Battleships - Armored Fist of the Fleet

Battleship Row

Battleship ( bat'l-ship') n. Any of the largest, most heavily armed and armored class of warships. 2. Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women. 3. If you can see one, that means you've been in gun range for a long time.

"The best protection against the enemy's fire is a well directed fire from our own guns."
- Rear Admiral David G. Faarragut, 1863.

"Hits per gun per minute/weapons on target per unit of time is the bottom line in our profession."
- Vice Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, Jr.

The Great Armored Fist of the Fleet

Battleships were super weapons of the world navies for about four hundred years from about the mid 1500s, to more or less 1941. The term comes from the age of sail, where the most powerful ships of the fleet would form into a single line of battle to engage an enemy fleet which would be trying to move into the same formation to engage ships in the opposite line. When British King Henry VIII came to the English throne in 1509, the Royal Navy consisted of five vessels. Knowing that conflict with foreign powers very likely, he commissioned the building of a new class of fighting ships, the first true battleship if you will. Named for his favorite sister, the HMS Mary Rose was launched in 1511 from the docks in Portsmouth. Previous classes of fighting ships bristled with cannons at "castles" at either end of the ship, but Mary Rose was different. She introduced gun ports arranged down either side of the ship introducing the "broadside" The down side of this was that the bronze cannons of the times were built from unique molds destroyed after each gun was built so there was no true uniformity in ordnance.

Warship architecture would take centuries to evolve into Mary Rose's proudest descendent, HMS Victory nearly 260 years later. Fleet tactics and the growth of technology would dictate how ship designs would evolve. British naval architecture wasn't always the best in the world but the quality of the British commanders and crew were second to none.

One officer towers above all others, British Admiral Horatio Nelson. No one else had quite the influence in the combat use during the age of sail then Nelson . The Battles of Trafalgar was the largest fleet battle during the age of sail, and showcased his brilliance of command and his methods for captains under his command to use individual initiative in action. Nelson would lead his fleets to victory at the Battle of the River Nile and later, the Battle of Trafalgar, the greatest clash between ships of the battle line.

Over the next hundred years iron and steam would replace canvas and wood as the heart of warship design.

- This section is will be under construction for a while.

Jutland were the largest engagements between fleets of opposing ships of the battle line, but by the twentieth century the tremendous cost of building capitol ships made it extremely risky to use them for risk of their loss. At the beginning of the Great War, around 148 dreadnoughts type battleships existed. Just twenty years later the world battle fleets have been purged to 56 battleships at the beginning of World War Two.

Giants ships of the battle line such as Britain's famous HMS Victory, and France's L'Orient would evolve over time into their distant cousins, the American Iowa Class Battleships, and the Japanese Yamato Class Battleships, the largest and most heavily armed warships ever constructed.

Strength of the Battle Line

One point that always annoys me in current historical documentaries is repeated statement that after December 7, 1941 the age of the big gun capitol ship had been eclipsed by the aircraft carrier. If anything, World War II showed that there was plenty of combat missions left for the battleships and cruisers. December 7 was the ONLY time that American Battleships were lost in combat, and of the victims of the attack only Arizona and Oklahoma were total losses. I'm not counting the Utah sense she was classed as an auxiliary. The United States Navy would loose 12 aircraft carriers to enemy action. With out the protection of the big gun, carriers are very vanuarable to attack. The loss of USS Hornet during the Battle of Santa Cruz showed that carriers must have the best protection prossable. USS Enterpise had the protection of USS South Dakota during the areal onslought and lived to avenge the death of her sistership Hornet.

During World War Two the rest of the world's navy would have different success with their battleships. Great Britan would lose the lion's share of the Allies capitol ships loses with France in second place ( thought by a strange quark of fate, to the British! ) . HMS Barham, HMS Royal Oak, HMS Prince of Wales, and battle cruisers HMS Hood, HMS Repulse were destroyed by the Germans and Japanese. Hood was destroyed nine minutes into battle on the fifth salvo from KM Bismarck in problably histories most famous naval gunnery duel. Click here. Barhanm, Royal Oak were lost to submarine launch torpedos. Prince of Wales and Repulse were lost to over whelming air attack from Japanes torpedos bombers on December 10, 1941.

The Alantic and Mediterranean Theater of Operations:

The bulk of the Axes capitol ships were hunted down and destroyed by other capitol ships, submarines and air power. DK Bismarck and DK Scharnhorst were lost in classic surface actions.

Sink the Bismarck !

If a historian could only pick one battle or engagement in War as the most famous or significant, then none are quite like the epic sea chase to find and destroy the German Battleship Bismarck. After the loss of HMS Hood and the death of all but three of her crew, to the guns of Bismarck and "his" consort, the heavy criuser Prinz Eugen; Winston Churchill gave the famous order to " Sink the Bismarck!" This story of tragedy and triumph is with out equal in the annals of naval history.

Bismark's sister ship DK Tripitz was destroyed on 12 November 1944 after mumerous attempts by air attack when 32 Lancasters of the 617th Dam Buster Squardon dropped 12,000 pound "tall boy" bombs, which are so masive that no ship ever built could stand up to the kenetic energy of these weapons much less to the explosive power of the 5.4 ton tall boy bomb. Not even a modern Nimitz Class Carrier would stand up to the tall boy, thought it would take a few hits to put one out of action. Shortly after 0940, the Tirpitz is hit by two "Tallboy" bombs on the port side amidships. Four other bombs near-miss the battleship. At 0952 the ship capsizes at 69Ľ 36' north, 18Ľ 59' east. 971 dead.

The Pacific Theater of Operations:

In the Pacific, the upgraded World War one era battlecruiser IJN Hiei was the first to die when she was reduced to a burning wreck off Guadalcanal on November 12-13, 1942 by about fifty shells ranging between 5 inch, 6 inch and 8 inch caliber from the American Heavy Cruisers, USS Portland and USS San Francisco . Her hulk was left to absorb American air power the next day from both Henderson Field and USS Enterprise on orders of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto so the rest of the bombardment squadron could escape to fight and get wiped out later anyway by the American fleet.

On November 12, 1942 the second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was fought between units of the American and Japanise Navys, the vaunarbilites of battlecruisers are clearly obvious. The guns of heavy and light cruisers crippled the steering gear in the unarmored stern of IJN Hiei and immobilized the ship for air attacks the next day. The concept for battlecruisers to be used as super scouts able to annihilate enemy scouts with their large caliber rifles was sound, but in a fleet action they are too powerful not to use, but to weak to face true battleships whose weapons can pierce their light armor. ( see paragraph on my cruiser page - under construction )

The best example of the mission that battle cruiser can under take are exemplified by the First Battle of the Falklands December 8, 1914 ( not the one on 1982), where the British Battle Cruisers Invincible and Inflexible were able to udelrly crush ( thought large amount of ammo expended for the German Armored Cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau with their superior speed and Dreadnought calibur rifles were devestating.

Her sister ship IJN Kirishima was completely over whelmed and destroyed two nights later by USS Washington ( BB-56 ) that she too had to be scuttled on 14 November 1942.
For more information about Guadalcanal click here.
IJN Kongo was sunk by one submarine torpedo fired by USS Sealion ( SS-315) on November 21, 1944. **

During the epic Battle of Leyte Gulf, Japan would lose no less then three battleships, Musashi, Fuso and Yamashiro. IJN Musashi was sunk by concentrated air attack from Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet. Battleships IJN Fuso was blown in two by American destroyer torpedos attacks and IJN Yamashiro was annihliated by gunfire from 6 dreadnought battleships consisting of USS Mississipi, USS Maryland, USS West Virginia, USS Tennessee, USS Califorina and USS Pennsylvania in an enguagment so one sided that Pennsylvania never got a chance to open fire. This would be history's last battle between battleships of any nation.
The two Japanese super battleships , IJN Musashi and IJN Yamato were both lost enterly to air attack.

Combat Losses:

United States Navy:
USS Arizona (BB39) - Destroyed by high level Kate bombers from the carriers IJN Kaga and IJN Hiryu. Destroyed about 8:10 am on December 7, 1941.

USS Okahloma (BB37) - Capsized at Pearl Harbor, 415 killed, but 32 rescued through holes cut in bottom of the ship. Raised 28 Dec 1943 and sold for scrap to Moore Drydock of Oakland Cailforina on 5 Dec 1946. She sank after breaking tow on 17 May 1947 540 miles east of Pearl Harbor.

USS Utah ( BB31, or as target ship AG16 ) - Not classed as frount line combantant, she was torpedoed and rolled over at her berth F-11 at 0812 hours on December 7, 1941. ***

British Royal Navy:

HMS Royal Oak (BB): Sunk 14 October 1939 after being hit by 3 torpedoes fired by Gunther Prien's U-47 at anchor in Scapa Flow, Orkeny Islands 833 men killed.

HMS Hood ( BC ): Sunk 24 May 1941 in the Denmark Strait 160nm W of Cape Reykjanest‡, Iceland (c 63-00'N, 32-00'W) 3 survivors out of crew of 1,421

HMS Barham (BB): Hit by 3 torpedoes 25 November 1941 fired by U-331,capsized and exploded north of Sidi Barrani in Eastern Mediterranean (c 32-30'N, 26-30'E) 861 men killed.

HMS Prince of Wales (BB) : Sunk on December 10, 1941 bombs and torpedos hit and sunk by 4 torpedoes from Japanese land based planes Dec.10/41 off Kuantan, Malaya in South China Sea (c 3-30'N, 104-30'E)

HMS Repulse ( BC ) Sunk 10 December 1941 by 5 torpedoes from Japanese A/C (22nd Naval Air Flotilla) off Kuantan,Malaya in South China Sea (c 3-30'N, 104-30'E) was in company of Prince of Wales ( Force Z)

Imperial Japanese Navy:

All of them. ( under construction )

Combat Victories: - under construction

World Fastest Battleships in Action: Truk Lagoon 16 February 1943

USS Iowa and USS New Jersey first got to show their capabilities in action for the first time off Truk Lagoon against Japanese shipping on 16 February 1943. Admiral Ramond Spruance flew his flag onboard New Jersey ( task group 50.9) during this engagement. The two Iowas were supported by the heavy cruisers Minneapolis ( CA-36) and New Orleans (CA-32) and four destroyers. New Jersey opened the carnage by utterly smiting the minesweeping trawler, Shonan Maru No.15 with just her port side five inch battery. Iowa contuned the massacre by engaging the light cruiser IJN Katori. If there ever was a miss match of ships, this is it. Katori couldn't fight back even if she tried too much less run away, ( 18 knots top speed vs Iowa 30 knots plus for Iowa! )
Iowa fired 46 sixteen inch HC ( high capacity, not armor pearcing rounds) and 124 five inch projectiles at Katori straddling the cruiser with all eight salvos. Just after the fourth salvo, the cruiser shuttered and started to list to port. She sank stern first, after being under fire for only eleven minutes.
New Jersey engaged the destroyer Maikaze at 7,000 yards sinking her. The last remaining destroyer Nowaki fled the mass carnage, and both Iowas gave chase The fastest battleships in the world opened up their throttles and worked up to 32.5 knots. Both battleships opened fire at 35,000 yards and straddled the Nawaki on the first salvos but the escaping destoyers was fleeing into the sun glare and haze. At 38,000 yards both ships were firing under full radar control. At 39,000 years Admiral Spruance ordered cease fire. At 22 miles these were the longest range shots ever fired by US Battleships against enemy vessel. The Nowaki would escape but would not survive Leyte Gulf. *

* Pg 45-46 The Iowa Class Battleships by Malcolm Muir copy write 1987 by Blanford Pres LInk house, West Street, Poole, Dorset BH15, Ill

Order of Battle

Go to USS Alabama's anchorage

Go to USS Arizona's Memoral - Moved to new server

Go to USS Iowa's anchorage

Go to USS Missouri's anchorage - Under Construction on new server

Go to USS North Carolina's anchorage

Go to USS Wisconsin's anchorage

USS Arizona Memoral (BB39) 800 X 518 pixels 65K

USS Florida BB30, underway 1913 ( Launched 12 May 1910 )1200 X 742 pixels. 96K B&W.

USS Idaho (BB42) in dry dock. Black and white photo 678 X 542 pixels 62k

USS Iowa April 20, 1989

USS Iowa in port Norfolk Va. 19 April 1990 42k

USS Missouri (BB63) firing broadside 671 X 518 pixels 74K
On Monday 22 June 1998 the Mighty Mo arrived in Pearl Harbor to be a permanent memorial
(or at least until the next time we need her) on Battleship Row.
It's fitting to have USS Missouri at Pearl since the death of USS Arizona "on Sunday, December 7, 1941..." drew the U.S. into war, culminating in the Japanese surrender on Missouri's deck on 2 September 1945
USS Missouri is now open to the public on battleship row.

Become a friend of the Mighty Mo
USS Missouri homepage
http://warship.simplenet.com/Missouri.htm - Cool Mighty Mo website.

USS Missouri portside underway 984 X 731 pixels 96k

USS Missouri broadside during WWII, famous photo B&W. 1200 x 952 pixels 72dpi.

USS Missouri During 1945 New York Naval Review 1200 X 575 pixels 63K B&W.

USS Missouri off Diamond Head

USS North Carolina (BB55): Portrait of "the Showboat" Monday 10 August 1998.

Hi - rez1000 X 651 pixels 53K
Low - rez 640 X 396 pixels 24K
Portrait of Me with the "Showboat"1000 X 663 pixels 53K.

USS Washington (BB56) underway in the Pacific Ocean WWII. The Washington is the only American Battleship to destroy an enemy capital ship in a gunnery duel. Click here to go to the USS Washington BB56 Home Port.

med size 72dpi 1200 x 941 pixels 126K
low size 72 dpi 800 x 627 pixels 72K

USS Wyoming BB32, in port Norfolk Va. 1934 ( Launched 25 May 1911) - 1200 X 872 pixels 93K B&W.

KM Scharnhorst: The Crew Photo Album.

My Links:

My trip to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Work Cited and Recommended reading

The Battleships by Ian Johnston and Rob McAuley copywrite 2001, MBI Publishing Company, Osceloa, Wi.

World War II, A Visual Encyclopedia General Editors: John Keegan copywrite 1999 PRC Publishing Ltd. Reprinted in 2002 by Sterling Publishing Co., 387 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10016. ISBN 1-85585-878-9

BACK to the Washington Navy Yard

- Last refit: Thursday 11 May 2006