the Anglo-Saxon (sea) powers, but against Germany (that is, predominantly land), the pace of construction decreased sharply. However, by the beginning of the war, costs for battleships Project 23 exceeded 600 million rubles. (plus at least 70-80 million rubles were spent on R&D in 1936-1939 alone). After June 22, 1941, in accordance with regulations State Committee Defense (GKO) of July 8, 10 and 19, all work on the creation of battleships and heavy cruisers was suspended, and their hulls were mothballed. It is interesting to note that in the version of the 1941 plan drawn up by N. G. Kuznetsov (in 1940) in case of the outbreak of war, it was envisaged to “completely stop the construction of battleships and cruisers in all theaters except the White Sea, where the completion of one LC will be left for development building heavy ships of the future." At the time of construction cessation, the technical readiness of ships in Leningrad, Nikolaev and Molotovsk was 21.19%, 17.5% and 5.04%, respectively (according to other sources - 5.28%), the readiness of the very first “Soviet Union” exceeded 30% .

The Second World War. Decline of battleships

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. Classic artillery duels are a thing of the past, and most of the battleships did not die from artillery fire, but from air and underwater actions. The only case of an aircraft carrier being sunk by a battleship was most likely caused by errors in the actions of the latter’s command.

So, when trying to break through North Atlantic To carry out the raider operation, the German battleship Bismarck entered into battle on May 24, 1941 with the English battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Hood and severely damaged the first and also sank the second of them. However, already on May 26, returning with damage from an interrupted operation to the French Brest, it was attacked by deck-based torpedo bombers "Swordfish" from the aircraft carrier "Ark Royal", as a result of two torpedo hits, it reduced its speed and the next day it was overtaken and sunk by English battleships " Rodney" and "King George V" (King George Fife) and several cruisers after an 88-minute battle.

December 7, 1941 Japanese planes from six aircraft carriers attacked the base of the American Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, sinking 4 and heavily damaging another 4 battleships, as well as several other ships. On December 10, Japanese coastal aircraft sunk the English battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Repulse. Battleships began to be armed with an increasing number of anti-aircraft guns, but this was of little help against the growing strength of aviation. The best defense against enemy aircraft was the presence of an aircraft carrier, which thus acquired a leading role in naval warfare.

English battleships of the Queen Elizabeth class, operating in the Mediterranean Sea, became victims German submarines and Italian underwater saboteurs.

Their rivals, the newest Italian ships "Littorio" and "Vittorio Venetto", met them only once in battle, limiting themselves to a firefight at long distances and did not dare to pursue their rather outdated opponents. All fighting boiled down to battles with British cruisers and aircraft. In 1943, after the capitulation of Italy, they went to Malta to surrender to the British, along with the third, who did not fight, “Roma”. The Germans, who had not forgiven them for this, attacked the squadron, and Roma was sunk the latest weapons- radio-controlled bomb X-1; Other ships were also damaged by these bombs.

At the final stage of the war, the functions of battleships were reduced to artillery bombardment of coasts and protection of aircraft carriers. The world's largest battleships, the Japanese Yamato and Musashi, were sunk by aircraft without ever engaging in battle with the American ships.

However, battleships still continued to be a serious political factor. The concentration of German heavy ships in the Norwegian Sea gave British Prime Minister Winston Churchill a reason to withdraw British warships from the region, which led to the defeat of the PQ-17 convoy and the Allies’ refusal to send new cargo. Although at the same time the German battleship Tirpitz, which so frightened the British, was recalled by the Germans, who saw no point in taking risks by large ship during successful operations of submarines and aircraft. Hidden in Norwegian fjords and protected by ground-based anti-aircraft guns, it was significantly damaged by British submarine mini-boats, and was later sunk by super-heavy Tallboy bombs from British bombers.

Operating together with the Tirpitz, the Scharnhorst in 1943 met with the English battleship Duke of York, the heavy cruiser Norfolk, the light cruiser Jamaica and destroyers and was sunk. During the breakthrough from Brest to Norway across the English Channel (Operation Cerberus), the same type of "Gneisenau" was heavily damaged by British aircraft (partial explosion of ammunition) and was not repaired until the end of the war.

Last in naval history The battle directly between the battleships took place on the night of October 25, 1944 in the Surigao Strait, when 6 American battleships attacked and sank the Japanese Fuso and Yamashiro. The American battleships anchored across the strait and fired broadsides with all main-caliber guns according to the radar bearing. The Japanese, who did not have ship radars, could only fire from the bow guns almost at random, focusing on the flashes of the muzzle flame of American guns.

Under changing circumstances, projects to build even larger battleships (the American Montana and the Japanese Super Yamato) were cancelled. The last battleship to enter service was the British Vanguard (1946), laid down before the war, but completed only after its end.

The impasse in the development of battleships was shown by the German projects H42 and H44, according to which a ship with a displacement of 120-140 thousand tons was supposed to have artillery with a caliber of 508 mm and deck armor of 330 mm. The deck, which had a much larger area than the armored belt, could not be protected against aerial bombs without excessive weight; the decks of existing battleships were pierced by bombs of 500 and even 250 kg caliber.

After World War II

Following the results of the Second World War, due to the emergence of carrier-based and coastal aviation, as well as submarines, battleships as a type of warship were considered obsolete. Only in the Soviet Union was the development of new battleships going on for some time. The reasons for this are various: from Stalin’s personal ambitions, to the desire to have a reliable means of delivering nuclear weapons to the coastal cities of potential enemies (there were no ship-based missiles at that time, there were no aircraft carriers in the USSR, and large-caliber guns could have been a very real alternative to solving this problem). One way or another, not a single ship was even laid down in the USSR. The last battleships were withdrawn from service (in the USA) in the nineties of the 20th century.

After the war, most of the battleships were scrapped by 1960 - they were too expensive for war-weary economies and no longer had the same military value. Aircraft carriers and, a little later, nuclear submarines took on the role of the main carrier of nuclear weapons.

Only the United States used its latest battleships (New Jersey type) several more times for artillery support of ground operations (due to the relative, in comparison with airstrikes, cheapness of shelling the coast with heavy shells over areas). Before the Korean War, all four Iowa-class battleships were reintroduced into service. In Vietnam, "New Jersey" was used.

Under President Reagan, these ships were removed from reserve and returned to service. They were called upon to become the core of new strike naval groups, for which they were rearmed and became capable of carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles (8 4-charge containers) and Harpoon-type anti-ship missiles (32 missiles). "New Jersey" took part in the shelling of Lebanon in 1983 -1984, and "Missouri" and "Wisconsin" fired their main caliber at ground targets during the first Gulf War in 1991. Shelling of Iraqi positions and stationary objects with the main caliber of battleships during of equal efficiency turned out to be much cheaper than a rocket one. Also, well-protected and spacious battleships proved effective as headquarters ships. However, the high costs of re-equipping old battleships (300-500 million dollars each) and the high costs of their maintenance led to the fact that all four ships were withdrawn from service again in the nineties of the 20th century. The New Jersey was sent to the Camden Naval Museum, the Missouri became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, the Iowa was decommissioned and is permanently moored in Newport, and the Wisconsin is maintained in a "B" class mothball. at the Norfolk Maritime Museum. Nevertheless, combat service battleships can be resumed, since during conservation, legislators especially insisted on maintaining the combat readiness of at least two of the four battleships.

Although there are currently no battleships in combat strength fleets of the world, their ideological successor is called “arsenal ships”, carriers of a large number of cruise missiles, which should become a kind of floating missile depots located near the coast to launch missile strikes on it if necessary. There is talk about the creation of such ships in American maritime circles, but to date not a single such ship has been built.

• While Japan introduced a regime of extreme secrecy during the construction of Yamato and Musashi, trying in every possible way to hide the true combat qualities of its ships, the United States, on the contrary, carried out a campaign of disinformation, significantly increasing the security of its newest battleships Iowa. Instead of the actual 330 mm of the main belt, 457 mm were announced. Thus, the enemy was much more afraid of these ships and was forced to take the wrong path both in planning the use of their own battleships and in ordering weapons.

• Inflating the armor parameters of the first English battlecruisers of the Infinity Gable class in order to intimidate the Germans played a cruel joke on the British and their allies. Having real armor protection of 100-152 mm and main caliber turrets of 178 mm, on paper these ships had 203 mm of side protection and 254 mm of turret protection. Such armor was completely unsuitable against 11- and 12-inch German shells. But, partially believing in their own deception, the British tried to actively use their battle cruisers against the German dreadnoughts. In the Battle of Jutland, two battlecruisers of this type (Individual and Invincible) were sunk by literally the first hits. The shells penetrated the thin armor and caused the detonation of ammunition on both ships.

The overestimation of armor parameters deceived not only the German enemies, but also the Australian and New Zealand allies, who paid for the construction of the obviously unsuccessful ships of this type, Australia and New Zealand.

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 logical development 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 length), 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 were built latest generation: 10 - in the USA, 5 - in the UK, 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 a new weapon was 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 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.

battleship

SHIP OF THE BATTLE (battleship)

in the sailing navy 17 - 1st floor. 19th centuries a large three-masted warship with 2-3 decks; had from 60 to 130 guns and up to 800 crew. Intended for combat in the battle line (hence the name).

In the steam armored fleet, 1st half. 20th century one of the main classes of large surface ships. It had 70-150 guns of various calibers (including 8-12 280-457 mm) and 1500-2800 crew members. After World War II, battleships lost their importance.

Battleship

in the sailing navy of the 17th–1st half of the 19th centuries. a large three-masted warship with 2≈3 artillery decks; had from 60 to 135 guns, mounted along the sides in a line, and up to 800 crew members. He fought while in the wake column (battle line), which is why he got his name, which was passed on by tradition to the ships of the steam fleet.

In the steam armored fleet, one of the main classes of the largest artillery surface ships, designed to destroy ships of all classes in naval combat, as well as deliver powerful artillery strikes on coastal targets. Light ships appeared in many navies around the world after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 to replace battleships. At first they were called dreadnoughts. In Russia, the name of the class of L.K. was established in 1907. L.K. were used in World War I, 1914–18. By the beginning of the 2nd World War, 1939≈45 light ships had a standard displacement of 20 to 64 thousand tons, armament of up to 12 main-caliber turret guns (from 280 to 460 mm), up to 20 anti-mine, anti-aircraft or universal artillery guns caliber 100≈127 mm, up to 80≈140 anti-aircraft small-caliber automatic guns and heavy machine guns. The speed of the aircraft is ≈ 20≈35 knots (37≈64.8 km/h), wartime crew ≈ 1500≈2800 people. The side armor reached 440 mm, the weight of all the armor was up to 40% of the total weight of the ship. On board the aircraft there were 1-3 aircraft and a catapult for their take-off. During the war, due to the increasing role of naval, especially carrier-based aviation, as well as the submarine forces of the fleet and the death of many naval forces from attacks by aircraft and submarines, they lost their importance; After the war, almost all aircraft in all fleets were scrapped.

B. F. Balev.

Wikipedia

Ship of the line (disambiguation)

Battleship- the name of heavy artillery warships designed to fight in wake columns:

• A ship of the line is a sailing wooden warship with a displacement of 500 to 5500 tons, which had 2-3 rows of guns on its sides. Sailing battleships were not called battleships.
• The battleship is an armored artillery ship of the twentieth century with a displacement of 20 to 64 thousand tons.

Battleship

Battleship:

• in a broad sense, a ship intended for combat operations as part of a squadron;
• V traditional meaning(also abbreviated battleship), - a class of heavy armored artillery warships with a displacement from 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length from 150 to 280 m, with a main caliber gun of 280-460 mm, with a crew of 1500-2800 people.

Battleships were used in the 20th century to destroy enemy ships as part of a combat formation and provide artillery support for ground operations. They were an evolutionary development of armadillos in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Ship of the line (sailing)

Battleship- a class of sailing warships. Sailing battleships were characterized by the following features: a total displacement from 500 to 5500 tons, armament, including from 30-50 to 135 guns in the side ports (in 2-4 decks), the crew size ranged from 300 to 800 people when fully manned. Sailing battleships were built and used from the 17th century until the early 1860s for naval battles using linear tactics.

In 1907, a new class of armored artillery ships with a displacement from 20 thousand to 64 thousand tons was called battleships (abbreviated as battleships). Sailing battleships were not called battleships.

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 it was never possible to complete the super-battleships, interest in them is still great, especially in light of the emerging Lately fashion for alternative history. So what were the projects of the “Stalinist giants” and what preceded their appearance?

Lords of the Seas

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 a meeting convened in Washington international conference 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"

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

At first, the Red Fleet 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 business progressed with difficulty: the experience of creating large ships they were completely absent. 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 all its foreign counterparts far behind. Stalin, who had a weakness for giant ships, could be pleased.

First of all, we decided not to limit the displacement. The USSR was not bound by any international agreements, and therefore, already at the 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 shells more weight, 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 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

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” no longer appeared, but the number of “large” Project 23 increased from 8 to 15 units. True, none of the experts doubted that this number, as well as the previous plan, belonged to the realm of pure fantasy. After all, even the “mistress of the seas” Great Britain and 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 greatest degree The first two ships were ready, 21% and 17.5%, respectively. At the new plant in Molotovsk, things were much worse. Although in 1940, instead of two battleships, they decided to build one there, still by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War its readiness 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. More more problems was with the release of 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.

Attack Hitler's Germany canceled out plans to create a “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 building. 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 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?

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

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 the Kronstadt was stopped, and the 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

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 on the drawings for several years floating fortresses 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

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 a 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 for testing different types 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 this regard special place occupied by the shipbuilding policy of the then USSR. 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 believed 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 one class for another 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 that 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...

Battleship

Battleship(abbreviated from “battleship”) - a class of armored artillery warships with a displacement of 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length of 150 to 280 m, armed with main caliber guns from 280 to 460 mm, with a crew of 1500-2800 people. Battleships were used in the 20th century to destroy enemy ships as part of a combat formation and provide artillery support for ground operations. It was an evolutionary development of armadillos of the second half of the 19th century.

origin of name

Battleship is short for "ship of the line." This is how a new type of ship was named in Russia in 1907 in memory of the ancient wooden sailing ships of the line. It was initially assumed that the new ships would revive linear tactics, but this was soon abandoned.

The English analogue of this term - battleship (literally: warship) - also originated from sailing battleships. In 1794, the term "line-of-battle ship" was abbreviated as "battle ship". Later it was used in relation to any warship. Since the late 1880s, it has most often been applied unofficially to squadron ironclads. In 1892, the reclassification of the British Navy named the class of super-heavy ships with the word “battleship”, which included several particularly heavy squadron battleships.

But the real revolution in shipbuilding, which marked a truly new class of ships, was made by the construction of the Dreadnought, completed in 1906.

Dreadnoughts. "Big Guns Only"

The authorship of a new leap in the development of large artillery ships is attributed to the English Admiral Fisher. Back in 1899, while commanding the Mediterranean squadron, he noted that firing with the main caliber could be carried out over a much greater distance if one was guided by the splashes from falling shells. However, it was necessary to unify all artillery in order to avoid confusion in determining the bursts of main-caliber and medium-caliber artillery shells. Thus was born the concept of all-big-guns (only big guns), which formed the basis of a new type of ship. The effective firing range increased from 10-15 to 90-120 cables.

Other innovations that formed the basis of the new type of ship were centralized fire control from a single ship-wide post and the spread of electric drives, which speeded up the targeting of heavy guns. The guns themselves have also seriously changed, due to the transition to smokeless powder and new high-strength steels. Now only the lead ship could carry out zeroing, and those following in its wake were guided by the splashes of its shells. Thus, building in wake columns again made it possible in Russia in 1907 to return the term battleship. In the USA, England and France the term “battleship” was not revived, and new ships continued to be called “battleship” or “cuirassé”. In Russia, “battleship” remained the official term, but in practice the abbreviation battleship.

Battlecruiser Hood.

The naval public accepted the new class ships capital ambiguous, particular criticism was caused by weak and incomplete armor protection. However, the British Navy continued the development of this type, first building 3 Indifatiable-class cruisers. Indefatigable) - an improved version of the Invincible, and then moved on to building battlecruisers with 343 mm artillery. They were 3 Lion-class cruisers. Lion), as well as the “Tiger” built in a single copy (eng. Tiger) . These ships had already surpassed their contemporary battleships in size and were very fast, but their armor, although stronger in comparison with the Invincible, still did not meet the requirements of combat with a similarly armed enemy.

Already during the First World War, the British continued to build battlecruisers in accordance with the concept of Fisher, who returned to leadership - as much as possible possible speed in combination with the most powerful weapons, but with weak armor. As a result, the Royal Navy received 2 battlecruisers of the Renown class, as well as 2 light battlecruisers of the Coreyes class and 1 Furies class, and the latter began to be rebuilt into a semi-aircraft carrier even before commissioning. The last British battlecruiser to be commissioned was Hood, and its design was significantly changed after the Battle of Jutland, which was unsuccessful for British battlecruisers. The ship's armor was sharply strengthened, and it actually became a battleship-cruiser.

Battlecruiser Goeben.

German shipbuilders demonstrated a noticeably different approach to the design of battlecruisers. IN to a certain extent sacrificing seaworthiness, cruising range and even firepower, they paid very much great attention armor protection of their battlecruisers and ensuring their unsinkability. Already the first German battlecruiser "Von der Tann" (German. Von der Tann), inferior to the Invincible in the weight of the broadside, it was noticeably superior to its British counterparts in security.

Subsequently, developing a successful project, the Germans introduced battle cruisers of the Moltke type (German: Moltke) into their fleet. Moltke) (2 units) and their improved version - “Seydlitz” (German. Seydlitz). Then the German fleet was replenished with battlecruisers with 305 mm artillery, versus 280 mm on early ships. They became "Derflinger" (German. Derfflinger), "Lützow" (German. Lützow) and "Hindenburg" (German) Hindenburg) - according to experts, the most successful battlecruisers of the First World War.

Battlecruiser "Congo".

Already during the war, the Germans laid down 4 Mackensen-class battlecruisers (German. Mackensen) and 3 types "Ersatz York" (German. Ersatz York). The former carried 350-mm artillery, while the latter planned to install 380-mm guns. Both types were distinguished by powerful armor protection at a moderate speed, but none of the ships that were built entered service until the end of the war.

Japan and Russia also wished to have battlecruisers. In 1913-1915, the Japanese fleet received 4 units of the Kongo type (Japanese: 金剛) - powerfully armed, fast, but poorly protected. The Russian Imperial Navy built 4 units of the Izmail class, which were distinguished by very powerful weapons, decent speed and good protection, surpassing the Gangut class battleships in all respects. The first 3 ships were launched in 1915, but later, due to the difficulties of the war years, their construction slowed down sharply and was ultimately stopped.

World War I

During the First World War, the German "Hochseeflotte" - High Seas Fleet and the English "Grand Fleet" spent most of the time at their bases, since the strategic importance of the ships seemed too great to risk them in battle. The only military clash of battleship fleets in this war (the Battle of Jutland) took place on May 31, 1916. The German fleet intended to lure the English fleet out of its bases and smash it piece by piece, but the British, having figured out the plan, took their entire fleet out to sea. Faced with superior forces, the Germans were forced to retreat, escaping traps several times and losing several of their ships (11 to 14 British). However, after this, until the very end of the war, the High Seas Fleet was forced to remain off the coast of Germany.

In total, during the war, not a single battleship sank from artillery fire alone; only three British battlecruisers were lost due to weak defenses during the Battle of Jutland. The main damage (22 dead ships) to the battleships was caused by minefields and submarine torpedoes, anticipating the future importance of the submarine fleet.

Russian battleships did not participate in naval battles - in the Baltic they stood in harbors, bound by the threat of mines and torpedoes, and in the Black Sea they had no worthy rivals, and their role was reduced to artillery bombing. The exception is the battle between the battleship Empress Catherine the Great and the battle cruiser Goeben, during which the Goeben, having received damage from the fire of the Russian battleship, managed to maintain its advantage in speed and went into the Bosporus. The battleship "Empress Maria" was lost in 1916 from an explosion of ammunition in the harbor of Sevastopol for an unknown reason.

Washington Maritime Agreement

The First World War did not put an end to the naval arms race, because the European powers were replaced as the owners of the largest fleets by America and Japan, which practically did not participate in the war. After the construction of the newest super-dreadnoughts of the Ise class, the Japanese finally believed in the capabilities of their shipbuilding industry and began to prepare their fleet to establish dominance in the region. A reflection of these aspirations was the ambitious “8+8” program, which provided for the construction of 8 new battleships and 8 equally powerful battlecruisers, with 410 mm and 460 mm guns. The first pair of ships of the Nagato class had already launched, two battlecruisers (with 5x2x410 mm) were on the slipways, when the Americans, concerned about this, adopted a response program to build 10 new battleships and 6 battlecruisers, not counting smaller ships. England, devastated by the war, also did not want to lag behind and planned the construction of ships of the “G-3” and “N-3” types, although it could no longer maintain the “double standard”. However, such a burden on the budgets of world powers was extremely undesirable in the post-war situation, and everyone was ready to make concessions in order to maintain the existing situation.

To counter the ever-increasing underwater threat on ships, the size of anti-torpedo protection zones was increasingly increasing. To protect against shells coming from afar, therefore, at a high angle, as well as from aerial bombs, the thickness of the armored decks was increasingly increased (up to 160-200mm), which received a spaced design. The widespread use of electric welding made it possible to make the structure not only more durable, but also provided significant savings in weight. Mine-caliber artillery moved from the side sponsons to the towers, where it had large firing angles. The number of anti-aircraft artillery was constantly increasing, divided into large-caliber and small-caliber, to repel attacks at long and short distances, respectively. Large-caliber and then small-caliber artillery received separate guidance posts. The idea of ​​a universal caliber was tested, which was a rapid-firing large-caliber gun with large angles guidance suitable for repelling attacks by destroyers and high-altitude bombers.

All ships were equipped with onboard reconnaissance seaplanes with catapults, and in the second half of the 1930s the British began installing the first radars on their ships.

The military also had at its disposal many ships from the end of the “super-dreadnought” era, which were being modernized to meet new requirements. They received new machine installations to replace the old ones, more powerful and compact. However, their speed did not increase, and often even fell, due to the fact that the ships received large side attachments in the underwater part - boules - designed to improve resistance to underwater explosions. The main caliber turrets received new, enlarged embrasures, which made it possible to increase the firing range; thus, the firing range of the 15-inch guns of the Queen Elizabeth class ships increased from 116 to 160 cables.

In Japan, under the influence of Admiral Yamamoto, in the fight against their main supposed enemy - the United States - they relied on a general battle of all naval forces, due to the impossibility of a long-term confrontation with the United States. The main role was given to new battleships (although Yamamoto himself was against such ships), which were supposed to replace the unbuilt ships of the 8+8 program. Moreover, back in the late 20s, it was decided that within the framework of the Washington Agreement it would not be possible to create sufficiently powerful ships that would be superior to American ones. Therefore, the Japanese decided to ignore the restrictions, building ships of the highest possible power, called the "Yamato type". The world's largest ships (64 thousand tons) were equipped with record-breaking 460 mm caliber guns that fired shells weighing 1,460 kg. The thickness of the side belt reached 410 mm, however, the value of the armor was reduced by its lower quality compared to European and American ones. The huge size and cost of the ships led to the fact that only two were able to be completed - Yamato and Musashi.

Richelieu

In Europe, over the next few years, such ships as Bismarck (Germany, 2 units), King George V (Great Britain, 5 units), Littorio (Italy, 3 units), Richelieu (France, 3 units) were laid down. 2 pieces). Formally, they were bound by the restrictions of the Washington Agreement, but in reality all the ships exceeded the treaty limit (38-42 thousand tons), especially the German ones. The French ships were actually an enlarged version of the small battleships of the Dunkirk type and were of interest in that they had only two turrets, both at the bow of the ship, thus losing the ability to fire directly at the stern. But the turrets were 4-gun, and the dead angle in the stern was quite small. The ships were also interesting because of their strong anti-torpedo protection (up to 7 meters wide). Only the Yamato (up to 5 m, but the thick anti-torpedo bulkhead and large displacement of the battleship somewhat compensated for the relatively small width) and Littorio (up to 7.57 m, however, the original Pugliese system was used there) could compete with this indicator. The armor of these ships was considered one of the best among the 35-thousand-ton ships.

USS Massachusetts

In the United States, when building new ships, a maximum width requirement was imposed - 32.8 m - so that the ships could pass through the Panama Canal, which was owned by the United States. If for the first ships of the “North Caroline” and “South Dakota” type this did not yet play a big role, then for the last ships of the “Iowa” type, which had an increased displacement, it was necessary to use elongated, pear-shaped hull shapes. American ships were also distinguished by powerful 406 mm caliber guns with shells weighing 1225 kg, which is why all ten ships of the three new series had to sacrifice side armor (305 mm at an angle of 17 degrees on the North Caroline, 310 mm at an angle of 19 degrees -on the "South Dakota" and 307 mm at the same angle - on the "Iowa"), and on the six ships of the first two series - also at speed (27 knots). On four ships of the third series (“Iowa type”, due to the larger displacement, this drawback was partially corrected: the speed was increased (officially) to 33 knots, but the thickness of the belt was even reduced to 307 mm (although officially, for the purposes of the propaganda campaign, it was announced 457 mm), however, the thickness of the outer plating increased from 32 to 38 mm, but this did not play a significant role in the armament, the main caliber guns became 5 calibers longer (from 45 to 50 cal.).

Operating together with the Tirpitz, the Scharnhorst in 1943 met with the English battleship Duke of York, the heavy cruiser Norfolk, the light cruiser Jamaica and destroyers and was sunk. During the breakthrough from Brest to Norway across the English Channel (Operation Cerberus), the same type of "Gneisenau" was heavily damaged by British aircraft (partial explosion of ammunition) and was not repaired until the end of the war.

The last battle in naval history directly between battleships took place on the night of October 25, 1944 in the Surigao Strait, when 6 American battleships attacked and sank the Japanese Fuso and Yamashiro. The American battleships anchored across the strait and fired broadsides with all main-caliber guns according to the radar bearing. The Japanese, who did not have ship radars, could only fire from the bow guns almost at random, focusing on the flashes of the muzzle flame of American guns.

Under changed circumstances, projects to build even larger battleships (the American Montana and the Japanese Super Yamato) were cancelled. The last battleship to enter service was the British Vanguard (1946), laid down before the war, but completed only after its end.

The impasse in the development of battleships was shown by the German projects H42 and H44, according to which a ship with a displacement of 120-140 thousand tons was supposed to have artillery with a caliber of 508 mm and deck armor of 330 mm. The deck, which had a much larger area than the armored belt, could not be protected against aerial bombs without excessive weight, while the decks of existing battleships were penetrated by bombs of 500 and 1000 kg caliber.

After World War II

After the war, most of the battleships were scrapped by 1960 - they were too expensive for war-weary economies and no longer had the same military value. Aircraft carriers and, a little later, nuclear submarines took on the role of the main carrier of nuclear weapons.

Only the United States used its latest battleships (New Jersey type) several more times for artillery support of ground operations, due to the relative, compared to airstrikes, cheapness of shelling the coast with heavy shells over areas, as well as the extreme firepower of the ships (after upgrading the system loading, in an hour of firing, the Iowa could fire about a thousand tons of shells, which is still inaccessible to any aircraft carrier). Although it must be admitted that having a very small amount of explosives (70 kg for 862 kg high-explosive and only 18 kg for 1225 kg armor-piercing) explosive shells of American battleships are not in the best possible way were suitable for shelling the shore, but they never got around to developing a powerful high-explosive projectile. Before the Korean War, all four Iowa-class battleships were reintroduced into service. In Vietnam, "New Jersey" was used.

Under President Reagan, these ships were removed from reserve and returned to service. They were called upon to become the core of new strike naval groups, for which they were rearmed and became capable of carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles (8 4-charge containers) and Harpoon-type anti-ship missiles (32 missiles). "New Jersey" took part in the shelling of Lebanon in -1984, and "Missouri" and "Wisconsin" fired their main caliber at ground targets during the first Gulf War. Firing Iraqi positions and stationary objects with the main caliber of battleships with the same effectiveness turned out to be much cheaper than a rocket one. Also, well-protected and spacious battleships proved effective as headquarters ships. However, the high costs of re-equipping old battleships (300-500 million dollars each) and the high costs of their maintenance led to the fact that all four ships were again withdrawn from service in the nineties of the 20th century. The New Jersey was sent to the Camden Naval Museum, the Missouri became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, the Iowa is mothballed at the Reserve Fleet in Susan Bay, California, and the Wisconsin maintained in Class B conservation at Norfolk Maritime Museum. However, the combat service of the battleships can be resumed, since during mothballing, legislators especially insisted on maintaining combat readiness of at least two of the four battleships.

Although battleships are now absent from the operational composition of the world's navies, their ideological successor is called “arsenal ships”, carriers of a large number of cruise missiles, which should become a kind of floating missile depots located near the coast to launch missile strikes on it if necessary. There is talk about the creation of such ships in American maritime circles, but to date not a single such ship has been built.