Battleship

:This article is about the type of warship. See also Battleship (game).

Early battleships

The origin of battleships can be found in the "great ships", such as galleons, which had existed in several European countries since around 1410. These large Western ships were themselves preceded by the great sailing junks of the Chinese Empire, described by various travelers to the East such as Marco Polo and Niccolò Da Conti, and used during the travels of Admiral Zheng He in the early 15th century, and by the various cogs and busses in the Baltic Sea region, and galleasses and mahons in the Mediterranean Sea.

Related Topics:
Galleons - Europe - 1410 - Junks - Chinese Empire - Marco Polo - Niccolò Da Conti - Zheng He

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Following the development of the line of battle, first used with ships of the line by England, the Netherlands and Spain in the early 17th century, battleships became for over 300 years the main instrument of naval warfare by European countries, allowing nations such as the Netherlands, Spain, France and, most notably, Britain, to create and maintain trade-based overseas empires.

Related Topics:
Line of battle - Ships of the line - England - Netherlands - Spain - 17th century - Naval warfare - France - Britain

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the 17th century fleets could consist of almost a hundred ships of various sizes, but by the mid 18th century, ship-of-the-line design had settled on a few standard types: older two-deckers (i.e. with two complete decks of guns firing through side ports) of 50 guns (which were too weak for the battle-line but could be used to escort convoys), two-deckers of between 64 and 90 guns which formed the main part of the fleet, and larger three- or even four-deckers with 98–144 guns which were used as admirals' command ships. Fleets consisting of perhaps 10–25 of these ships kept control of the sea-lanes for major European naval powers whilst restricting sea-borne trade of enemies.

Related Topics:
Fleet - 18th century - Two-decker - Convoy - Three

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although Spain, the Netherlands and France built huge fleets, they were rarely able to match the skill of British naval crews. British crews excelled, in part, because they spent much more time at sea, were generally better fed, and were generally more competent as the Royal Navy based promotion on merit rather than lordship. In addition, with no large land army to support, the United Kingdom was always free to devote more resources to her prized navy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the North Sea and North Atlantic Ocean the fleets of Britain, the Netherlands, France and Spain fought numerous battles in support of their land armies and to deny the enemy access to trade routes. In the Baltic Sea, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Russia did likewise, while in the Mediterranean Sea Russia, Ottoman Turkey, Venice, Britain and France battled for control of the Balkans, Egypt and Malta.

Related Topics:
North Sea - North Atlantic Ocean - Baltic Sea - Sweden - Denmark - Russia - Mediterranean Sea - Ottoman Turkey - Venice - Balkans - Egypt - Malta

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain defeated Europe's major naval powers at battles such as at Copenhagen and Trafalgar, allowing the Royal Navy to establish itself as the world's primary naval power. Spain, Denmark and Portugal largely stopped building battleships during this time under duress from the British. Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 with the largest and most professional navy in the world, composed of hundreds of wooden, sail-powered ships of all sizes and classes. The Royal Navy had complete naval supremacy across the world following the Napoleonic Wars, and demonstrated this superiority during the Crimean War in the 1850s.

Related Topics:
Napoleonic Wars - Great Britain - Copenhagen - Trafalgar - 1815 - Royal Navy - Crimean War - 1850s

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

However, from the early 1850s onwards, the advent of reliable steam power and iron hulls made wooden sail battleships obsolete. These vessels were subsequently redesigned or fitted with steam engines. In the 1860s major naval powers built "armoured frigate" type ships, which, although having only one gundeck, were used as battleships, not frigates.

Related Topics:
Steam power - Iron

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Britain's naval supremacy was challenged in 1859 when France launched Gloire, the first ocean-going ironclad battleship. Although made of wood and reliant on sail for most of her journeys, Gloire was fitted with a propeller and her wooden hull was protected by a layer of thick iron armour. This ship instantly rendered all British battleships obsolete, as British vessels would easily be outmaneuvered and their cannonballs would simply bounce off Gloire's revolutionary metal armour. Britain sparked a massive naval arms race by launching the much-superior Warrior in 1860. With the Royal Navy's "wooden walls" rendered obsolete by the new breed of ironclad ships, other world powers seized the opportunity to build high-tech warships to rival British vessels, and major warship construction programmes began in earnest in Britain, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Prussia/Germany. Desperate to maintain naval superiority (under the premise that the Royal Navy had to outnumber the world's next two largest navies combined), the British government spent more and more money on up-to-the-minute warship designs. Soon after, however, turreted guns began to be used, following the designs of the shipwright John Ericsson. This was largely necessitated by the introduction of paddle wheels, which prevented ships from displaying lines of guns along their sides. Turrets allowed the guns to fire on both beams, so fewer guns needed to be carried. In the 1870s the armoured frigate type, with its side-ported guns, dropped out of fashion. Armoured cruisers, which were first built with broadside guns, soon adopted turrets as well. The transition from smoothbore cannon to Rifled Muzzle Loaders and Rifled Breech Loaders greatly affected the design of the ships. The fear that an enemy naval power could launch an attack with ships that were only slightly superior became a major factor in British defence policy during the late 19th Century. Warship technology was advancing so rapidly from 1865-1906 that new battleships were often rendered obsolete within a few years of construction. This created a huge financial strain - by 1870, the British government was spending a staggering 37% of its annual national budget on the construction of new battleships.

Related Topics:
1859 - ''Gloire'' - Ironclad - Cannonball - Arms race - Warrior - 1860 - Italy - Austria-Hungary - Prussia - Germany - Shipwright - John Ericsson - Paddle wheel - Turret - Smoothbore - Rifled Muzzle Loader - Rifled Breech Loader - 19th Century

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Various technological advances affected the naval arms race. The development of brown powder was a critical step in the creation of the modern battleship—black powder combusted rapidly, and therefore useful cannons required relatively short barrels, otherwise the friction of the barrel would slow down the shell accelerated by the violent expansion of the powder. The sharpness of the black powder explosion also meant that guns were subjected to extreme material stress. Brown powder, which combusted less rapidly, allowed longer barrels, which allowed greater accuracy; and because it expanded less sharply than black powder, it put less strain on the insides of the barrel, allowing guns to last longer and to be manufactured to tighter tolerances. This permitted a battleship to mount fewer guns to greater effect than its predecessors.

Related Topics:
Black powder - Cannon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From 1870 to 1890 battleship design was in a wildly experimental phase, as different navies experimented with different turret arrangements, sizes and numbers, with each new design rendering the previous ones largely obsolete overnight. Bizarre experimental warships appeared—a series of German warships were built with dozens of small guns to repel smaller craft, a British vessel was built using a turbine engine (which ironically became the main propulsion system for all ships), whilst an entire class of French battleships—known as "fierce-face"—were designed to intimidate enemy crews through their sheer ugliness (?). The main battleship nations during this period were Britain, France and Russia, plus newcomers Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, while Turkey and Spain built small numbers of armoured frigates and cruisers, and Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands built smaller "coastal battleships" (pantserschip) of up to 5,000 tons.

Related Topics:
Turbine - Austria-Hungary - Frigate - Cruiser - Pantserschip

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first warships resembling modern battleships were built in Britain around 1870 with the Devastation class of low-freeboard turret ships, a few years after the first battle between ironclad warships (the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia at Hampton Roads, Virginia). However, it was not until around 1880 that battleship design became stable enough for larger classes to be built to a single design. Later in the period battleship displacement grew rapidly as more powerful engines and more armour and minor guns were added. Many experimental ships were built, but all navies finally converged on a design known after-the-fact as Pre-dreadnoughts, which were battleships built in the period 1890–1905 and usually having a displacement of 9,000–16,000 tons, a speed of 13–18 knots, and an armament of four "big guns", usually 12" (305mm) in bore diameter, in two centreline turrets, fore and aft, plus secondary and smaller guns. Turrets, armour plate, and steam engines were all improved over the years, and torpedo tubes were introduced. However, events in 1906 sparked off another naval arms race.

Related Topics:
''Devastation'' class - Turret ship - Ironclad - USS ''Monitor'' - CSS ''Virginia'' - Hampton Roads - Virginia - Pre-dreadnought - Knot - Torpedo

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1905 the Russian Navy was decisively defeated at the Battle of Tsushima by the modern Japanese Navy, which was equipped with the latest battleships. The events of the battle revealed to the world that only the biggest guns mattered in modern naval battles. As secondary guns grew in size, spotting gun splashes (and aiming) between main and secondary guns became problematic. The Battle of Tsushima demonstrates that damage from the main guns was much greater than secondary guns. In addition, the battle demonstrated the practicability of gun battles beyond the range of secondary guns (12,000 yards). The United States, Japan, and Britain all realized this and launched plans for an all-big-gun ships. Britain, lead by Head of Admiralty Jacky Fisher, took the lead and completed Dreadnought in only 11 months. Dreadnought carried 10 12-inch guns in 5 turrets, and was powered not by reciprocating engines, but by revolutionary (for large ships) steam turbines. Previous ships powered by reciprocating steam engines were, in practice, limited by engine vibration to 18 knots. Even at that speed vibration limited aiming ability and the engines wore out quickly. Dreadnought had a top speed of 21 knots. It was the first of the new breed of "all-big-gun" battleships. Major naval powers raced to build their own dreadnoughts to avoid being overtaken by Britain. The Royal Navy, which demanded a navy equal to any two of its competitors combined, began demanding increasingly unaffordable sums from the government for dreadnought construction. The government, already burdened with financial crises caused by the military catastrophe of the Second Boer War and a voting population demanding more government expenditure on welfare and public works, could not afford to squander precious money on even more dreadnoughts, allowing rival navies (particularly the Kaiserliche Marine) to catch up with Britain's battleship forces. Even after Dreadnoughts commission, battleships continued to grow in size, guns, and technical proficiency as countries vied to have the best ships. By 1914 Dreadnought was outmoded. This expensive arms race would not end until the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. This treaty limited the number and size of battleships that each major nation could possess.

Related Topics:
1905 - Russia - Battle of Tsushima - Japan - ''Dreadnought'' - Steam turbines - Second Boer War - Kaiserliche Marine - Washington Naval Treaty

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~