Battleship

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

World War II

With the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, the major navies of the world scaled back their battleship programs, with numerous ships on all sides scrapped or repurposed. With extensions, that treaty lasted until 1936, when the major navies of the world began a new arms race. Famous ships like Bismarck, Prince of Wales and Yamato were all launched in the next few years. During the conflict naval warfare evolved quickly and battleships lost their position as the principal ships of the fleet.

Related Topics:
Washington Naval Treaty - 1922 - 1936 - ''Bismarck'' - ''Prince of Wales'' - ''Yamato''

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In the early stages of the battle of the Atlantic, Germany's surface units threatened the Atlantic convoys supplying Britain, so the British surface units devoted themselves to protecting the convoys, and seeking out and trying to destroy the German ships, as well as lying in wait at Scapa Flow. The German battleship raiders recorded early successes, with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau surprising and sinking the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious off western Norway in June 1940. A subsequent cruise in the North Atlantic netted the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau 22 ships. Bismarck sank the battlecruiser HMS Hood on 24 May 1941 during an attempt to break out into the North Atlantic. The Royal Navy hunted down Bismarck; an attack by Swordfish biplanes from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal with torpedoes disabled her steering, leaving her a sitting-duck, and on Monday 27 May 1941 the battleships King George V, Rodney and a number of cruisers and destroyers engaged her with guns and torpedoes. After an eighty-eight minute battle, she sank, with some reports indicating that she was scuttled by her own crew.

Related Topics:
Battle of the Atlantic - ''Scharnhorst'' - ''Gneisenau'' - HMS ''Glorious'' - 1940 - Battlecruiser - HMS ''Hood'' - 24 May - 1941 - Swordfish - Aircraft carrier - ''Ark Royal'' - 27 May - ''King George V'' - ''Rodney''

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Battleships were also involved in the battle to control the Mediterranean. At the Battle of Taranto in November 1940, Swordfish airplanes from HMS Illustrious attacked the Italian fleet at their base at Taranto. Losing 21 planes, the Royal Navy effectively sunk one battleship and disabled two others. The success of this raid inspired the Japanese plan to attack Pearl Harbor which entered the planning stage three months later. At the Battle of Cape Matapan, 27–29 March 1941, three Italian heavy cruisers were surprised and overwhelmed by a British battleship force near Crete, demonstrating that lighter ships in the fleet were still vulnerable to big guns.

Related Topics:
Battle of Taranto - HMS Illustrious - Pearl Harbor - Battle of Cape Matapan - 27 - 29 March - 1941

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However, technology was overtaking the battleship. A battleship's big guns might have a range of thirty miles, but the aircraft carrier had aircraft with ranges of several hundred miles, and radar was making those attacks ever more effective. Bismarck was crippled by obsolete Swordfish torpedo bombers from Victorious and Ark Royal. The Soviet dreadnought Petropavlovsk and Italian Roma were sunk by German air attacks. The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and its battlecruiser escort HMS Repulse were sunk by Japanese torpedo bombers while in defence of Malaya (Malaysia and Singapore). Prince of Wales became the first battleship to be sunk by aircraft while able to defend itself in open water.

Related Topics:
Aircraft carrier - Radar - Swordfish - ''Victorious'' - ''Ark Royal'' - ''Petropavlovsk'' - ''Roma'' - HMS ''Prince of Wales'' - HMS ''Repulse'' - Japanese torpedo bombers

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D-Day saw battleships in the role of coastal bombardment in support of an amphibious landing on a hostile, fortified shore. Several older battlewagons came into their own, not only knocking out coastal guns which threatened transports and landing craft, but also hitting troop and tank concentrations, and railway marshalling yards. HMS Ramillies fired 1,002 15" shells at shore targets as well as driving off German aircraft, E Boat and destroyer attacks.

Related Topics:
D-Day - HMS ''Ramillies'' - E Boat - Destroyer

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The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 sank or damaged most of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's battleships, but the three aircraft carriers were not in port and so escaped damage. Six months later, it was those carriers that were to turn the tide of the Pacific War at the battle of Midway. As the war progressed, battleships became festooned with anti-aircraft weapons such as the 40mm Bofors gun. Nonetheless, the advent of air power spelled doom for the battleship.

Related Topics:
Battle of Midway - 40mm Bofors gun

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Battleships in the Pacific ended up primarily performing shore bombardment and anti-aircraft defense for the carriers. The largest battleships ever constructed, Japan's Yamato and Musashi, were sunk by aircraft attacks long before they could come within striking range of the American fleet. The last active German battleship, Tirpitz, had lurked until late into the war in Norwegian fjords protected by anti-submarine defences and shore based anti-aicraft guns, but was still damaged there and sunk by RAF aircraft using Tallboy bombs.

Related Topics:
''Yamato'' - ''Musashi'' - ''Tirpitz'' - RAF - Tallboy bomb

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The second half of World War II saw the last four battleship duels. Massachusetts fought Vichy French battleship Jean Bart on 27 October,1942. In the Battle of Guadalcanal on November 15, 1942, the United States battleships South Dakota and Washington fought and destroyed the Japanese battleship Kirishima. In the Battle of North Cape, on 26 December 1943, HMS Duke of York and destroyers sank the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst off Norway. And in the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 25 October 1944 six battleships, led by admiral Jesse Oldendorf of the US 7th Fleet sank the Japanese admiral Shoji Nishimura's battleships Yamashiro and Fuso during the Battle of Surigao Strait.

Related Topics:
''Massachusetts'' - Jean Bart - 27 October - 1942 - Battle of Guadalcanal - November 15 - ''South Dakota'' - ''Washington'' - ''Kirishima'' - Battle of North Cape - 26 December - 1943 - HMS ''Duke of York'' - Battlecruiser - Norway - Battle of Leyte Gulf - 25 October - 1944 - Jesse Oldendorf - Shoji Nishimura - ''Yamashiro'' - Fuso - Battle of Surigao Strait

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Nevertheless, the Battle of Samar on 25 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf proved that battleships still were a lethal weapon. Only the indecision of Admiral Takeo Kurita saved the American aircraft carriers of Taffy III from being pounded to bottom by gunfire of Yamato, Kongo and Nagato and their cruiser host. Miraculously, only USS Gambier Bay along with four destroyers were lost due to surface action.

Related Topics:
Battle of Samar - 25 October - 1944 - Battle of Leyte Gulf - Takeo Kurita - Yamato - Kongo - Nagato - USS Gambier Bay

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As a result of the changing technology, plans for even larger battleships, the American Montana class and Japanese Super Yamato class, were cancelled. At the end of the war, almost all the world's battleships were decommissioned or scrapped. It is notable that most battleship losses occurred while in port. No battleship was lost to heavy bombers on the open seas (Roma was sunk by a guided missile while underway to surrender), which was considered the most grave aerial peril to battleships prior WWII due to Billy Mitchell and SMS Ostfriesland experiment.

Related Topics:
''Montana'' class - Super ''Yamato'' class - Billy Mitchell - SMS Ostfriesland

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