By the time the magnificent four Iowas were decommissioned (1990-92), the era of capital ships had long been gathering dust on the shelves of archives and the stands of naval museums. The last artillery battle between the armored monsters took place on October 25, 1944, when the Japanese Fuso came under heavy fire from five American battleships in the Surigao Strait. In European waters, everything ended even earlier, in the winter of 1943, when the German Scharnhorst was sunk in the battle at Cape Nordkapp. Subsequently, the capital ships were still involved in shelling the coast, but they never again entered into battles with each other.
The end of the era of battleships came at the end of World War II, when it became clear that large cannons were inferior in efficiency to aviation and the submarine fleet. Unable to withstand the competition, huge expensive battleships gradually disappeared from the stocks, and instead appeared … Oops! And then a silent scene follows.
During the first post-war decade, the fleet of the richest power (USA) was replenished with only a couple of dozen new destroyers. Just nothing compared to the pace of the previous decade, when the Yankees were building several hundred warships a year! Four semi-finished battleships were removed from the stocks. Dozens of cruisers under construction were scrapped. Construction of the supercarrier United States was halted 5 days after its laying.
The natural result of a reduction in the military budget associated with the cessation of hostilities.
The defeated Germany and Japan had no time for the navy. Once the strongest players dropped out of the game, having lost their naval ambitions for a long time.
The cheerful Italians were deeply depressed. As a result of the war, the "macaroni" were allowed to keep a pair of rusty dreadnoughts, but mercy for the vanquished looked like a cruel mockery. All more or less modern ships were taken by the winners (the well-known l / c "Giulio Cesare", which later became "Novorossiysk").
The old British lion has fallen off the world pedestal, giving way to the new superpowers. Her Majesty's last battleship, Vanguard, was laid down in 1941 and was not finished until 1946, using turrets and guns that had rusted in the warehouse since the 1920s. Sad and funny.
The French navy looked surprisingly good (compared to what the French had to endure). After the war, a pair of restored battleships (of the "Richelieu" class) returned to the combat strength, which served for another 20 years, periodically participating in colonial wars around the world. However, the construction of new ships of this class and size was out of the question.
Battleship "Jean Bar". The beginning of the 60s.
The only one who launched the massive construction of warships after the war was the Soviet Union. What for? Over the years, it is difficult to answer. The ships were built according to the obviously outdated projects of the late 30s, with archaic mechanisms and weapons. They categorically could not resist the naval forces of the "probable enemy".
The official idea was to support the shipbuilding industry and to quickly saturate the fleet with ships of the main classes. One way or another, the results were impressive: from 1948 to 1953. the fleet was replenished with 5 light cruisers and 70 destroyers (type 30 bis). Over the next few years, 14 more cruisers of the project 68-bis entered service, which became the last artillery ships in the world. And, of course, what a real fleet could do without battleships!
The plans included the construction of three capital ships of the "Stalingrad" type (heavy cruiser of project 82). The latter were high-speed battle cruisers with nine 305 mm guns and not at all a cruising displacement of 43 thousand tons. From the technical point of view, they approached in size, but were significantly inferior to foreign aircraft of the war years in terms of security and armament. In fact, the "Stalingrads" became obsolete 10 years before they were laid.
Model TKR "Stalingrad"
Of course, from the standpoint of our days, everything seems different. Beginning in the middle of the century, the US Navy began a massive withdrawal from the fleet of representatives of the era of "guns and armor" and their subsequent replacement by small armored ships with missile weapons. Our lag could turn into an advantage!
What could have happened if by the early 1980s, somewhere in the reserve parking lot in Strelok Bay, the rusted armored skeleton of the battle cruiser Stalingrad had been discovered? Having passed modernization with the installation of modern anti-aircraft systems and missile weapons, such a "monster" could pose a real threat to the naval forces of NATO countries.
Total modernization of the battleship "Iowa", 1984
Its thick "skin" was not penetrated by any of the existing anti-ship missiles. The use of large-caliber bombs on it first required the suppression of its air defense - a possible matter, which is extremely time-consuming and costly. At the same time, its own strike potential had no analogues in the world. State-of-the-art missile weapons, enhanced by the power of long-range automated "twelve-inch guns"! Strikes against sea and ground targets, fire support for assault forces, air defense of squadrons at sea crossings, flagship and diplomatic functions …
But pretty sweet dreams! At that time, nuclear submarines had already begun to take up combat duty. The USSR Navy needed completely different ships to adequately resist the threats of the new time.. Numerous BODs, helicopter carriers and its own nuclear submarine fleet, not inferior in number to nuclear submarines of the "potential enemy" … In the spring of 1953, immediately after the death of I. V. Stalin, the construction of the heavy cruiser "Stalingrad" was interrupted when the readiness of 18%. The other two corps, which were in an even lower degree of readiness, suffered a similar fate.
Interchange. When did the battleships disappear?
The widespread point of view ("capital ships were outdated by the mid-40s") is not correct! This is indicated by the fact termination of the construction of ships of ALL main classes with the end of World War II. Single destroyers and experimental submarines - and not a single warship larger than 5 thousand tons!
Of course! This was obvious from the very beginning of our conversation. The piston aviation of the war years could not pose a serious threat to armored monsters. Easy wins at Taranto and Pearl Harbor are not an argument. In both cases, the fleet was caught off guard at anchor, falling prey to the reckless command of the bases. In real conditions, to sink one battleship, it was required to lift hundreds of combat aircraft into the air or use monstrous ammunition.
The sinking of the Yamato was attended by 227 bombers, fighters and torpedo bombers of the US Navy, another 53 aircraft that took off got lost and could not reach the target.
During the war years, the protected parking lot of Tirpitz was subjected to unsuccessful attacks by 700 aircraft, until the turn came to the 5-ton Tallboy bombs. The German battleship, with its mere presence, fettered all the forces of the British fleet in the North Atlantic.
"As long as the Tirpitz exists, the British Navy must have two King George V-class battleships at all times. There must be three ships of this type in the waters of the metropolis at all times, in case one of them is being repaired."
- First Sea Lord Admiral Dudley Pound
"He creates universal fear and threat at all points at once."
- W. Churchill
"Musassi" - hundreds of sorties of carrier-based aircraft, incessant attacks for five hours.
Italian "Roma" - destroyed by a guided bomb "Fritz-X". Armor-piercing guided ammunition of a special design (weight over one ton), dropped on the target from a height of six kilometers. Only two- or four-engine coastal bombers could use such weapons, moreover, only in theaters of limited size and in conditions of weak enemy opposition.
Barham and Royal Oak are not an argument. Obsolete superdreadnoughts of the First World War, whose design was devoid of serious anti-torpedo protection.
"Prince of Wales" is an exception that only confirms the rule. The propeller shaft bent by the explosion tore apart a huge hole in the hull. Three more torpedoes completed the job. Moreover, the "Prince of Wales" possessed, perhaps, the worst air defense system among all WWII battleships.
The battleships were so "outdated" that they could change the situation in the theater of operations with one presence and withstand nearby explosions of nuclear weapons (tests at Bikini Atoll, 1947). Their protection was so high that the charred ship with an irradiated crew could still continue to carry out the mission or return under its own power to the base. Those. continued to pose a threat to the enemy!
Combat strike group led by the battleship battleship "New Jersey", 1986. As part of the escort - nuclear-powered missile cruiser "Long Beach"
It is worth noting that even in their heyday, capital ships were more rare than commonplace. There are only a few ships of this class in the fleets of the seven most developed countries. The combat core of the fleet. The strongest units in the theater of operations. As in chess, there are rarely more than two queens on one board.
So why be surprised if, with the end of the war and the subsequent cuts in the military budget, only 4 of the most "fresh" battleships remained in the US Navy? On the other side of the ocean, the proportions have not changed. The Soviet fleet received the captured Novorossiysk and made plans for the construction of three Stalingrad.
Finale of the play
The end of the era of capital ships fell on the mid-50s. With the advent of jet engines, the speed of aviation increased by 1.5-2 times, while air defense systems continued to remain at the level of the mid-40s. (anti-aircraft guns with guidance according to radar data. At best, shells with a radar fuse). Worse, the combat payload of a conventional A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft exceeded the weight of the Flying Fortress. The flight range and capabilities of airborne sighting systems have also increased significantly. As a result, one squadron of "Skyhawks" could jokingly sink any cruiser and guaranteed to disable the battleship, destroying all the superstructures and causing leaks in the underwater part of the hull with a hail of free-falling bombs.
An even more terrible threat awaited the battleship from under the water. Nuclear submarines that could go around the Earth without surfacing. It was they who got the main role in modern naval combat.
General decline in the strategic role of the fleet in the era of ballistic missiles and thermonuclear weapons. Convulsive preparations for the "third world", after which no one will leave alive. Rapid evolution of missile weapons: the dimensions of radars and missiles were incomparable with the mass and dimensions of the towers and guns of battleships. It is not surprising that instead of heavy cruisers and battleships, small armored cruisers and destroyers appeared, whose dimensions rarely exceeded 8-9 thousand tons.
Missile cruiser "Grozny" (1961). Despite the fierce appearance, the total displacement of the ship barely exceeded 5 thousand tons.
Nuclear missile cruiser "Bainbridge" (1961), full military and 9 thousand tons
Perspectives
The complete rejection of armor and the neglect of passive protection measures gave a tragicomic result: modern ships began to die from the hits of unexploded missiles and completely fail from one bag of homemade explosives.
Isolated cases could not change the entire paradigm of the modern fleet, nevertheless, in the minds of the designers, the idea of a highly protected warship is still hovering, about whose nose it is not scary to break a bottle of champagne. He can be sent to the shores of any enemy, where his guns and missiles will sweep away everything in his path.
"Missile Battleship" - heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser "Peter the Great". 26 thousand tons and more than 300 missiles on board. Local reservation of critical compartments (armor thickness up to 100 mm!)
Subtle "missile and artillery battleship" USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000). 14.5 thousand tons. 80 missile silos and two ultra-long-range 155 mm guns. There is a local reservation in the area of UVP cells
The most elaborate concept of a highly protected missile and artillery ship to date from specialists from the Department of Reforming the Armed Forces of the US Department of Defense. Capital Surface Warship Project (CSW, 2007)
