They say luck for beginners!
Only God thought otherwise
And he said to the battleships dryly:
"You will not see luck in battles!"
Those who sweep away the hordes of the enemy ?!
And why do you disgrace this ?!
But with each other really, lords,
You fought little in that war.
Purely offhand, from memory, in European waters during the war years there were nine major fights, in which the “ocean lords of steel” managed to shoot each other.
Fight in the Danish Strait. Result - "Hood" was sunk.
"The Hunt for Bismarck". As a result, the Bismarck was sunk.
Skirmish between Rhinaun and Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. All participants escaped with moderate damage, without loss of combat effectiveness and the threat of sinking ships. The battle had serious strategic consequences: the British battle cruiser was able to drive off German heavy ships covering the landing area in Norway. Having lost their battleship cover, the Germans lost 10 of the newest destroyers with a landing party.
Meeting “Scharnhorst” and “Gneisenau” with the aircraft carrier “Glories” (they sunk the aircraft carrier “Glories” and its escort).
Pogrom in Mars el-Kebir. British attack to prevent the French fleet from going over to the side of the Third Reich. Result: one old battleship was sunk, two were damaged, the stern of the destroyer leader was torn off.
Shootout in Casablanca of the American LC "Massachusetts" with the French battleship "Jean Bar". The result - five hits with 1225-kg "suitcases", the target is incapacitated. And for nothing that "Jean Bar" was not completed. If it had been completed and armed according to the project, there would have been a kaput: an American projectile flew into the SK cellar, luckily empty.
“Shot at Calabria”. Accidental hit in the Italian LC "Giulio Cesare" from a distance of 24 kilometers. The British “Worspite” distinguished itself in the battle. The impact of the 871-kg blank caused extensive destruction, injury and death of 115 crew members of the Cesare.
Battle at Cape Matapan. Three Italian heavy cruisers ("Pola", "Fiume" and "Zara") were sunk by the fire of British battleships.
New Year's fight at the North Cape.
The British are eager for battles, The pipes breathe ominously, hot.
In the bluish gloom of the polar night
Duke of York is catching up with Scharnhorst!
They caught up and drowned.
Nine major battles, some of which had the most serious strategic consequences.
Battle cruiser "Rinaun"
“We stood the whole war in the bases”, “outdated”, “turned out to be useless”. The point is not even the notorious confrontation "battleships vs aircraft", but rather the inability (or unwillingness) of most fans of military history to open a book and write down all the events on a piece of paper. Instead, like parrots, they repeat the phrase about the uselessness of this type of weapon.
“There are three useless things in the world: the Chinese wall, the Cheops pyramid and the battleship Yamato.
Than at the pier to rust in obscurity, One per squadron proudly
Better to go out - that is more honor!
And in dreams I, lords of steel, With a boldly raised head, Gritting my teeth, squaring my shoulders, I have always prepared you for battle, Even though I know the fight won't last forever.
Is the Yamato problem in the discrepancy between the costs of its construction and the achieved result? The battleship was built, fought and took a heroic death. The enemy had to use a whole air army, pulling 8 aircraft carriers into the area. So what is more?
In the desperate situation in which Japan was, no other options gave the Imperial Navy a chance to win. Construction of four aircraft carriers instead of Yamato and Musashi? Supporters of this theory somehow do not think about where the Japanese would take another half a thousand trained pilots and additional fuel. In conditions of absolute superiority of the enemy at sea and in the air, the battleship at least had the necessary combat stability, in contrast to the "Taiho", which was unstuck from the very first torpedo.
The only miscalculation of the Japanese is the strict secrecy around the Yamato. Such a ship should have been proud and terrified of the enemy. Hearing about the 410-mm belt and 460-mm guns, the Yankees would rush to build their super-battleships with the main caliber of 500 mm, overextending their industry and taking funds from other important directions (destroyers, submarines).
And, probably, one should have used the Yamato more actively at Midway. If such a powerful air defense platform were next to the aircraft carriers, everything could have happened differently.
So leave Yamato alone. It was an excellent ship, with more competent use it would have no price at all.
Since we started talking about the Pacific theater of operations, there were three fierce battles in which battleships fired.
On the night of November 14, 1942, the American LC "Washington" and "South Dakota" mutuzit the Japanese "Kirishima". The Japanese soon drowned, and the South Dakota was out of action for 14 months.
The sinking of the battleship Yamashiro in a fierce artillery battle - seven against one. (Philippines, October 1944)
And a unique battle off the island of Samar on October 25, 1944. A large Japanese formation that broke into the landing zone in the Philippines and marched for several hours under endless attacks from over 500 aircraft from all the surrounding airfields.
The Japanese failed the mission, but the Americans did not succeed that day either. Despite air strikes and a suicidal counterattack by destroyers, all Japanese cruisers and battleships left the base area and safely reached Japan (with the exception of three TKRs). The battle is notable for the fact that the Japanese managed to sink the escort aircraft carrier (“Gambier Bay”) from the cannons and riddled the rest of the jeep boxes. Fortunately, for armor-piercing shells, the aircraft carrier was not any significant obstacle.
“Yamato” also took part in the shooting of the jeeps. Whether he hit at least once is unknown, but the essence of the battle was different. The Japanese had a chance to kill the entire American landing, and the Yamato cannons would be covered in blood to the very breech. Objectively, the Americans did not have the means to stop the battleships. The order to retreat was given by Takeo Kurita himself. As he later admitted, he made a mistake. They say that the Japanese admiral was not in the best shape: he was still under stress from a night shipwreck, which he took part in just a day before the events described above (the death of the Atago TKR).
Once again, the Japanese superlinkor was in the balance of triumph. He was in the thick of things. Not only did it pass unnoticed through all the cordons and deceive an air force of 1,200 planes into the restricted area, but only a dozen miles ahead - and the Yamato became the main culprit in the disruption of the American landing in the Philippines.
And then they will write in the books: "useless", "not needed."
Someone will smile skeptically - only three battles with battleships. Well, how many of these ships were there? Japanese - can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The Americans built 10 high-speed battleships, not counting the outdated LK from the WWII era. Moreover, some were damaged at Pearl Harbor and stood at the docks until 1944.
In total, five to ten ships on both sides in the vastness of the endless ocean! By the way, the great aircraft carriers did not meet each other more often, despite the fact that their number was twice the number of LCs.
Strictly speaking, of all the participants in World War II, only six of the most developed maritime powers had real battleships. Fast, powerful and extremely protected late period battle ships designed for action in the open ocean.
And for these three dozen ships - 12 serious battles.
Without taking into account the small, daily “fights” and participation in large-scale operations, with the involvement of diverse aviation and navy forces.
These are the endless (but not very successful) attempts to intercept British convoys by the forces of the Italian fleet. The most famous - the battle at Cape Spartivento or the battle in the Gulf of Sirte, when "Littorio" hit an enemy destroyer with a 381-mm shell. The reasons for the low efficiency of the Italian fleet were not so much the naval capabilities of the "macaroni" as the lack of radars. If they had radar and modern control systems, as on the ships of the allies - the results of the confrontation could be different.
These are the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau raids into the Atlantic (22 sunk and captured vehicles with a total displacement of 115 thousand tons).
These are the campaigns of American LKs as part of high-speed aircraft carrier formations, where battleships were used as powerful anti-aircraft platforms. The most famous fight is "South Dakota". Covering her formation in the battle of Santa Cruz, the battleship shot down 26 Japanese aircraft. Even if we divide the declared figure by two, the achievement of “South Dakota” was a real military-technical record. But most importantly, with such a powerful air defense “umbrella”, none of the formation's ships received serious damage.
The anti-aircraft fire from the battleship was so intense that from the side it seemed as if fire were blazing on it. In 8 minutes, the ship repelled at least 18 attacks, in which it shot down from 7 to 14 aircraft.
"WITH. Carolina "covers AB Enterprise in the Battle of the Eastern Solomon Islands.
This is the “red zone” in Normandy. The German command forbade armored vehicles to approach the coast for a couple of tens of kilometers, where there was a high risk of being hit by naval artillery.
These are 77 amphibious assault forces in the Pacific Ocean, each of which was supported by the mighty cannons of battleships. Apart from raiding operations - strikes along the coast of Formosa, China and the Japanese islands, in which capital ships also took part.
The first strikes on Kwajelin Atoll began on January 29, North Caroline began bombing the Roy and Namur islands that were part of the atoll. On the way to the Roy from the battleship, they noticed a transport standing in the lagoon, along which they immediately fired several volleys, causing fires from bow to stern. After the Japanese runways were disabled, the battleship fired at designated targets at night and all the next day, while covering the aircraft carriers that supported the landing of troops on neighboring islands.
Combat chronicle "North Carolina".
Tennessee is supporting the landing on Okinawa. During the operation, the battleship fired 1490 shells of the main caliber (356 mm) and fired 12 thousand rounds of universal artillery (127 mm).
The only battleship that stayed in the bases throughout the war was the German Tirpitz. He didn't need to go anywhere. He dispersed the PQ-17 convoy without firing a shot. Withstood 700 sorties of allied aviation, raids by British squadrons and well-planned attacks using underwater special equipment.
"Tirpitz" creates universal fear and threat at all points at once."
W. Churchill.
The fears were not in vain. While at sea, "Tirpitz" was invulnerable to conventional ships. There is little hope for aviation. In the polar darkness, in the blizzard, the aircraft will not be able to detect and successfully attack the battleship. The submariners had no more chances: the low-speed submarines of the WWII could not attack such a fast maneuverable target. So the British had to constantly keep three battleships in case the Tirpitz went out to sea. Otherwise, escorting Arctic convoys would have been impossible.
Contrary to the myth of “bulky, useless battleships,” capital ships were the most efficient and active participants in the naval battles of World War II. A huge number of ships were killed at the first meeting with the enemy. But not battleships! Highly defended battle ships continuously participated in combat operations, received damage and returned to service again!
This is the standard. This is how modern surface ships should be. Hurricane power and excellent combat stability!
To hit does not mean to break through. And to break through does not mean to disable it.
Let someone laugh at the death of "Bismarck", comparing him to Commissioner Cattani. 2600 rounds with main and medium caliber! The British hammered the doomed ship with all their barrels, until they dared to come closer and sink the burning ruin with torpedo fire.
The difference between “Bismarck” and Commissioner Cattani is that until the last moment, until the battleship disappeared under water, most of its crew remained safe and sound. And the ship itself kept running, some systems were functioning on board. In other conditions (suppose the battle took place off the coast of Germany, a German squadron and Luftwaffe planes arrived to help) “Bismarck” had a chance to reach the base and return to service after a year of repairs. After dozens (and maybe hundreds) of shell hits from enemy ships!
Why did they stop building such magnificent battleships after the war?
After the war, they stopped building any surface ships with a displacement of over 10 thousand tons. Savings caused by the advent of compact missile weapons and the removal of body armor under the pretext of not being necessary. In the age of jet aircraft, any “Phantom” could lift a couple of dozen bombs and fill them with a battleship from bow to stern. While the air defense systems of those years turned out to be completely useless in repelling such attacks.
Modern air defense systems will suppress any attempts at mast bombing. While cannons with adjustable projectiles organically complement missile weapons when striking against the shore.
Everything is gradually returning to normal. In America, destroyers with a displacement of 15 thousand tons are already being built. Russian shipbuilders, without undue modesty, cite data on the destroyer "Leader" in the amount of 15-20 thousand tons. Any classification is conditional. Call them whatever you want - cruisers, destroyers, battleships, naval missile platforms …
20 thousand tons - the possibility of creating warships opens up, whose protection would not be inferior to the battleships of previous years, with half the displacement (with the availability of modern technologies and optimization of protection for new types of threats).
The battleship "North Carolina", our time
