High-speed battleships in the second world war and after it. The best battleships of World War II. Bismarck-class battleships Weapons of the Second World War battleships

Battleships are armored artillery warships that have a large displacement and good weapons. The battleships of the USSR were widely used in a variety of battles, as they easily cope with the destruction of the enemy in a naval battle by delivering artillery strikes against objects located on the shore.

Peculiarities

Battleships are powerful artillery armored ships. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were a lot of them in the arsenal of the country. The battleships of the USSR had high-quality weapons in the form of various guns, which were constantly modernized. Most often, the armament consisted of heavy machine guns, torpedo tubes. These ships provided the defense of Leningrad, Sevastopol and other coastal cities.

Sevastopol class

Battleships of this class had a monitor-shaped hull, in which the freeboard area and icebreaking stem were minimized. With a small hull length, the displacement of the ship was 23,000 tons, but in reality it reached about 26,000 tons. Coal was used as fuel, and if forced operation was required, then oil. These battleships of the USSR Navy were equipped with a power plant of 42,000 hp. with. at a speed of 23 knots and a cruising range of 4,000 miles.

As armament, the ship of the line was equipped with rifled guns, which were located linearly and were distinguished by a technical rate of fire of 1.8 rounds per minute. As anti-mine weapons, 16 120 mm guns were used, the rate of fire of which was 7 rounds per minute, with all the guns located on the middle deck. Such placement of artillery led to low firing efficiency, which, combined with the low seaworthiness of the battleship itself, made their control more difficult.

These battleships of the USSR were modernized even before the Second World War, which affected the improvement of the silhouette of the ships: they got a tank superstructure, which tightly adhered to the hull, and was covered from above with a solid flooring. The changes affected the bow, power plants and improved living conditions for the team.

"Paris Commune"

This battleship was the most recent upgrade. In the course of improvement, its displacement became larger, the engine power became higher and amounted to 61,000 hp, the ship developed a maximum speed of 23.5 knots. During the modernization, much attention was paid to strengthening anti-aircraft weapons: 6 76 mm anti-aircraft guns, 16 artillery pieces and 14 machine guns appeared on the bow and stern. These battleships of the USSR of World War II were used in the defense of Sevastopol. For the entire period of hostilities during the Great Patriotic War, the battleship participated in 15 military campaigns, performed 10 artillery firing, repelled more than 20 enemy air raids and shot down three enemy aircraft.

During World War II, the ship defended Sevastopol and the Kerch Strait. The first hostilities took place on November 8, 1941, and only during the first period of the fighting a large number of tanks, guns, and military vehicles carrying certain goods were destroyed.

"Marat"

These battleships of the USSR defended the approaches to Leningrad, defending the city for 8 days. During one of the enemy attacks, two bombs hit the ship at once, which destroyed the bow of the ship and led to the detonation of the shell magazines. As a result of this tragic event, 326 crew members died. Six months later, the ship was returned to partial buoyancy, the stern, which sank, surfaced. The Germans for a long time tried to destroy the damaged battleship, which was used by our military as a fort.

However, some time later, the battleship was repaired and partially restored, but even this allowed her to resist enemy artillery fire: after the ship was restored, enemy aircraft, batteries and personnel were destroyed. In 1943, this battleship of the USSR was renamed "Petropavlovsk", and even after 7 years it was completely removed from service and transferred to a training center.

"October Revolution"

This battleship was originally based in Tallinn, but with the outbreak of World War II, it was relocated to Kronstadt, as soon as the Germans began to approach the city. The "October Revolution" became a reliable artillery defense of the city, since all attempts by the German army to sink the battleship were unsuccessful. During the war years, this largest battleship of the USSR proved to be a reliable enemy on the water.

From "Gangut" to "Revolution"

The original name of the battleship was "Gangut". It was under this name that the ship took part in the First World War: under its cover, minefields were set up, on which more than one German cruiser was subsequently blown up. Already after the ship was given a new name, it performed during the Second World War, and all attempts by the Germans to cope with it were a failure. The battleships of the USSR of the Second World War were generally distinguished by their reliability: for example, the October Revolution was subjected to numerous air and artillery attacks, and still survived. During the war years, the battleship itself fired about 1,500 shells, repelled numerous air raids, shot down 13 aircraft and damaged a large number.

The main campaigns of the "Gangut" ("October Revolution")

An interesting fact is that the formidable ships of our army have never met in battle with enemy battleships during the two world wars - the first and second. The only battle was held by "Sevastopol" back in the Civil War, when the ship covered the destroyer "Azard" and repelled the attack of as many as seven British destroyers.

In general, the Gangut went on three military campaigns in the Baltic, where it provided minelaying, then it received a new name in service with the Red Army and was included in the Naval Forces of the Baltic Sea. The battleship also took part in the Soviet-Finnish war as fire support for the ground forces. The most important task of the battleship was the defense of Leningrad.

In 1941, on September 27, a 500 kg bomb hit the ship, which pierced the decks and tore the turret apart.

"Arkhangelsk"

Not all battleships of the USSR during the Second World War were originally in service with our country. So, the battleship "Arkhangelsk" was first part of the British Navy, then was transferred to the Soviet Union. It is noteworthy, but this ship was converted in the United States, equipped with modern radar systems for any type of weapon. That is why Arkhangelsk is also known as HMS Royal Sovereign.

In the interwar years, the battleship was repeatedly modernized, and seriously. And the changes concerned mainly additional equipment with guns. By World War II, this battleship was already obsolete, but despite this, it was nevertheless included in the country's fleet. But his role was not as valiant as that of other battleships: the Arkhangelsk mostly stood off the coast of the Kola Bay, where it provided a fire offensive for the Soviet troops and disrupted the evacuation of the Germans. In January 1949, the ship was delivered to the UK.

USSR battleship projects

The battleships of the USSR, whose projects were developed by a variety of engineers, have always been considered among the most reliable in the world. So, engineer Bubnov proposed a project for a super-dreadnought, which attracted attention with the elaboration of details, the power of artillery, high speed and a sufficient level of armor. Design began in 1914, and the main task of the engineers was to place three four-gun turrets on a small hull, which was not enough for such weapons. It turned out that the ship in this situation was left without reliable anti-torpedo protection. The main weapons on this ship were:

• the main armor belt, which extended to 2/3 of the ship's length;
• horizontal booking at four levels;
• circular armor of towers;
• 12 guns in turrets and 24 anti-mine caliber guns, which were located in casemates.

Experts said that this battleship is a powerful combat unit, which, compared with foreign counterparts, was capable of reaching a speed of 25 knots. True, the reservation was not enough already at the time of the First World War, and there were no plans to modernize the ships ...

Project engineer Kostenko

The perfect battleships of Russia and the USSR more than once rescued the Soviet troops. One of the developments was the ship Kostenko, which is considered the latest. Its distinguishing features included balanced weapon characteristics, excellent speed and high-quality armor. The project was based on the Anglo-German experience of the Battle of Jutland, so the engineer had previously abandoned the ultimate artillery equipment for ships. And the emphasis was on the balance of body armor and mobility.

This ship was developed in as many as four versions, and the first version turned out to be the fastest. As in Bubnov's version, the battleship had a main combat belt, which was supplemented by a bulkhead of two plates. Horizontal booking affected several decks, which itself acted as an armor deck. Reservation was carried out in the tower, cutting, around the vessel, in addition, the engineer was attentive to anti-torpedo protection, which used to act on battleships in the form of a simple longitudinal bulkhead.

As weapons, the engineer proposed using 406 mm main caliber guns and 130 mm guns. The first were located in the towers, which ensured a good firing range. The designs of this vessel, as already mentioned, were different, which also affected the number of guns.

Project engineer Gavrilov

Gavrilov proposed to build the most powerful, the so-called ultimate battleships of the USSR. The photo shows that such models were small in size, but in terms of technical and operational characteristics they were more efficient. According to the general concept, the battleship was an ultimate ship, the technical characteristics of which were on the verge of an achievable level. The project took into account only the most powerful weapon parameters:

• 16 guns of the main caliber 406 mm in four towers;
• 24 guns of 152 mm anti-mine caliber in casemates.

Such weapons fully corresponded to the concept of Russian shipbuilding, when an amazing combination of the maximum possible artillery saturation with high speed was noted with damage to the armor. By the way, it was not the most successful on most Soviet battleships. But the ship's propulsion system was one of the most powerful, since its action was based on transformer turbines.

Equipment features

The battleships of the USSR during the Second World War (the photo confirms their power), according to Gavrilov's projects, were equipped with the most advanced systems at that time. Like previous engineers, he paid attention to armor, and the thickness of the armor was somewhat greater. But experts noted that even with powerful artillery, high speed and huge size, this battleship would be quite vulnerable when meeting with the enemy.

Results

According to experts, the Second World War became a certain stage for checking the condition of the battleships of the USSR for readiness. As it turned out, the battle fleet was not ready for the destructive power and power of atomic bombs and high-precision guided weapons. That is why already towards the end of the war battleships ceased to be considered a powerful fighting force, and so much attention was no longer paid to the development of carrier-based aviation. Stalin ordered that battleships be excluded from military shipbuilding plans, as they did not meet the requirements of the time.

As a result, such ships as the October Revolution and the Paris Commune were withdrawn from the active fleet, some models were put into reserve. Subsequently, Khrushchev left literally a few heavy artillery ships in service with the country, considering them effective in battles. And on October 29, 1955, the flagship of the Black Sea squadron, the last battleship of the USSR Novorossiysk, sank in the Northern Bay of Sevastopol. After this event, our country said goodbye to the idea of ​​having battleships in its fleet.

Exactly seventy years ago, the Soviet Union embarked on 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 heavy artillery ships - battleships and cruisers, which were to become the largest and most powerful in the world. Although it was not possible to complete the super battleships, interest in them is still great, especially in light of the recent fashion for an alternative history. So what were the projects of the "Stalinist giants" and what preceded their appearance?

Lords of the Seas

The fact that battleships are the main force of the fleet was 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”, abbreviated as battleship). Faith in the omnipotence of the battleship was not undermined by either the emerging aircraft or submarines. And after the First World War, most admirals and naval theorists still measured the strength of the fleets by the number of heavy guns, the total weight of the broadside and the thickness of the armor. But it was this exceptional role of battleships, considered the undisputed rulers of the seas, that played a cruel joke with them ...

The evolution of battleships in the first decades of the twentieth century was truly rapid. If by 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 his many followers) had a full the displacement was already 20,730 tons. "Dreadnought" seemed to contemporaries a giant and the height of perfection. However, by 1912, against the backdrop of the latest superdreadnoughts, it looked like a completely ordinary ship of the second line ... And four years later, the British laid the famous "Hood" with a displacement of 45 thousand tons! Incredibly, powerful and expensive ships in the conditions of an unbridled arms race became obsolete in just three to four years, and their serial construction became extremely burdensome even for the richest countries.

Why did it happen so? The fact is that any warship is a compromise of many factors, the main of which are three: weapons, protection and speed. Each of these components "ate" 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 the designers, as a rule, had to sacrifice one of the fighting qualities in favor of the other. So, the Italian shipbuilding school was characterized by high-speed 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 a constant increase in the main caliber, led to a monstrous increase in the size of the ship.

Paradoxically, the appearance of the long-awaited "ideal" battleships - fast, heavily armed and protected by powerful armor - brought the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200bsuch ships to complete absurdity. Still: floating monsters, because of their high cost, undermined the economy of their own countries more significantly than the invasion 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 equated almost to a national disaster. Battleships from a means of waging war at sea have become an instrument of big politics. And the continuation of their construction was no longer determined by tactical expediency, but by completely different motives. To have such ships for the prestige of the country in the first half of the 20th century meant about the same as now to have nuclear weapons.

The need to stop the untwisted flywheel of the naval arms race was recognized by the governments of all countries, and in 1922, at an international conference convened in Washington, radical measures were taken. The 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. For the same period, the construction of new battleships was almost everywhere stopped. The only exception was made for the UK - a country forced to scrap largest number brand new dreadnoughts. But those two battleships that the British could build would hardly have had an ideal combination of fighting qualities, since their displacement was to be measured in the amount of 35 thousand tons.

The Washington Conference was the first real step in history to limit offensive arms on a global scale. It has given the global economy some breathing room. But no more. Since the apotheosis of the "battleship race" was yet to come...

The dream of a "large fleet"

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

However, the revolution Civil War and general devastation did not leave a trace of the former sea power of the empire. The Red Navy inherited from the "tsarist regime" only three battleships - "Petropavlovsk", "Gangut" and "Sevastopol", renamed respectively "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 did not really have any special prospects. The Bolshevik government had far more urgent tasks than restoring its former sea power. In addition, the first persons of the state, Lenin and Trotsky, looked at the navy as an expensive toy and an instrument of world imperialism. Therefore, during the first one and a half decades of the existence of the Soviet Union, the ship structure of the RKKF was replenished slowly and mainly only by 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 to feverishly catch up. Two international treaties signed in London tried to somehow restrain the size of future battleships, but everything turned out to be futile: practically none of the countries participating in the agreements from the very beginning was going to honestly fulfill the signed conditions. France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, the USA and Japan have begun to create a new generation of leviathan ships. Stalin, inspired by the successes 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 the seven-year program of "large naval shipbuilding" for 1937-1943 (due to the dissonance of the official name in the literature, it is usually called the "Big Fleet" program). In accordance with it, it was supposed to build 533 ships, including 24 battleships! For the then Soviet economy, the figures are absolutely unrealistic. Everyone understood this, but no one dared to object to Stalin.

In fact, Soviet designers began to develop a project for a new battleship back in 1934. The case progressed with difficulty: the experience of creating big ships they were completely absent. I 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 turned into an armored monster, leaving 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 stage of the technical project, 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 plant "Barrikada". The Soviet gun could fire 1,105 kg projectiles at a range of 45.6 kilometers. In terms of its characteristics, it surpassed all foreign guns of this class - with the exception of the 18-inch Japanese super battleship Yamato. However, the latter, having larger 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 at all. In particular, the Europeans and Americans were sure that the caliber of the Yamato artillery did not exceed 16 inches, that is, 406 millimeters.

Japanese battleship "Yamato" - the largest warship of World War II. Laid down in 1937, commissioned 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 - 127mm anti-aircraft guns, 24 - 25mm 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 bought 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 of a 14-knot course - over 5,500 miles.

In the meantime, the "large offshore shipbuilding" program was revised. In the new "Large Shipbuilding Program", approved by Stalin in February 1938, "small" type "B" battleships were no longer listed, 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 the ambitious Nazi Germany expected to build only 6 to 9 new battleships. Having realistically assessed the possibilities of industry, the top leadership of our country had to limit itself to four ships. Yes, and it turned out to be beyond the power: the construction of one of the ships was stopped almost immediately after the 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 lagged behind schedule. By June 22, 1941, the first two ships had the highest degree of readiness, respectively 21% and 17.5%. At the new plant in Molotovsk, things were going much worse. Although in 1940, instead of two battleships, they decided to build one there, anyway, by the beginning of World War II, its readiness reached only 5%.

The timing of the manufacture of artillery and armor was not kept. Although tests of an experimental 406-mm gun were successfully completed in October 1940, and before the start of the war, the Barrikady plant managed to hand over 12 barrels of naval superguns, not a single turret was assembled. Even more problems were with the release of the armor. Due to the loss of experience in the manufacture of thick armor plates, up to 40% of them went to waste. And negotiations on ordering armor from Krupp ended in nothing.

Attack Nazi Germany crossed out plans for the creation of the "Big Fleet". By a 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 B-37 experimental gun also fired at the enemy there. "Soviet Ukraine" was captured by the Germans, but they did not find any use for the giant corps. After the war, the issue of completing the construction of battleships according to one of the improved projects was discussed, but in the end they were dismantled for metal, and the section of the hull of the head "Soviet Union" was even launched in 1949 - it was planned to be used for full-scale tests of the anti-torpedo protection system. The turbines received from Switzerland were first wanted to be installed on one of the new light cruisers of the 68 bis project, then they abandoned this: too many alterations were required.

Good cruisers or bad battleships?

Project 69 heavy cruisers appeared in the “Large Shipbuilding Program”, which, like the “A” type battleships, were planned to be built 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 fighter for any foreign cruisers, including the formidable German "pocket battleships" (with a displacement of 12,100 tons). Therefore, at first its main armament was to include nine 254-mm guns, but then the caliber was increased to 305 mm. At the same time, it was necessary to strengthen 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 than the planned project 25. Of course, the number of such ships had to be reduced. In reality, in 1939, only two “super cruisers” were laid down in Leningrad and Nikolaev - Kronstadt and Sevastopol.

The heavy cruiser Kronstadt was laid down in 1939 but not completed. The total displacement is 41,540 tons. The maximum length is 250.5 m, the width is 31.6 m, the draft is 9.5 m. The power of the turbines is 201,000 l. s., speed - 33 knots (61 km / h). The thickness of the side armor - up to 230 mm, towers - 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 the Project 69 ships, but in general, according to the cost-effectiveness criterion, they did not stand up to criticism. Conceived as good cruisers, "Kronstadt" and "Sevastopol" in the process of "improving" the project turned into bad battleships, too expensive and too difficult to build. In addition, the industry clearly did not have time to manufacture the main artillery for them. Out of desperation, 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 more than a thousand 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 in the USSR.

The fate of "Kronstadt" and "Sevastopol" developed similarly to their counterparts of the "Soviet Union" type. 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 "super cruisers" were dismantled for metal.

Battleship "Bismarck" - the strongest ship of the Nazi fleet. Laid down in 1936, commissioned in 1940. Total displacement - 50,900 tons. Length - 250.5 m, width - 36 m, draft - 10.6 m. Side armor thickness - up to 320 mm, towers - 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 justify the hopes placed on them. The experience of the Second World War clearly showed that the time of battleships is gone. Aircraft carriers became the new masters of the oceans: carrier-based aircraft, of course, surpassed naval artillery both in range and in the ability to hit targets in the most vulnerable places. So it is safe to say that the Stalinist battleships, even if they were built by June 1941, would not have played any significant role in the war.

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

Battleship "Soviet Union", project 23 (USSR, laid down in 1938). Standard displacement - 59,150 tons, full - 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 (when boosting, 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 post-war years went clearly against the current, mostly subjective. And in the first place here are the personal preferences of the "leader of the peoples." Stalin was very impressed with 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 speed of the ship to 35 knots, “so that he would panic the enemy’s light cruisers, disperse them and smash them. This cruiser should fly like a swallow, be a pirate, a real bandit.” Alas, on the threshold of the nuclear missile era, the views of the Soviet leader on issues of naval tactics lagged behind their time by one and a half to two decades.

If projects 24 and 66 remained on paper, then under project 82 in 1951-1952, three “bandit cruisers” were laid down - “Stalingrad”, “Moscow” 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 ships was stopped due to their high cost and the complete ambiguity 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 is 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 down in 1951, but not completed. Full 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 - up to 180 mm, towers - up to 240 mm. Armament: 9 - 305 mm and 12 - 130 mm guns, 24 - 45 mm and 40 - 25 mm machine guns

The obsession of the "supership"

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

In this regard, the shipbuilding policy of the then USSR occupies a special place. Here, after the decision of the party and the government to build the "Big Fleet", the obsession with "superships" was actually brought to the point of absurdity. On the one hand, Stalin, inspired by the successes in the aviation industry and tank building, considered too hastily 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 foreign counterparts could easily be considered “wrecking” with all the ensuing consequences. The 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 most powerful 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 the case, the reports about the outstanding successes of the designers that went up often looked like banal eyewash.

It is characteristic that almost all the "superships" ever embodied in metal did not justify themselves. Suffice it to cite the Japanese battleships Yamato and Musashi as an example. They died under the bombs of American aircraft, without firing a single salvo with their main caliber at their American "classmates". But even if they happened to meet with 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 power, the individual superiority of the Yamato over the individual "American" no longer plays any role.

World experience shows that several well-balanced ships are much better than one giant with hypertrophied combat characteristics. And yet, in the USSR, the idea of ​​a "supership" did not die. A quarter of a century later, Stalin's leviathans had distant relatives - nuclear missile cruisers of the Kirov type, followers of Kronstadt and Stalingrad. However, that's a completely different story...

From the moment guns are installed on ships, the eternal rivalry between shell and armor begins. After realizing the vulnerability of the majestic sailing fleet to gunfire, engineers and shipbuilders begin to install armor on warships. In the 19th century, the first battleships appeared, which completed their development by the beginning of the 20th century and became the main striking and most powerful force of the fleet. They are being replaced by dreadnought battleships, even larger, more powerful and heavily armored. The peak of the development of battleships came in World War II, when the rivalry between projectile and armor reached its climax, giving rise to the most powerful and majestic ships ever created by man. They will be discussed in our article.

6. Battleships of the type "King George V"

Before World War II, the navies of the leading maritime powers were intensively armed with modern battleships. Great Britain was considered a trendsetter in the field of military shipbuilding and the most powerful maritime power for several centuries, but after the First World War, its leadership began to gradually fade. As a result, the Lady of the Seas approached the war with the least powerful "main" battleship.

The British began designing battleships of the "King George V" type in the late 20s of the 20th century to replace superdreadnoughts. For several years, the initial project has undergone significant changes, and by 1935 the final version was approved with a length of about 230 meters and a displacement of about 35 thousand tons. The main caliber of the new battleship was to be ten 356-millimeter guns. The location of the main caliber artillery was original. Instead of the classic four 2-gun or three 3-gun turrets, they chose a variant with two turrets of four guns at the bow and stern, and one turret with two guns at the bow. The caliber of 356 mm by the beginning of World War II was considered insufficient and was the smallest among the other battleships of the leading powers. Armor-piercing projectile "King George" weighed a modest 721 kg. The initial speed was low - 757 m / s. English guns did not shine with rate of fire. Only traditionally high-quality gun barrels and armor-piercing shells, coupled with the reliability of the system as a whole, can be added to the pluses.

The average caliber of the battleship was represented by sixteen 133 mm guns in 2-gun turrets. These guns were supposed to become universal, conducting both anti-aircraft fire and performing the function of fighting enemy destroyers. If such guns coped well with the second task, then they turned out to be ineffective against aircraft due to the low rate of fire and the imperfection of guidance systems. Also, the King George battleships were equipped with two reconnaissance seaplanes with one catapult.

The armor of British ships was built according to the classic “all or nothing” principle, when the main and most important components of the ship were covered with the thickest armor, and the ends of the hull and deck remained practically unarmored. The thickness of the main armor belt reached an impressive 381 mm. In general, the booking was quite good and balanced. The quality of the English armor itself was still excellent. Only frankly weak anti-mine and anti-torpedo protection caused complaints.

The main power plant developed 110 thousand horsepower and allowed the battleship to accelerate to 28 knots. The estimated cruising range with an economical 10-knot course reached 14 thousand miles, but in reality everything turned out to be much more modest.

In total, the British managed to build five ships of this type. Battleships were created to resist the German fleet in the Atlantic, but they had to serve in many parts of the world. The most belligerent of the British battleships were the King George V, which was the flagship of the British Royal Navy for a long time, and the Prince of Wales, which took the battle along with the ill-fated Hood against the legendary Bismarck. At the end of 1941, the Prince of Wales was sunk by Japanese aircraft, while the rest of her brethren survived the war and were safely scrapped in 1957.

Battleship Vanguard

In addition to ships of the King George V type, the British managed to lay down the new Vanguard during the war - a larger and more powerful battleship, devoid of many of the shortcomings of previous battleships. In terms of displacement and armament (50 thousand tons and eight 381 mm guns), it resembled the German Bismarck. But the British were able to complete this ship only in 1946.

5. Battleships of the type "Littorio / Vittorio Veneto"

After the First World War, Italy was going through hard times. There was not enough money to build new battleships. Therefore, the release of new ships was postponed in every possible way for financial reasons. Italy began to develop a modern battleship only after the laying in France, the main rival in the Mediterranean, of powerful and high-speed battlecruisers of the Dunkirk type, which completely depreciated the old Italian battleships.

The main theater of operations for the Italians was the Mediterranean Sea, historically considered "their own". This left its mark on the appearance of the new battleship. If for the British autonomy and a long cruising range were a key factor in the development of their own battleships, then the Italian designers could sacrifice it for the sake of increased firepower and armor. The lead "Littorio" and "Vittorio Veneto" were larger than the "King George" - their total displacement was about 45 thousand tons with a length of about 240 meters. The battleships entered service in the spring of 1940.

The armament of the main caliber consisted of nine powerful 15-inch (381 mm) guns in three 3-gun turrets. The Italians took the path of maximum forcing of old guns of a similar caliber, increasing the length of the barrels from 40 to 50 calibers. As a result, the Italian guns turned out to be champions among 15-inch guns in Europe in terms of muzzle energy and projectile power, yielding in armor penetration only to the larger-caliber guns of the American Iowa and Japanese Yamato.

The weight of the armor-piercing projectile reached 885 kg at a high initial velocity of 870 m/s. This came at the cost of extremely low grouping and firing accuracy, which is considered the main disadvantage of this type of battleship. Unlike the British, the Italians divided the medium artillery into anti-mine and anti-aircraft. Twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns in four 3-gun turrets were used to counter the attacking destroyers. For firing at aircraft, there were twelve 90-mm guns, which were supplemented by 37-mm machine guns. The experience of the war showed the complete insufficiency of the anti-aircraft artillery of the Italian battleships, as well as most similar ships of other countries.

The Littorio-class battleship air group consisted of three seaplanes and one catapult to launch them. The main armor belt was spaced apart and, with a not too impressive thickness, provided protection against 380-mm projectiles.

Battleship Vittorio Veneto

The main power plant produced 130,000 horsepower and accelerated the Italian battleship to 30 knots. Such a high speed was a great advantage and made it possible to choose the optimal battle distance or even evade the fire of a stronger enemy. The cruising range was rather modest (4.5-5 thousand miles), but quite sufficient for the Mediterranean.

Battleship Roma

In total, the Italians managed to launch three battleships of this type, the fourth ship remained unfinished. Throughout the Second World War, the ships fought and were periodically damaged by British and American aircraft, after which they were repaired and put back into service. As a result, "Vittorio Veneto" and "Littorio" were transferred after the war to the UK and the USA, respectively, where they were sawn up in the mid-1950s. The third battleship - "Roma" - was awarded a sadder fate. After the capitulation of Italy, the Germans sank it with Fritz-X guided bombs so that the ship would not go to the Allies. Thus, the beautiful and graceful Italian battleships never managed to acquire military glory.

4. Battleships of the type "Richelieu"

After the First World War, France found itself in a position similar to Italy regarding the state and further development of the navy.

After the laying of "pocket battleships" of the Scharnhorst type in Germany, the French were forced to urgently design ships to deal with them. The resulting Dunkirk turned out to be so successful that it served as the basis for the creation of full-fledged battleships of the Richelieu type.

The total displacement of the Richelieu was almost 45 thousand tons, and the maximum length was about 250 meters. In order to fit the maximum possible weapons and heavy armor into a limited displacement, the French again applied the original layout of the main caliber weapons, tested on the Dunkirk.

"Richelieu" carried eight 380-mm guns with a length of 45 calibers in two 4-gun turrets. The weight of the armor-piercing projectile was 890 kg at an initial velocity of 830 m/s. This arrangement made it possible to save the total weight of each gun compared to 3- and especially 2-gun turrets. In addition, only two main turrets instead of three or four required a shorter main armor belt to protect guns and artillery magazines, simplified the system for storing and supplying ammunition, and fire control.

But such a bold scheme had its drawbacks. Damage to any of the towers led to the failure of half of the ship's artillery, so the French divided each of the towers with an armored partition. Each pair of guns had independent guidance and supply of ammunition. In practice, the 2-tower scheme turned out to be unreliable. French sailors used to say that the turret rotation system could fail at any moment. In addition, the stern sector of the ship was not protected by the main battery guns, which was partly offset by the large angles of rotation of the forward turrets.

Battleship Jean Bart

The pride of French shipbuilders was booking and protection in general. In terms of survivability, the Richelieu surpassed its competitors from England and Italy, was approximately equal to the larger Bismarck and Iowa, and was inferior only to the much heavier Yamato. The main armor belt had a thickness of 330 mm and an 18 mm lining. The belt inclined at 18 degrees resulted in almost half a meter of armor. The unfinished "Jean Bar" happened to receive about five heavy 406-mm American shells of the main caliber. The ship survived.

The Richelieu power plant produced 150 thousand horsepower, and the speed of more than 31 knots was one of the best in the class, formally second only to the Iowa. The maximum cruising range was about 10 thousand miles with an economical course.

In total, the French planned to build three battleships of this type. It was possible to put into operation only two - "Richelieu" and "Jean Bar", which, not without incident, survived the war. These ships have become one of the most balanced and successful ships of this class. Many experts give them the palm in battleship building. They combined fairly powerful weapons, excellent armor and high speed. At the same time, they had an average size and displacement. However, many positive sides were only good on paper. Like the Italian battleships, the French "Richelieu" and "Jean Bar" did not cover their history with immortal feats. They managed to survive the war and even serve after it, having undergone modernization. As for the aesthetic side, the author of the article puts them in the first place. The French battleships turned out to be truly beautiful and elegant.

3. Bismarck-class battleships

After the First World War, Germany was one of the first to start designing new modern battleships. As a country that lost the war, it was forbidden to build large warships. Therefore, the starting "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" could only be called battleships with a stretch. Nevertheless, serious experience was gained by German engineers. And after the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in 1935, which actually abolished the Versailles restrictions, Germany began the development and construction of the largest and most powerful ships ever in service with the German fleet.

The Bismarck-class battleships had a total displacement of about 50 thousand tons, a length of 250 meters and a width of 36 meters, surpassing their European counterparts in size. The main artillery, as on the Richelieu and Vittorio Veneto, was represented by 380 mm guns. Bismarck carried eight guns in four 2-gun turrets, two each at the bow and stern. This was a step back against the background of 3- and 4-gun turrets of competitors.

Main caliber artillery came out more tenacious, but required more space, armor and, accordingly, weight to accommodate it. The Bismarck guns did not stand out in anything special except for the traditional German quality against the background of the “fifteen-inch” French and Italians. Unless, unlike the latter, the pragmatic Germans relied on shooting accuracy to the detriment of the power and weight of the projectile (800 kg). As time has shown - not in vain.

Booking "Bismarck" can be called moderate and not quite ordinary. Using a scheme with four main battery turrets, the Germans had to armor up to 70% of the hull length. The thickness of the main armored belt reached 320 mm in its lower part and up to 170 mm in its upper part. Unlike many battleships of the period, the armor of the German battleships was not sharply differentiated, with outstanding maximum thicknesses, but the overall armor area was higher than that of any of the competitors. Perhaps it was precisely such a booking scheme that allowed the Bismarck to withstand numerous volleys of the British for a long time, while remaining afloat.

The main power plant was the weak point of the project. She developed about 150 thousand "horses", accelerating the Tirpitz and Bismarck to 30 knots, which was a very good result. At the same time, it did not differ in reliability and, in particular, in economy. The actual cruising range was almost 20% lower than the declared 8.5-8.8 thousand miles.

German shipbuilders were unable to create a vessel that is qualitatively superior to competitors. The combat characteristics of the Bismarck were at the level of the Richelieu and Littorio, but the combat fate of the German battleships made them the most recognizable and famous ships of the Second World War.

In total, the Germans managed to put into operation two ships of this type. The Bismarck in 1941 had to take the battle, which became the most famous naval battle of the Second World War. A German detachment from the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen collided with the British ships. And although the British had an advantage in the form of the battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Hood, the Bismarck salvos sent the beauty and pride of the Royal Navy to the bottom in a matter of minutes - the flagship cruiser Hood along with the entire crew. As a result of the duel, injuries were received and German ships. Shocked and furious, the British sent an entire squadron to capture the Bismarck. The German battleship practically managed to get away from the chase, but the British planes damaged the steering of the ship, and then for a long time they shot the immobilized ship from all guns. As a result, the Bismarck team opened the kingstones and sank their ship.

Model of the battleship "Tirpitz"

After the loss of one of the two battleships, the Germans hid the remaining Tirpitz in the Norwegian fjords. Even inactive and hidden, this ship remained a constant headache for the British throughout the war, pulling huge forces. In the end, the Tirpitz was only sunk from the air with specially designed huge 5-ton bombs.

2. Iowa-class battleships

The United States approached the Second World War as a leader in terms of economic and industrial potential. The owner of the most powerful navy was no longer Great Britain, but its partner overseas. By the end of the 1930s, the Americans managed to develop a battleship project under the Washington Agreement. At first, these were ships of the South Dakota type, which generally corresponded to European competitors. Then came the time for even larger and more powerful Iowa-class battleships, called by many experts the best ships of this class.

The length of such battleships reached a record 270 meters, and the total displacement exceeded 55 thousand tons. "Iowa" was supposed to resist the Japanese battleships of the "Yamato" type. Nevertheless, American shipbuilders retained the 16-inch (406 mm) main artillery caliber used on the South Dakota. But the main caliber guns were lengthened from 45 to 50 calibers, increasing the power of the gun and the weight of the armor-piercing projectile from 1016 to 1225 kg. In addition to the guns themselves, when assessing the firepower of the Iowa-class ships, one should note the most advanced artillery fire control system among the battleships of that period. In addition to ballistic computers and optical rangefinders, it used a radar, which significantly increased the accuracy of shooting, especially in bad weather conditions.

In addition, given the perfection of guidance systems and the quality of ammunition, American battleships were the absolute leaders in anti-aircraft weapons.

But booking was not a strong point of Iowa. The citadel in the central part of the ship was covered by a modest 307 mm main armor belt. In general, the battleship was armored at the level of the South Dakota and European battleships with a smaller displacement, and the Richelieu was even inferior. Not relying too much on their armor protection, the Americans took a different path.

Battleships of the Iowa type received the most powerful power plant of 212,000 horsepower among similar ships. For comparison, on the predecessor, the power of the turbines reached only 130 thousand "horses". The Iowa could theoretically accelerate to a record 33 knots, surpassing absolutely all the battleships of the Second World War in speed. Thus, American battleships had an advantage in maneuver, being able to choose the optimal distance and conditions for artillery combat, partially compensating for not the strongest armor.

In total, the Americans planned to build six ships of this type. But taking into account the already built four South Dakota-class battleships and the ever-increasing role of aircraft carriers, the United States limited itself to a series of four ships - Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin. All battleships took an active part in the Pacific War. On September 2, 1945, the Japanese Surrender Act was signed aboard the Missouri.

The post-war fate of the Iowa-class battleships, unlike most ships of this class, was not quite usual. The ships were not scrapped, but continued their service. The Americans actively used their battleships during the war in Korea and Vietnam. In the mid-1980s, the ships, already old by that time, underwent modernization, having received modern electronic filling and guided cruise missiles. The last conflict in which the battleships took part was the war in the Persian Gulf.

The main battery artillery was represented by nine 18-inch guns in three 3-gun turrets, located classically, as on the Vittorio Veneto and Iowa. Not a single battleship in the world had such artillery. Armor-piercing projectile weighed nearly one and a half tons. And in terms of the total weight of the salvo, the Yamato was almost twice as superior to the European battleships with 15-inch guns. The artillery fire control system was perfect for its time. And if the Yamato did not have such innovations as radars (they were installed on the Iowa), then the optical rangefinders and ballistic computers were not inferior to their world counterparts. Simply put, it was better not to show up to any battleship of that time within the firing range of the Japanese monster’s guns of more than 40 kilometers.

The anti-aircraft guns of the Japanese, not inferior in quality to European ones, lagged behind the American ones in terms of firing accuracy and pointing speed. Small-caliber automatic anti-aircraft guns, the number of which during the war increased from eight built-in machine guns to fifty, were still qualitatively inferior to the Bofors and Oerlikons of the Americans.

Booking battleships of the "Yamato" type, as well as the main artillery, was "the best". Moreover, in an effort to install armor of maximum thickness on their ships, the Japanese tried to reduce the length of the citadel. As a result, the main armor belt covered only about half of the vessel in the central part. But its thickness was impressive - 410 mm. It should be noted that Japanese armor was inferior in quality to the best English and German armor at that time due to the denial of access to Japan for the most modern technologies for the production of armor steel and the lack of supplies of a number of rare alloying elements. But still, the Yamato remained the most heavily armored ship in the world.

Battleship "Musashi"

The main power plant of the Japanese super battleship was quite modest and produced about 150 thousand horsepower, accelerating huge ship up to 27.5 knots. "Yamato" was the slowest among the battleships of World War II. But the ship carried the largest air group of reconnaissance aircraft - as many as seven pieces on two catapults.

The Japanese planned to put into operation three battleships of this type, but they were able to complete only two - Yamato and Musashi. The third, "Shinano", was converted into an aircraft carrier. The fate of the ships was sad. Japanese sailors joked that the Yamato-class battleships were bigger and more useless than even such huge and useless things as the Chinese Wall and the Egyptian pyramids.

By the end of the Second World War, the class of high-speed battleships had reached the limit in its development, having favorably combined the destructive power and security of dreadnoughts with the high speed of battlecruisers, these maritime models performed many amazing feats under the flags of all warring states.

It is not possible to compile any "rating" of the battleships of those years - four favorites claim the first place at once, and each of them has the most serious reasons for this. As for the other places on the honorary pedestal, it is generally impossible to make any conscious choice here. Only individual tastes and subjective preferences. Each battleship is distinguished by its unique design, a chronicle of combat use and, often, a tragic death.

Each of them was created for their own, specific tasks and conditions of service, for a specific enemy and in accordance with the chosen concept of use.

Different theaters of operations dictated different rules: inland seas or the open ocean, the proximity or, conversely, the extreme remoteness of the bases. Classic squadron battles with the same monsters or a bloody mess with repelling endless air attacks and shelling fortifications on the enemy coast.

Ships cannot be considered in isolation from the geopolitical situation, the state of the scientific, industrial and financial spheres of states - all this left a significant imprint on their design.

A direct comparison between any Italian "Littorio" and the American "North Caroline" is completely out of the question.

Nevertheless, the contenders for the title of the best battleship are visible to the naked eye. These are Bismarck, Tirpitz, Iowa and Yamato - ships that even those who have never been interested in the fleet have heard of.

Life According to Sun Tzu

... Her Majesty's battleships Anson and Duke of York, aircraft carriers Victorias, Furies, escort aircraft carriers Sicher, Empire, Passuer, Fancer, cruisers Belfast, Bellona , Royalist, Sheffield, Jamaica, destroyers Javelin, Virago, Meteor, Swift, Vigilent, Wakeful, Onslot ... - a total of about 20 units under the British , Canadian and Polish flags, as well as 2 naval tankers and 13 deck squadrons.

Only in this composition in April 1944 did the British dare to approach the Alta Fjord - where, under the gloomy vaults of the Norwegian rocks, the pride of the Kriegsmarine, the Tirpitz super-battleship, rusted.
The results of the Wolfram operation are estimated as controversial - carrier-based aircraft managed to bomb the German base and cause serious damage to the battleship's superstructures. However, the next Pearl Harbor did not work out - the British could not inflict mortal wounds on the Tirpitz.

The Germans lost 123 men killed, but the battleship still posed a threat to shipping in the North Atlantic. The main problems were caused not so much by numerous bomb hits and fires on the upper deck, but by newly opened leaks in the underwater part of the hull - the result of a previous British attack using mini-submarines.

... In total, during the stay in Norwegian waters, the Tirpitz withstood dozens of air strikes - in total, during the war years, about 700 British and Soviet aircraft took part in raids on the battleship! In vain.

Hiding behind an anti-torpedo net, the ship was invulnerable to Allied torpedo weapons. At the same time, aerial bombs proved ineffective against such a well-defended target; it was possible to smash the armored citadel of the battleship for an infinitely long time, but the destruction of the superstructures could not critically affect the combat capability of the Tirpitz.

Meanwhile, the Britons stubbornly rushed to the parking lot of the Teutonic beast: mini-submarines and man-torpedoes; deck and strategic air raids. Informant agents from the locals, regular surveillance of the base from the air ...

"Tirpitz" became a unique embodiment of the ideas of the ancient Chinese commander and thinker Sun Tzu ("The Art of War") - without firing a single shot at enemy ships, he fettered all the actions of the British in the North Atlantic for three years!

One of the most effective warships of the Second World War, the invincible Tirpitz turned into an ominous scarecrow for the British Admiralty: the planning of any operation began with the question “What to do if
Will the Tirpitz leave her anchorage and go out to sea?

It was the Tirpitz that scared away the escort of the PQ-17 convoy. All battleships and aircraft carriers of the metropolitan fleet in the Arctic latitudes hunted him. The boat K-21 fired at him. For his sake, the Lancasters from the Royal Air Force settled at the Yagodny airfield near Arkhangelsk. But everything turned out to be useless. The British were able to destroy the super-battleship only towards the end of the war with the help of the monstrous 5-ton Tallboy bombs.

Tallboy ("Big Boy")

The impressive success of the Tirpitz battleship is the legacy left over from the legendary Bismarck, a battleship of the same type, a meeting with which forever instilled fear in the hearts of the British: a funeral pillar of flame froze before their eyes, which shot up over the British battlecruiser HMS Hood. During the battle in the Danish Strait, the gloomy Teutonic Knight took only five volleys to deal with the British "gentleman".

"Bismarck" and "Prinz Eugen" in a military campaign

And then came the hour of reckoning. The Bismarck was chased by a squadron of 47 ships and 6 submarines of Her Majesty. After the battle, the British calculated: in order to sink the beast, they had to fire 8 torpedoes and 2876 shells of the main, medium and universal caliber!

What a tough guy!

Hieroglyph "fidelity". Yamato-class battleships

There are three useless things in the world: the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the Great Wall of China and the battleship "Yamato" ... Really?

This is what happened to the battleships Yamato and Musashi: they were undeservedly slandered. Around them there was a stable image of "losers", useless "wanderwaffles" who shamefully died at the first meeting with the enemy.

But the facts are:

The ships were designed and built on time, managed to make war, and finally accepted a heroic death in the face of numerically superior enemy forces.

What else is required of them?

Bright victories? Alas, in the situation in which Japan was in the period 1944-45, even the sea king Poseidon himself could hardly have acted better than the battleships Musashi and Yamato.

Disadvantages of super battleships?

Yes, first of all, weak air defense - neither the monstrous fireworks "Sansiki 3" (anti-aircraft shells of 460 mm caliber), nor hundreds of small-caliber magazine-fed assault rifles could replace modern anti-aircraft guns and control systems with fire adjustment according to radar data.

Weak PTZ?
I beg of you! "Musashi" and "Yamato" died after 10-11 torpedo hits - no battleship on the planet would have survived so much (for comparison, the probability of the death of the American "Iowa" from being hit by six torpedoes, according to the calculations of the Americans themselves, was estimated at 90%) .

Otherwise, the battleship "Yamato" corresponded to the phrase "most, most"

The largest battleship in history and, concurrently, the largest warship that took part in World War II.
70 thousand tons of full displacement.
The main caliber is 460 mm.
Armored belt - 40 centimeters of solid metal.
The walls of the conning tower - half a meter of armor.
The thickness of the frontal part of the GK tower is even greater - 65 centimeters of steel protection.

A grand spectacle!

The main miscalculation of the Japanese is the veil of extreme secrecy that shrouded everything that was connected with the battleships of the Yamato type. To date, there are only a few photographs of these monsters - mostly taken from American aircraft.

It was worth being proud of such ships and seriously frightening the enemy with them - after all, until the last moment the Yankees were sure that they were dealing with ordinary battleships, with 406 mm guns.

With a competent PR policy, the very news of the existence of the battleships Yamato and Musashi could cause panic fear among the commanders of the US Navy and their allies - just as happened with the Tirpitz. The Yankees would rush to build similar ships with half a meter of armor and guns of 460 or even 508 mm caliber - in general, it would be fun. The strategic effect of Japanese super-battleships could be much greater.

Museum "Yamato" in Kure. The Japanese cherish the memory of their "Varyag"

How did the leviathans die?

Musashi sailed all day in the Sibuyan Sea under heavy attacks from aircraft from five American aircraft carriers. He walked all day, and in the evening he died, having received, according to various estimates, 11-19 torpedoes and 10-17 air bombs ...
What do you think, were the security and combat stability of the Japanese battleship great? And who of his peers could repeat this?

"Yamato"... death from above was his destiny. Traces of torpedoes, the sky is black from aircraft ...
Speaking frankly, the Yamato made an honorable seppuku, leaving as part of a small squadron against eight aircraft carriers of the 58th task force. The result is predictable - two hundred aircraft tore apart the battleship and its few escorts in two hours.

The era of high technology. Iowa-class battleships

What if?
What if, instead of the Yamato, a battleship identical to the American Iowa had come out towards the 58th operational formation of Admiral Mitscher? What if the Japanese industry could create air defense systems similar to those on US Navy ships at the time?

How would the battle between the battleship and the American aircraft carriers end if the Japanese sailors had systems similar to the Mk.37, Ford Mk.I Gunfire Control Computer, SK, SK-2, SP, SR, Mk.14, Mk.51, Mk.53 …?

Behind the dry indices are masterpieces of technological progress - analog computers and automatic fire control systems, radars, radio altimeters and shells with a radar fuse - thanks to all these "chips", the Iowa anti-aircraft fire was at least five times more accurate and effective than the shots of Japanese anti-aircraft gunners .

And if you take into account the terrifying rate of fire of the Mk.12 anti-aircraft guns, the extremely effective 40 mm Bofors and Oerlikon belt-fed assault rifles ... There is a considerable chance that the American air attack could choke in blood, and the damaged neo-Yamato could hobble to Okinawa and run aground, turning into an invincible artillery battery (according to the Ten-Ichi-Go operation plan).

Everything could be ... alas, "Yamato" went to the seabed, and an impressive set of anti-aircraft weapons became the prerogative of the American "Iows".

It is absolutely impossible to come to terms with the idea that the best ship is again with the Americans. USA haters will instantly find a dozen reasons why the Iowa cannot be considered the most advanced battleship.

The Iowas are harshly criticized for the lack of a medium caliber (150 ... 155 mm) - unlike any German, Japanese, French or Italian battleships, American ships were forced to fight off enemy destroyer attacks only with universal anti-aircraft guns (5 inches, 127 mm).

Also, among the shortcomings of the Iowa are the lack of reloading compartments in the GK towers, the worst seaworthiness and “surfacing on the wave” (compared to the same British Vanguard), the relative weakness of their PTZ in front of the Japanese “long lances”, “mukhlezh” with declared maximum speed (on a measured mile, the battleships could hardly accelerate to 31 knots - instead of the declared 33!).

But perhaps the most serious of all accusations - the weakness of the reservation compared to any of their peers - the Iowa's traverse bulkheads raise a lot of questions.

Of course, the defenders of American shipbuilding will now go steam, proving that all the listed shortcomings of the Iowa are just an illusion, the ship was designed for a specific situation and ideally suited the conditions of the Pacific theater of operations.

The absence of a medium caliber became an advantage for American battleships: universal five-inch guns were enough to deal with surface and air targets - it made no sense to take on board 150 mm guns as a "ballast". And the presence of "advanced" fire control systems finally leveled the factor of the absence of a "medium caliber".

Reproaches for poor seaworthiness are a purely subjective opinion: the Iowa has always been considered an extremely stable artillery platform. As for the strong “overwhelming” of the bow of the battleship in stormy weather, this myth was already born in our time. Modern sailors were surprised by the habits of an armored monster: instead of swaying calmly on the waves, the heavy Iowa cut the waves like a knife.

The increased wear of the main gun barrels is explained by very heavy projectiles (which is not bad) - the Mk.8 armor-piercing projectile weighing 1225 kg was the heaviest ammunition of its caliber in the world.

The Iowa had no problems with the range of shells at all: the ship had a whole range of armor-piercing and high-explosive ammunition and charges of various capacities; after the war, "cassette" Mk.144 and Mk.146 appeared, stuffed with explosive grenades in the amount of 400 and, accordingly, 666 pieces. A little later, a special Mk.23 munition was developed with a 1 kt nuclear warhead.

As for the "shortage" of the design speed per measured mile, the Iowa tests were carried out with a limited power plant - just like that, without a good reason, to boost the cars to the design 254,000 hp. the thrifty Yankees refused.

The overall impression of the Iowa can only be spoiled by their relatively low security ... however, this disadvantage is more than compensated by the many other advantages of the battleship.

The Iowas have more service than all other WWII battleships combined - World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Iraq ... Battleships of this type survived everyone - the modernization of the mid-1980s made it possible to extend the service life of veterans until the beginning of the 21st century - the battleships lost part artillery weapons, in exchange for receiving 32 Tomahawk SLCMs, 16 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Sea Sparrow air defense systems, modern radars and Phalanx melee systems.

Off the coast of Iraq

However, the physical deterioration of the mechanisms and the end of the Cold War played an important role in the fate of the most famous American battleships - all four monsters left the US Navy ahead of schedule and turned into large naval museums.

Well, the favorites are determined. Now it's time to mention a number of other armored monsters - after all, each of them is worthy of its portion of surprise and admiration.

Here, for example, "Jean Bart" - one of two built battleships of the type "Richelieu". An elegant French ship with a unique silhouette: two four-gun turrets in the bow, a stylish superstructure, a famously curved chimney...

Battleships of the Richelieu type are considered one of the most advanced ships in their class: having a displacement of 5-10 thousand tons less than any Bismarck or Littorio, the French were practically not inferior to them in terms of armament power, and in terms of the “ security "- the scheme and thickness of the reservation" Richelieu "was even better than many of his larger peers. And all this was successfully combined with a speed of more than 30 knots - the "Frenchman" was the fastest of the European battleships!

The unusual fate of these battleships: the flight of unfinished ships from the shipyard to avoid capture by the Germans, naval battles with the British and American fleets in Casablanca and Dakar, repairs in the United States, and then a long happy service under the flag of France until the second half of the 1960s.

And here is a magnificent trinity from the Apennine Peninsula - Italian battleships of the Littorio type.

These ships are usually the object of harsh criticism, but if you take an integrated approach when evaluating them, it turns out that the Littorio battleships are not so bad compared to their British or German peers, as is commonly believed.

The project was based on the brilliant concept of the Italian fleet - to hell with great autonomy and fuel supply! - Italy is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, all the bases are nearby.
The saved load reserve was spent on armor and weapons. As a result, Littorio had 9 main battery guns in three rotating turrets - more than any of their European "colleagues".

"Roma"

The noble silhouette, high-quality contours, good seaworthiness and high speed are in the best traditions of the Italian school of shipbuilding.

Ingenious anti-torpedo protection based on the calculations of Umberto Pugliese.

At a minimum, the spaced booking scheme deserves attention. In general, in everything related to booking, Littorio-class battleships deserve the highest ratings.

And for the rest...
Otherwise, the Italian battleships turned out to be bad - it still remains a mystery why the Italians fired their guns so crookedly - despite excellent armor penetration, the 15-inch Italian shells had surprisingly low accuracy and accuracy of fire. Reforcing gun barrels? Quality of manufacture of liners and shells? Or maybe the national characteristics of the Italian character affected?

In any case, the main problem with the Littorio-class battleships was their mediocre use. The Italian sailors never managed to enter into a general battle with Her Majesty's fleet. Instead, the lead "Littorio" was sunk right at its anchorage, during a British raid on the Taranto naval base (cheerful slobs were too lazy to pull the anti-torpedo net).

The Vittorio Veneto raid against British convoys in the Mediterranean ended no better - the battered ship could barely return to base.

In general, nothing good came of the idea with the Italian battleships. The brightest and most tragic battleship Roma completed its battle path, disappearing in a deafening explosion of its own artillery cellars - the result of a well-aimed hit by the German Fritz-X guided bomb (air bombs? It’s an understatement. The 1360-kilogram Fritz-X ammunition was little like regular bomb).

Epilogue.

Battleships were different. Among them were formidable and effective. There were no less formidable, but ineffective. But every time, the fact that the enemy had such ships delivered opposite side a lot of trouble and worry.
Battleships always remain battleships. Powerful and destructive ships with the highest combat stability.

According to materials:
http://wunderwaffe.narod.ru/
http://korabley.net/
http://www.navy.mil.nz/
http://navycollection.narod.ru/
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://navsource.org/

The fate of these steel monsters, conceived as a thunderstorm of the oceans and seas, has developed in different ways. The military leadership of all the warring countries had high hopes for them. However, it soon became clear that size, in general, does not matter. Battleships gradually gave way to aircraft carriers.

1. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the USSR had three Sevastopol-class battleships in service: the Paris Commune, the October Revolution, and the Marat. They were laid down in June 1909 at the shipyards of St. Petersburg and launched in June-September 1911 and then, of course, they were called differently: “Sevastopol”, “Gangut” and “Petropavlovsk”. "Marat" and "October Revolution" were used in the coastal defense system of Leningrad, and the flagship Black Sea Fleet"Paris Commune" defended Sevastopol in 1942. All three battleships were withdrawn from service only after the war.

2. The history of German battleships was sad. Bismarck was sunk by a British squadron on May 27, 1941 in the very first combat campaign. The Tirpitz, sent to Norwegian waters in 1942 to hunt for Arctic convoys, was destroyed by five-ton bombs in the parking lot as a result of a British air raid in November 1944. On the night of February 27, 1942, in the North Sea, a 500-kilogram British aerial bomb pierced the upper deck of the battleship Gneisenau; it was never restored. The Scharnhorst sent the battleship Duke of York and the cruiser Jamaica to the bottom north of Norway on December 26, 1943.

3. The French battleship "Richelieu" in 1943-1944, together with the forces of the British Navy, participated in the liberation of Norway. The obsolete battleship was scrapped in 1968.

4. Almost two dozen battleships of the King George V, Queen Elizabeth, Nelson and Rivenge types of the Royal Navy of Great Britain fought against enemies from the English Channel to the Mediterranean and the coast of Africa.

5. Four American battleships were sunk and four more seriously damaged in the attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor. The remaining American battleships fought as part of the US Pacific Fleet. On board the battleship Missouri, the act of surrender of Japan was signed on September 2, 1945. “Missouri” turned out to be a long-liver: he made his last salvo in 1991 in the Persian Gulf. The ship appears in the old film "Under Siege" with Steven Seagal. True, the shooting was carried out on the decommissioned battleship Alabama.

6. Japanese battleships "Yamato" and "Musashi" were the largest ships of this type in the world. Imperial Japan really hoped that thanks to battleships it would be possible to seize dominance at sea. However, the very first combat campaign of the Yamato in the Philippisky Sea turned out to be extremely unsuccessful: on June 19, 1944, he fired at his own planes. On October 24, 1944, Musashi was killed in the Sibuyan Sea by bombs and torpedoes from American aircraft. On April 7, 1945, as a result of a powerful attack by carrier-based aircraft, he went to the bottom of the Yamato, taking with him more than three thousand crew members.

7. Italy has never been a sea power. Three battleships "Littorio", "Vittorio Veneto" and "Roma" did not distinguish themselves by major successes. “Vittorio Veneto” and “Littorio” went to the Allies after the war and were dismantled for scrap, and “Roma” on September 9, 1943, the day after the surrender of Italy, was sunk by German aircraft.