What does ship of the line mean. Giant battleships

type "Soviet Union"

The combat charter of the Naval Forces of the Red Army - 1930 (BU-30) recognized battleships as the main striking force of the fleet, and the course towards industrialization opened up real prospects for their creation. However, the matter was held back not only by limited opportunities, but also by dogmatism, extremes in the development of naval theory. Leading theorists B.B. Zhreve and M.A. Petrov, who advocated a proportional ratio of different classes of ships in the combat composition of the fleet, at the turn of the 20-30s. labeled apologists for the "bourgeois old school"; while M.A. Petrov, who brilliantly defended the fleet from its radical reduction in a sharp polemic with M.N. Tukhachevsky at a meeting of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, ended up in prison, where he later died.

Under the influence of a tempting idea to solve the problems of the naval defense of the USSR through the mass construction of relatively cheap submarines, torpedo boats and seaplanes, not always competent specialists of the so-called young school won the theoretical dispute; some of its representatives, out of opportunistic considerations of undermining the authority of the "old specialists", distorted the picture of the struggle at sea during the First World War, idealizing the combat capabilities of "new means", for example, submarines. Sometimes such one-sided concepts were shared by the leaders of the Naval Forces of the Red Army; so, in October 1933, the head of the USSR Navy (Namorsi) V.M. Orlov, at the suggestion of the most aggressive "theoretician" A.P. Aleksandrova demanded "exposing in the press" and "withdrawal from circulation" of the book "Anglo-American Maritime Rivalry", published by the Institute of World Economy and Politics; one of its authors - P.I. Smirnov, who held the position of Deputy Inspector of the Navy of the Red Army, dared to objectively show the place of battleships in the fleet that A.P. Aleksandrov regarded it as "a shameless attack on the party line in naval construction, undermining the confidence of personnel in their weapons."

It is noteworthy that even during the period of enthusiasm for mosquito forces (October 1931), a group of engineers from the design bureau of the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad seemed to foresee the imminent need for these ships; they submitted a memorandum to the industry leadership, which contained proposals to start preparatory work, select types, draw up projects, strengthen the material base, design and workforce. Many of the signatories of this document participated in the design of Soviet battleships. The importance of building large ships in the mid-30s. became obvious to Namorsi V.M. Orlov, his deputy I.M. Ludri and the head of the Glavmorprom of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry R.A. Muklevich.

The greatest success in 1935 was achieved by the Central Design Bureau of Special Shipbuilding of the Glavmorprom (TsKBS-1), headed by V.L. Brzezinski. Among a number of promising projects, six variants of battleships with a standard displacement from 43,000 to 75,000 tons were worked out. According to the results of the work, the chief engineer of TsKBS-1 V.P. Rimsky-Kor-sakov (in the recent past - deputy head of the Naval Training and Construction Department) compiled a generalized code of TTE, which V.L. On December 24, 1935, Brzezinski reported to the leadership of the Naval Forces and Glavmorprom. The first order for the preliminary design of the “project No. 23 of the battleship for the Pacific Fleet” was issued by the Glavmorprom to the Baltic Shipyard on February 21, 1936, but the assignment for this project was not approved and subjected to adjustments according to the TsKBS-1 options. V.M. Orlov recognized projects of battleships with a standard displacement of 55,000-57,000 and 35,000 tons (instead of the option of 43,000 tons) as “interesting and relevant” for the Navy; On May 13, 1936, he gave instructions to I.M. Loudry on the issuance of "clear tasks" to the Naval Research Institute of Military Shipbuilding (NIVK) and industry for the "final sketch design of large ships" in the development of selected options. Preliminary tactical and technical specifications for sketches developed under the guidance of the head of the Shipbuilding Department of the UVMS flagship engineer 2nd rank B.E. Alyakritsky, approved on May 15, 1936 by I.M. Ludry.

The concept of building two types of battleships (larger and smaller displacement) was based on the differences in the theaters of military operations - the open Pacific, limited Baltic and Black Sea. The compilers of the TTZ proceeded from the optimal characteristics of the ships, determined by the level of technology and experience of the past war, combat training. However, at the initial stage, the design was strongly influenced by foreign experience and contractual displacement limits provided for by the Washington (1922) and London (1930 and 1936) agreements, in which the USSR did not officially participate. V.M. Orlov was inclined to reduce the displacement and caliber of weapons of the first battleship of the Pacific Fleet, and for the second he chose the option of a relatively small but high-speed ship, embodied in the projects of the French Dunkirk and the German Scharnhorst. When discussing the sketches, the proposed placement of all three turrets of the main caliber of the “large” battleship in the bow of the hull (following the example of the English battleship Nelson) did not pass the proposed design bureau of the Baltic Shipyard. The TsKBS-1 sketch was taken as the basis, in which two three-gun turrets were placed in the bow, and one in the stern. August 3, 1936 V.M. Orlov approved the TTZ for the preliminary design of battleships of types "A" (project 23) and "B" (project 25), proposed on a competitive basis by TsKBS-1 and the design bureau of the Baltic Shipyard.

In accordance with the special regulation approved by V.M. Orlov and R.A. Muklevich on August 21, 1936, work on projects was carried out in close cooperation with the heads of the Design Bureau and TsKBS-1 S.F. Stepanova and V.L. Brzezinski with representatives of the Navy, who observed the design. The examination was entrusted to the heads of naval institutes under the general supervision of the head of the NIVK, flag officer of the 2nd rank E.P. Liebel.

In November 1936, the materials of the draft designs of the battleships "A" and "B", together with the reviews of the observers and the NIVK, were considered in the Shipbuilding Department of the UVMS (head - engineer-flag officer 2nd rank B.E. Alyakrinsky). To draw up the general technical design of the first of the battleships, the most thoughtful version of the design bureau of the Baltic Shipyard (standard displacement 45,900 tons) was chosen with changes approved by V.M. Namorsi. Orlov November 26, 1936; displacement, for example, was allowed in the range of 46-47 thousand tons with an increase in draft in full load up to 10 m, it was envisaged to strengthen the booking of decks and the bow end. The development of the general technical design of the battleship type "B" was entrusted to TsKBS in the development of the sketch presented by him with a standard displacement of 30,900 tons (total 37,800).

Fulfilling a government decree of July 16, 1936, the Shipbuilding Department of the UVMS issued an order to Glavmorprom on December 3 for the construction of eight battleships with delivery to the fleet in 1941. In Leningrad, it was planned to build two battleships of project 23 (Baltic Plant) and the same number of project 25, in Nikolaev - four projects 25 . This decision actually meant another correction of the shipbuilding program of the second five-year plan (1933-1937), supplementing it with previously unforeseen battleships. However, the implementation of new plans to strengthen the fleet encountered serious difficulties, some of which were determined by the huge amount of experimental work that could ensure the success of design and construction; this meant the manufacture of steam boilers, mine protection compartments, armor plates, life-size models of turbine and boiler rooms, testing the effects of bombs and shells on deck armor, irrigation systems, remote control, air conditioning, etc. The problems of creating artillery installations and turbine mechanisms of high power turned out to be especially difficult.

All these difficulties were overcome in an atmosphere of disorganization in the management of the fleet and industry caused by the repressions of 1937-1938, when almost everyone who led the choice of types and the creation of future battleships became victims. The already dire situation worsened with the availability of qualified command and engineering personnel, as a result of which the laying of ships in 1937 did not take place, and the design tasks themselves underwent serious changes. Project 25 was abandoned, later it was transformed into a heavy cruiser (Project 69, Kronstadt). In August-September of the same year, the new leadership of the Navy of the Red Army (Namorsi - the flagship of the fleet of the 2nd rank L.M. Galler) reworked the previously drawn up ten-year plan for building ships. This option provided for the prospective construction of 6 battleships of type “A” and 14 of type “B” instead of 8 and 16. However, such a truncated plan, submitted to the Defense Committee by Marshal of the Soviet Union K.E. Voroshilov in September 1937, was never officially approved.

Despite the problematic implementation of the ten-year program, the government, by a decision of August 13/15, 1937, determined the revision of the technical project 23 with an increase in the standard displacement to 55-57 thousand tons while optimizing the armor and constructive underwater protection and abandoning two stern 100-mm towers. The increase in displacement, reflecting the objective need to combine powerful weapons, reliable protection and high speed, proved the validity of the initial tasks of 1936. At the same time, TsKB-17 received the flagship of the 2nd rank S.P. developed by the commission. Stavitsky tactical and technical

a request for the design of a battleship type "B" (project 64) with 356-mm artillery of the main caliber. For projects 23 and 64, the unification of the main turbo-gear units with a capacity of 67,000 hp was assumed. each (technical assistance from the Swiss company Brown-Boveri), 152-, 100-mm turrets and quad 37-mm machine guns of domestic design.

The materials of technical project 23 (head of the design bureau of the Baltic Shipyard Grauerman, chief engineer B.G. Chilikin) were considered in the Shipbuilding Department (UK) of the Red Army Navy in November 1937. In December, the head of TsKB-17 N.P. Dubinin and chief engineer V.A. Nikitin submitted to the Criminal Code draft design 64, but both of them were recognized as unsatisfactory. In project 23 (standard displacement 57,825, total displacement 63,900 tons), there were many unresolved issues related to the development of the main power plant, anti-mine and anti-aircraft artillery towers, bottom protection and a reservation system that did not correspond to the results of experimental bombing. The shortcomings of Project 64 were largely explained by the task itself, which involved the creation of a deliberately weak ship, designed to solve problems "in cooperation with other means of connection." Armament (nine 356-, twelve 152-, eight 100-, thirty-two 37-mm guns) and its characteristics (for 356-mm it was planned 750-kg shells with an initial speed of 860-910 m / s) at a speed of 29 knots could not provide a battleship of type "B" with tactical advantages in single combat with the same foreigners. The desire of the designers to meet the stringent requirements of the TTZ for the protection of the ship led to an increase in the standard displacement to almost 50,000 tons. The wishes of the Naval Shipbuilding Administration to reduce the displacement to 45,000 tons did not come true at the beginning of 1938, the battleship "B" was abandoned.

Battleship

Battleship(abbreviated from "ship of the line") - 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 artillery support for land operations. It was an evolutionary development of armadillos in the second half of the 19th century.

origin of name

Battleship - short for "battleship". So in Russia in 1907 they named a new type of ships in memory of the old wooden sailing ships of the line. Initially, the new ships were supposed to revive linear tactics, but this was soon abandoned.

The English analogue of this term - battleship (literally: warship) - also came from sailing ships of the line. In 1794, the term "line-of-battle ship" (ship of the battle line) was abbreviated as "battle ship". In the future, it was used in relation to any warship. From the late 1880s, unofficially, it was most often applied to squadron ironclads. In 1892, the reclassification of the British Navy called the word "battleship" a class of super-heavy ships, which included several especially heavy squadron ironclads.

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. "Only Big Guns"

The authorship of a new leap in the development of large artillery ships is attributed to the English Admiral Fisher. Back in 1899, commanding the Mediterranean squadron, he noted that firing with the main caliber can be carried out at a much greater distance if guided by splashes from falling shells. However, at the same time, it was necessary to unify all artillery in order to avoid confusion in determining the bursts of shells of the main caliber and medium-caliber artillery. 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 ships were centralized fire control from a single general ship post and the spread of electric drives, which accelerated the guidance of heavy guns. The guns themselves have also changed significantly, due to the transition to smokeless powder and new high-strength steels. Now only the lead ship could carry out sighting, and those following in the wake were guided by bursts of its shells. Thus, building 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 continued to be called "battleship" or "cuirassé". In Russia, the "battleship" remained the official term, but in practice the abbreviation was established battleship.

Battlecruiser Hood.

The naval community adopted the new class capital ships ambiguously, weak and incomplete armor protection caused particular criticism. However, the British Navy continued to develop this type, first building 3 cruisers of the Indifatigeble class (Eng. Indefatigable) - an improved version of the Invincible, and then moved on to the construction of battlecruisers with 343 mm artillery. They were 3 Lion-class cruisers (Eng. Leon), as well as built in a single copy of the "Tiger" (Eng. Tiger) . These ships had already surpassed their contemporary battleships in size, were very fast, but their armor, although increased in comparison with the Invincible, still did not meet the requirements of a battle 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 - the highest possible speed combined with the strongest weapons, but with weak armor. As a result, the Royal Navy received 2 Rinaun-class battlecruisers, as well as 2 Koreages-class light battlecruisers and 1 Furies-class, the latter being rebuilt into a semi-aircraft carrier even before commissioning. The last British battlecruiser commissioned was the Hood, and its design was significantly changed after the battle of Jutland, which was unsuccessful for the British battlecruisers. The ship's armor was sharply increased, and it actually became a cruiser battleship.

Battlecruiser Goeben.

A noticeably different approach to the design of battlecruisers was demonstrated by German shipbuilders. To a certain extent, sacrificing seaworthiness, cruising range and even firepower, they paid great attention to the armor protection of their battlecruisers and ensuring their unsinkability. Already the first German battlecruiser "Von der Tann" (German. Von der Tann), yielding to the Invincible in the weight of an airborne salvo, it noticeably surpassed its British counterparts in security.

In the future, developing a successful project, the Germans introduced into their fleet battlecruisers of the Moltke type (German. Moltke) (2 units) and their improved version - "Seidlitz" (it. Seydlitz). Then the German fleet was replenished with battlecruisers with 305-mm artillery, against 280-mm on early ships. They became "Derflinger" (German. Derfflinger), "Lützow" (German. Lutzow) and "Hindenburg" (German. Hindenburg) - according to experts, the most successful battlecruisers of the First World War.

Battlecruiser Kongo.

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

Battlecruisers also wished to have Japan and Russia. The Japanese fleet received in 1913-1915 4 units of the Kongo type (jap. 金剛) - powerfully armed, fast, but poorly protected. The Russian imperial fleet built 4 units of the Izmail type, which were distinguished by very powerful weapons, decent speed and good protection, surpassing the battleships of the Gangut type 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 eventually stopped.

World War I

During World War I, the German Hochseeflotte - High Seas Fleet and the English Grand Fleet spent most of their time at their bases, as the strategic importance of the ships seemed too great to risk in battle. The only clash of battleship fleets in this war (Battle of Jutland) took place on May 31, 1916. The German fleet intended to lure the English fleet out of the bases and break it up in parts, but the British, having guessed the plan, put their entire fleet into the sea. Faced with superior forces, the Germans were forced to retreat, avoiding being trapped several times and losing several of their ships (11 to 14 of the British). However, after that, 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 went to the bottom only from artillery fire, only three English battlecruisers died 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 the harbors, connected by a mine and torpedo threat, and in the Black Sea they had no worthy rivals, and their role was reduced to artillery bombardments. The exception is the battle of the battleship "Empress Catherine the Great" with the battlecruiser "Goeben", during which the "Goeben", having received damage from the fire of the Russian battleship, managed to maintain the advantage in speed and went to the Bosphorus. The battleship "Empress Maria" died in 1916 from an explosion of ammunition in the harbor of Sevastopol for an unspecified reason.

Washington Maritime Agreement

The First World War did not put an end to the naval arms race, for America and Japan, who practically did not participate in the war, took the place of the European powers as owners of the largest fleets. After the construction of the newest superdreadnoughts of the Ise type, the Japanese finally believed in the possibilities of their shipbuilding industry and began to prepare their fleet to establish dominance in the region. These aspirations were reflected in the ambitious 8 + 8 program, which provided for the construction of 8 newest battleships and 8 equally powerful battlecruisers, with 410 mm and 460 mm guns. The first pair of Nagato-class ships had already set sail, 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. War-ravaged England also did not want to lag behind and planned the construction of ships of the G-3 and N-3 type, although it could no longer maintain the "double standard". However, such a burden on the budgets of the world powers was extremely undesirable in the post-war situation, and everyone was ready to make concessions in order to maintain the existing position.

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

All ships were equipped with airborne reconnaissance seaplanes with catapults, and in the second half of the 30s, the British began to install the first radars on their ships.

The military also had at its disposal a lot of ships from the end of the “superdreadnought” era, which were being upgraded to meet the new requirements. They received new machine installations to replace the old ones, more powerful and compact. However, their speed did not increase at the same time, 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 towers received new, enlarged embrasures, which made it possible to increase the firing range, for example, the firing range of the 15-inch guns of the Queen Elizabeth type ships increased from 116 to 160 cable guns.

In Japan, under the influence of Admiral Yamamoto, in the fight against their main intended enemy - the United States - they relied on a general battle of all naval forces, due to the impossibility of a long confrontation with the United States. The main role in this was assigned 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 1920s, it was decided that within the framework of the Washington Agreement it would not be possible to create sufficiently powerful ships that would have superiority over the American ones. Therefore, the Japanese decided to ignore the restrictions by building ships of the greatest possible power, dubbed the "Yamato type". The largest ships in the world (64,000 tons) were equipped with record-breaking 460 mm caliber guns that fired 1,460 kg shells. 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. The huge size and cost of the ships led to the fact that only two were completed - the Yamato and Musashi.

Richelieu

In Europe, over the next few years, ships such as Bismarck" (Germany, 2 units), "King George V"" (Great Britain, 5 units), "Littorio" (Italy, 3 units), "Richelieu" (France, 2 pieces). Formally, they were bound by the limitations of the Washington Agreement, but in reality all the ships exceeded the contractual limit (38-42 thousand tons), especially the German ones. The French ships were actually enlarged versions of the small Dunkirk-class battleships and were of interest because they had only two turrets, both in the bow of the ship, thus losing the ability to shoot directly at the stern. But the towers were 4-gun, and the dead angle in the stern was rather small. The ships were also interested in strong anti-torpedo protection (up to 7 meters wide). Only Yamato could compete with this indicator (up to 5 m, but the thick anti-torpedo bulkhead and the 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). Booking of these ships was considered one of the best among the "35-thousand-ton".

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 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. Also, American ships were 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 the 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 even decreased to 307 mm (although officially, for the purposes of the propaganda campaign, it was announced about 457 mm), however, the thickness of the outer skin increased from 32 to 38 mm, but this did not play a significant role.The armament was somewhat strengthened, the main caliber guns became 5 calibers longer (from 45 to 50 cal.).

Operating with the Tirpitz Scharnhorst in 1943 met with the English battleship Duke of York, heavy cruiser Norfolk, light cruiser Jamaica and destroyers and was sunk. The Gneisenau of the same type during the breakthrough from Brest to Norway across the English Channel (Operation Cerberus) was heavily damaged by British aircraft (partial explosion of ammunition) and did not go out of repair 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 broadside salvos with all their main battery guns along the radar bearing. The Japanese, who did not have shipborne radars, could only fire from the bow guns almost at random, focusing on the muzzle flashes of the American guns.

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

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 508 mm artillery and 330 mm deck armor. The deck, which had a much larger area than the armored belt, could not be protected against aerial bombs without excessive weighting, while the decks of the existing battleships were penetrated by 500 and 1000 kg bombs.

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 their former 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 last battleships (of the New Jersey type) for artillery support of ground operations several more times, due to the relative cheapness of shelling the coast with heavy shells in areas, as well as the extraordinary firepower of ships (after upgrading the system loading, for an hour of firing, Iowa could fire about a thousand tons of shells, which is still not available to any of the aircraft carriers). Although it must be admitted that having a very small (70 kg for 862 kg high-explosive and only 18 kg for 1225 kg armor-piercing) explosive shells of American battleships were not the best suited for shelling the coast, and they did not gather to develop a powerful high-explosive projectile. Before the Korean War, all four Iowa-class battleships were recommissioned. In Vietnam, "New Jersey" was used.

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

Although now battleships are not in the combat composition of the 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 for launching missile strikes on it if necessary. There are talks about the creation of such ships in American maritime circles, but to date, not a single such ship has been built.

Naval historians agree that the first ship of the line (drawings and design by D. Baker) was built in England in 1514. It was a four-masted nave (high-sided wooden ship), equipped with two decks - covered gun decks.

From karakk and galleons

The linear tactics of sea battles began to be used by the fleets of European countries following the initiators of the innovation - England and Spain - at the beginning of the 17th century. Artillery duels replaced boarding duels. According to this strategy, the maximum damage to the enemy fleet was inflicted by ships lined up and conducting aimed volley fire with side guns. There was a need for ships that were maximally adapted to such battles. At first, large sailing ships - karakki - were rebuilt for these purposes. Equipped with decks for the installation of guns and cut holes in the sides - gun ports.

First battleships

The creation of ships capable of carrying powerful, functional artillery weapons required the revision and change of many established shipbuilding technologies, the creation of new calculation methods. So, for example, the flagship sailing ship of the line "Mary Rose", converted from a karakka, sank in 1545 in the naval battle of the Solent, not under the fire of enemy guns, but because of the flooding of incorrectly calculated gun ports by waves.

A new method for determining the level of the waterline and calculating the displacement, proposed by the Englishman E. Dean, made it possible to calculate the height of the lower ports (respectively, the gun deck) from the sea surface without launching the vessel. The first true cannon ships of the line were three-deck. The number of large-caliber guns installed grew. Created in 1637 at the shipyards of England, the "Lord of the Seas" was armed with a hundred guns and for a long time was considered the largest and most expensive warship. By the middle of the century, battleships had from 2 to 4 decks with 50 to 150 large-caliber guns placed on them. Further improvement was reduced to increasing the power of artillery and improving the seaworthiness of ships.

Designed by Peter I

In Russia, the first ship (of the line) was launched under Peter I, in the spring of 1700. The two-deck vessel "God's Omen" which became the flagship of the Azov Flotilla was armed with 58 guns cast at the factories of the industrialist Demidov, caliber 16 and 8 feet. The model of the battleship, which, according to the European classification, belongs to the ships of the 4th rank, was developed personally by the Russian emperor. Moreover, Peter took a direct active part in the construction of the Omen at the shipyards of the Voronezh Admiralty.

In connection with the threat of a Swedish naval invasion, according to the shipbuilding development program approved by the emperor, the composition of the Baltic Fleet in the next decade should be strengthened by battleships of the Azov flagship type. Full-scale construction of ships was launched in Novaya Ladoga, and by the middle of 1712 several fifty-gun battleships were launched into the water - "Riga", "Vyborg", "Pernov" and the pride of the imperial fleet - "Poltava".

Instead of sails

The beginning of the 19th century was marked by a number of inventions that put an end to the glorious history of the military sailing fleet. Among them are a high-explosive fragmentation projectile (invented by French artillery officer Henri-Joseph Pexan, 1819) and a ship's steam engine, first adapted to rotate a ship's lead screw by an American engineer R. Fulton in 1807. It was difficult for the wooden sides to resist the new type of shells. To increase the penetration resistance, the tree was covered with metal sheets. Since 1855, after mastering the mass production of a powerful marine steam engine, sailboats began to quickly lose ground. Some of them were converted - equipped with a power plant and lined with armored plating. Rotating machines began to be used as platforms for installing large-caliber guns, which made it possible to make the firing sector circular. The installations began to be protected by barbettes - armored caps, which later transformed into artillery towers.

Symbol of absolute power

By the end of the century, the power of steam engines had increased significantly, which made it possible to build much larger ships. An ordinary ship of the line of that time had a displacement of 9 to 16 thousand tons. Cruising speed reached 18 knots. The ship's hull, divided by bulkheads into hermetic compartments, was protected by armor no less than 200 mm thick (in the area of ​​the waterline). The artillery armament consisted of two turrets with four 305 mm guns.

The development of the rate of fire and range of naval artillery, the improvement of the technique of aiming guns and centralized fire control due to electric drives and radio communications made the military specialists of the leading maritime powers think about creating battleships of a new type. England built the first such ship in record time in 1906. Its name - HMC Dreadnought - has become a household name for all ships of this class.

Russian dreadnoughts

Naval officials made incorrect conclusions based on the results of the Russian-Japanese war, and the battleship Apostol Andrew the First-Called, laid down at the end of 1905, without taking into account the trends in the development of world shipbuilding, became obsolete even before launching.

Unfortunately, the design of subsequent Russian dreadnoughts cannot be called perfect. If in terms of the power and quality of artillery, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe armored surface, domestic ships were not inferior to English and German ships, then the thickness of the armor was clearly insufficient. The Sevastopol (linear) ship being created for the Baltic Fleet turned out to be fast, well-armed (12 305-caliber guns), but too vulnerable to enemy shells. Four ships of this class were launched in 1911, but became part of the Navy only during the First World War (1914).

The Black Sea battleships "Empress Maria" and "Catherine the Great" had even more powerful weapons and an improved system for attaching armor plates. The Emperor Nicholas I, which received 262-mm monolithic armor, could become the most advanced battleship, but the October Revolution did not allow the construction to be completed, and in 1928 the ship, renamed Democracy, was dismantled for metal.

The end of the battleship era

According to the Washington Agreement of 1922, the maximum displacement of battleships should not exceed 35,560 tons, and the caliber of guns should not exceed 406 mm. These conditions were met by the maritime powers until 1936, after which the struggle for military naval superiority resumed.

The bursting fire of the Second World War served as the beginning of the decline of battleships. The best battleships - the German Bismarck and Tirpitz, the American Prince of Wales, the Japanese Musashi and Yamato - despite powerful anti-aircraft weapons, were sunk by enemy aircraft, the strength of which increased every year. By the middle of the 20th century, the construction of battleships had ceased in almost all countries, and the rest were put into reserve. The only power to keep battleships in service until the end of the century was the United States.

A few facts

The legendary battleship Bismarck took just five salvos to destroy the pride of the British Navy, the battlecruiser HMS Hood. To sink a German ship, the British involved a squadron of 47 ships and 6 submarines. To achieve the result, 8 torpedoes and 2876 artillery shells were fired.

The largest ship of World War II - the ship of the line "Yamato" (Japan) - had a displacement of 70 thousand tons, an armor belt of 400 mm (frontal armor of gun turrets - 650 mm, conning tower - half a meter) and a main caliber of 460 mm.

As part of the "Project 23" in the 40s of the last century, three "Soviet Union" class super battleships were built in the USSR, in terms of technical characteristics slightly inferior to the Japanese "giant".

America's best-known Iowa-class battleships were last upgraded in 1980 with 32 Tomahawk ballistic missiles and modern electronic equipment. The last ship was put into reserve in 2012. Today, the US Naval Museums operate on all four ships.

unique photo of four Iowa-class battleships together in one campaign, June 1954

Battleships type " Iowa” 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 combination of all the main combat characteristics: weapons, speed and protection. Battleships of the Iowa type put an end to the development of the evolution of battleships. They can be considered an ideal project.

Here are the names of the legendary battleships: Iowa"(BB-61)," New Jersey"(BB-62)," Missouri" (BB-63) and " Wisconsin» (BB-64). Two more battleships , « Illinois" (BB-65) and " Kentucky» (BB-66) were not completed. Since by September 1939 the Americans had a clear advantage over the Japanese fleet in terms of the number of warships built, it was decided to experiment and build a high-speed battleship. But in the meantime, US intelligence suggested that construction of the third and fourth Yamato-class battleships had begun in Japan. According to them, the displacement of these warships is 46,000 tons, and the caliber of artillery is 406 mm (in fact, the data was different: 62,315 tons and 460 mm, respectively). The coming strengthening of the fleet of a potential enemy caused concern. Therefore, the General Council instructed the design department, in parallel with the development of a high-speed battleship, to consider its low-speed version.

battleship Iowa, August 1962

In April, three draft designs of a low-speed battleship were submitted to Admiral Hart for consideration. As a result, one of them is approved. Immediately after that, the production of working documentation - drawings - began. The decision to build the first two battleships of the new type was approved by Congress on May 17, 1939. Europe was already at war. Immediately after the surrender of France, the US Congress adopted a shipbuilding program that provided for the creation of a powerful fleet. She even had a name Two Ocean Navy Act", which means "Fleet of two oceans." Far from the last place in the program was occupied. Therefore, on September 9 of the same year, an order for two more ships of the type " Iowa': under the names ' Illinois" and " Kentucky". Production of battleships of the class " Iowa” was a rather difficult task, but the American industry coped with it quite easily. The laying of the lead ship took place on June 27, 1940, and on February 22, 1943, it already became part of the US Navy. The last pair of battleships, unfortunately, were not lucky, due to a change in priorities in the military-industrial complex, the construction of battleships was stopped.

see a good selection of historical photos and videos of the legendary battleship Iowa

On the ship " Iowa"At the end of 1943, US President Roosevelt went to Casablanca to escort the US Pacific Fleet's aircraft carrier formation.

After the war " Iowa"was placed in reserve, August 24, 1951 re-commissioned and was transferred to the US Atlantic Fleet.

In the spring of 1980, the US Congress decided to reopen battleships type " Iowa» (4 units). By that time, the "cold war" between the USSR and the "conditional enemy" had reached its climax. The United States took a course on a sharp increase in its fleet. "Rebirth", so you can call the return to life of the famous battleships. They retained sets of heavy artillery and armored belts with decks, in addition, they were equipped with strategic weapons - cruise missiles of the " Tomahawk» as well as anti-ship missiles and automated anti-aircraft artillery systems.

battleship "Iowa" photo

battleship Iowa fired a salvo

salvo of the battleship "Iowa"

battleship Iowa, 1988

battleship "Iowa" stern

On April 28, 1984, after a thorough modernization in New Orleans, the Iowa battleship re-enters service. However, in mid-April 1989, after the explosion of the powder compartment, which caused enormous damage to the central gun of the ship, it was put into reserve.

Battleship "Wisconsin” became on January 12, 1995 for permanent mooring in the port of Newport.

Battleships of this type participated in the Vietnam War, took part in Operation Desert Storm, as well as in the localization of the conflict in the Falkland Islands. They were repaired, modernized and put back into operation.

Battleship"Missouri" on May 4, 1998 was transferred to the US Navy Museum, which is located at the Pearl Harbor military base. Despite the age of 40, the battleships are quite well preserved, because they were operated for only about 13 years, and the rest of the time they were in reserve.

battleship Wisconsin, 1952

The era of sailing ships left forever at the end of the 19th century. But the need for this class of ships has not disappeared. With the departure of heavy battleships from the scene of hostilities, the urgent issue was the need to build fundamentally new ships that could perform the tasks of linear tactics. In 1907, a new class of battleships began to be created in Russia, and in memory of sailing ships, this class is called "battleships" - the abbreviated name of a battleship.

The basis of the new class of battleships was based on the main technical characteristics:

• Displacement from 20,000 to 70,000 tons.
• Length 150 - 280 m.
• The main caliber of guns is from 280 to 460 mm.
• The crew of the battleship ranged from 1500 to 2800 people.

The main task of the battleship was to destroy combat surface targets as part of a formation of ships and to provide artillery support for ground operations with its main caliber.

British Admiral Fisher, commander of the Mediterranean squadron, in 1899, became the author of the concept of "only big guns." The use of large-caliber guns and the rejection of medium-caliber artillery weapons made it possible to increase the firing range to 120 cables.

Along with the concept of "only big guns", the new class of battleships was based on technical innovations, such as fire control from the central console, the use of new high-strength light alloys, as well as the ability to accelerate the aiming and reloading of guns. An important factor in the improvement of the guns themselves was the invention of smokeless powder.

The experience of the Russo-Japanese War showed that superiority in naval battles can only be achieved through the speed of a ship and the range of its guns. This experience was taken into account not only by the Russians or the Japanese, the main maritime powers took note of the experience and laid down new battleships. In English, battleships continued to be called "battleship". The first battleship was launched by the British due to the fact that their shipbuilding was the most advanced in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. This ship was the Dreadnought. His name has become a household name for all ships of his class.

Before the start of World War II, no new battleships were built in the USSR, but only the existing battleships of the Gangut type were modernized. Modernization did not give anything, since the changes made did not keep pace with the development of technology.

Just before the war, Stalin gave instructions on the development of the "Big Fleet" program. The lack of a clear idea of ​​the strategic purpose of the new fleet slowed down the development of a new class of ships. In the end, it was decided to abandon any restrictions on displacement. The result was the so-called "Project 23".

Starting from July 1938, four battleships were laid down in the USSR: "Soviet Union", "Soviet Ukraine", "Soviet Belarus" and "Soviet Russia". By the beginning of the Patriotic War, none of the ships was ready and their construction was frozen. The era of battleships is gone.