10 best examples of naval technology of all times and peoples. Power, beauty and courage. Each of the ships presented here has performed a lot of outstanding feats. They forever covered their decks with laurels of glory and made enemies emanate with drops of sticky fear.
The strongest of the strongest. They could single-handedly change the situation in the theater of operations and question all the previous canons of naval combat. They cut the map of the world like rusty scissors on sheet metal. They fought and won. And when they went aboard, tormented by enemy fire, they did not lower the flag and went under the water to the sound of the anthem … and for another half a minute, shells fired by the dead crews of the sunken ship flew towards the enemy.
Forward to the past or back to the future? The positions of the rating are conditional - each of the ships has already earned its place in history and does not need vulgar assessments of "sofa experts". All that the author of this material wanted was to present to your attention 10 exciting stories that can cheer up anyone who cares about the Fleet.
10th place - "Dreadnought"
The Dreadnought was built in one year and one day. And it was such a ship … How can one explain what kind of ship it was? It was an incredible ship! The most complex mechanism, the most modern and expensive machine in the history of mankind, at that time, of course. And even today it is an amazing structure … Well, try to imagine … No, it's hard to describe … Well, for example, the height of its building was higher than a five-story building, this is without the addition of pipes and masts. One cannon of the Dreadnought's main battery weighed more than all the guns of the Victoria, the ship on which Admiral Nelson held his flag, put together. And the 12-inch guns of the Dreadnought could fire projectiles weighing 390 kilograms at a distance of more than 30 kilometers.
- E. Grishkovets, "Dreadnoughts"
Launched in 1906, the British battleship HMS Dreadnought ("fearless") became a household name for all subsequent ships of this class. Outstanding size, unprecedented speed and firepower - one dreadnought was equal to a whole squadron of battleships! The design of the dreadnought took into account all the experience of previous naval battles (primarily the Russo-Japanese War) and introduced the latest achievements of science and industry of that time. The main reasons for the triumph were:
- a fair concept of all-big-gun ("only big guns"), turning the fire of the dreadnought into a murderous barrage of red-hot steel. 10 main guns versus 4 on battleships of that time! But the main thing is a sharp increase in shooting accuracy. Bursts from the falls of shells of the same caliber eliminated the confusion in determining the distance to the target and adjusting the fire characteristic of the EBR's various-caliber artillery at the beginning of the century.
- steam turbine power plant. The use of turbines made it possible to increase the speed by several knots, making the dreadnought the fastest of the large artillery ships of that time (22 knots ~ 40 km / h). But what is much more important - the turbines made it possible not to reduce the speed for many days, in contrast to the steam engines of the battleships, which required a "respite" after 8 hours of operation in maximum mode.
Just three years after the appearance of the Dreadnought, the same ship appeared in the hands of the Germans - the Nassau. Even bigger and more powerful - with 12 main guns! The era of "superdreadnoughts" was on its way. But the beginning of this grueling naval arms race remains forever associated with the legendary Ship of His Majesty that revolutionized the Navy.
It remains to add that the Dreadnought's magnificent cannons never fired at the enemy. The only battle trophy was the German submarine U-29, rammed by a battleship by chance.
9th place - battleships of the "Bismarck" type
The ship that fought the most spectacular battle in the history of the navy. It all started in a simple everyday way: the strongest ship in the Atlantic, accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prince Eugen, went out to intercept the allied convoys. In the Danish Strait, German raiders were met by battleships of His Majesty's fleet. A fleeting battle ensued, in which the Bismarck knocked over the British battle cruiser Hood with five volleys into the abyss along with its entire crew (1,415 people). Realizing that they are dealing with an unprecedented combat vehicle operated by a team of highly qualified specialists, the British throw 200 warships in pursuit of the German battleship - all the forces they had in the Atlantic.
… The damaged beast was leaving at full speed to the base, leaving behind a traitorous trail of fuel oil - the result of shells hitting the Prince of Wales. The silhouettes of British cruisers and destroyers regularly flashed in the tears of the veil of fog: "Bismarck" fired a couple of volleys in their direction and lay down on a new course. Realizing that the German killer was evading retaliation, Formation H from Gibraltar was urgently thrown across the line. A couple of torpedo bombers - and finally, luck! An explosion of one of the torpedoes damaged the rudders - the Bismarck loses control. Now his fate is a foregone conclusion.
In the morning, heavy cruisers and battleships of the British Navy pulled up to the scene - the last, most dramatic chapter in the history of the hunt for the Bismarck began.
During the battle, Rodney fired 380 406 mm and 716 152 mm shells, King George V - 339 356 mm and 660 133 mm, heavy cruisers Dorsetshire and Norfolk - 254 and 527 203 - respectively. mm shells
Over 2, 5 thousand rounds with main and medium caliber! Finally, the German "wunderwaffe" engulfed in flames completely ceases resistance. New torpedo attack - 3 holes below the waterline. There is still life inside the Bismarck, but the position of the battleship is all too obvious. The Germans open the Kingstones and go under the water with their ship. Of the 2,200 crew members, only 115 will be rescued.
The remains of the "Bismarck" rest at a depth of 4,700 meters, 600 miles off the coast of France.
The perfectly preserved hull of the battleship will remind of the "thousand-year reich" for several millennia
Having such a "relative", the second battleship of the "Bismarck" series could only stand in the Norwegian fjords, by the mere fact of its presence driving fear into the enemy. As soon as on the deck of the "Tirpitz" there was the sound of sailor boots - a little harder than usual - panic arose in the British Admiralty (the story of the abandoned convoy PQ-17).
"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."
-resolution W. Churchill
Attempts to destroy the "Tirpitz" did not stop throughout the war: unsuccessful campaigns of aircraft carriers and battleships squadrons to the gloomy cliffs of the Alta Fjord, attacks of mini-submarines and other special means. To sink the Tirpitz, the Allied aviation had to make at least 700 sorties to the battleship's base. Finally, in the fall of 1944, the "lonely Queen of the North" was bombarded with a hail of monstrous 5-ton Tallboy bombs.
The Bismarck and Tirpitz died, becoming a model of courage and an example of outstanding combat resilience for battleship-class ships.
8th place - aircraft carriers of the "Essex" class
They came like an avalanche, like a black stream, They just swept us away and trampled us into the mud.
All our banners and pennants are hammered into the sand
They destroyed everything, they killed us all (c)
One of the main failures of the Pearl Harbor raid is the absence of American aircraft carriers from the base. How would further events in the Pacific theater of operations develop if the Japanese had managed to sink the Lexington and Enterprise at that time? A rhetorical question that does not require an answer - in the end, nothing would have changed. The outcome of the military confrontation between the United States and Japan was a foregone conclusion. President Roosevelt knew about this and did everything to make this war start.
Over the next four years, American industry managed to grind one and a half hundred aircraft carrier ships. Against this background, 24 Essexes stand out in their own special article - huge 270-meter boxes, which became the combat core of the US Navy at the final stage of the war. Only 14 of them managed to reach the combat zone, but that was enough - the Imperial Navy had nothing to oppose to these monsters. The raid on Truk, the sinking of the Yamato and Musashi, a fire storm over the atolls of the Pacific Ocean - hundreds of aircraft tore the enemy "dry", leaving Japan no chance of winning that war.
"Essex" … One of the largest and most advanced aircraft carriers of its time. 36 thousand tons of full displacement, the course of 33 knots, the crew of 2-3 thousand people, the air group - up to one hundred aircraft for various purposes!
Upgraded Hancock with angled flight deck and A-4 Skyhawk jet attack aircraft
Fate played a cruel joke with the "Essexes" - the fast-coming era of jet aircraft "aged" the wonderful ships ahead of time. Their decks were still large enough to house light Panthers and Skyhawks, but the new Phantoms turned out to be too large and heavy for ships of the WWII period.
The Essexes performed well in Korea, poked fun off the coast of Vietnam, but, alas, their days were numbered. By the mid-60s, they were already considered "second-rate technology" and were mainly used as anti-submarine and auxiliary ships (searching for capsules of NASA spacecraft in the ocean, etc.). By the beginning of the 70s, all of them, one by one, ended up in a landfill.
The Essexes are famous not for what they did, but for what they were. The terrifying scale of the program for their construction, coupled with the excellent characteristics of the ships themselves, give them an unconditional pass to immortality.
Aircraft Carrier Museum Intrepid, docked at Pier 86 in Manhattan
7th place - battleships of the "Iowa" class
Four American super-heroes, timeless.
… On a hot January night in 1991, the open sea shook again from the volleys of 16-inch guns. The cannons were beating, fires glowed somewhere beyond the horizon. In the direction of the battleship, like 40 years ago, winged suicides flew. This time, instead of reckless kamikazes, the Yankees were hit by a new generation of suicides - "Hayin-2". Chinese copies of the Soviet Termit anti-ship missiles. In 1944, the Japanese managed to break through anti-aircraft fire and scratch the paint on board a brand new battleship. How will the new round end? In the distance, something exploded and fell into the sea as the Missouri's self-defense systems deflected a modern missile attack. It's a pity. Otherwise, the bold hypothesis about the complete invulnerability of these floating fortresses for modern weapons would be confirmed. The battleship's armor is stronger than any missile.
Built during the WWII era, these ships razed half of the Pacific atolls with their guns. They destroyed the shores of Korea and Vietnam. A funny incident happened in 1983 - American aviation was unable to break through the densest fire of the Syrian air defense systems. A veteran was urgently called for help - "New Jersey" gouged out of its 406 mm "bombard" the outskirts of Beirut; moreover, one of the shells destroyed the command post with the commander of the Syrian contingent in Lebanon.
A short respite, reactivation and modernization - by the mid-80s, sixteen-inch antiques coexisted with automatic Falanxes (4500 rounds per minute) and new-generation cruise missiles.
The last task - in the winter of 1991, Missouri and Wisconsin shelled the coastline of Iraq, simultaneously firing six dozen Tomahawks across Baghdad.
Legendary action heroes "Capture" and "Sea Battle". The last battleships in the world, which became the pinnacle of evolution for ships of their class. Steel and fire. Fighting history half a century long. Lords of the sea. It's useless to argue.
Launch of the CD from the New Jersey board
