Big money spoils people, and small money just disfigures.
The age-old desire to seem "better than is", aggravated by an acute shortage of funds, sometimes produces completely comical results and is fraught with the most formidable consequences for overly carried away arrogant insolent people. The situation is completely out of control when some small but proud country, in a fit of unmotivated bravado and feigned patriotism, decides to declare itself a “great sea power”. And where there is a sea, there must be a fleet. This is where the real madness begins!
I invite readers to take a fascinating excursion into the world of naval phantoms. To a world where, under the sweet intoxication of Latin American dreams and the spicy scent of oriental tales, all reasonable canons of naval battles are erased - real strength is replaced by empty bragging, combat effectiveness is replaced by the glitter of freshly painted sides, and the scope of ships is limited to organizing cruises for dignitaries.
Soap opera 100 years long
It is no secret that along with the first-class fleets of the leading powers and strong naval formations of smaller countries, there are a lot of "clowns" who are pretending to be combat units of their fleets just for the sake of solidity.
Of course, any kind of military action is contraindicated for clowns - all these ships exist solely for fun and building up self-esteem among the inhabitants of the "great sea powers". It does not matter that the budget of the "great maritime powers" is already bursting at the seams, and their industry and the level of technical development are often unable to provide even the simplest routine maintenance on board these super-ships. The ships themselves are usually purchased abroad for the last pennies - large supported ships, excluded because of their age from the Navy of the advanced maritime powers, are in special demand.
The situation is complicated by the well-known Murphy's Law: the more useless the ship, the more monstrous its dimensions should be. Why buy a German diesel-electric submarine or the French frigate Lafayette when you can buy an entire aircraft carrier! It does not matter that instead of an aircraft carrier they will sell an unusable pile of metal - anyway, no one is going to go into battle. But how formidable and epic the aircraft carrier looks!
But, quite long speeches! The public wants to know as much facts and specifics as possible.
Naval clownery has its own rich traditions - its true "heyday" came at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the era of battleships was deafeningly replaced by the era of dreadnoughts. The brilliance of gun barrels and steel armor could not leave indifferent the inhabitants of sunny Brazil.
In 1908, the first of two Minas Gerais-class dreadnoughts for the Brazilian Navy was laid down at the Armstrong shipyard (Great Britain). Incredibly, beggar rubber pickers and coffee plantation laborers are ahead of the world!
At first, no one believed - foreign newspapers vied with each other that the Brazilians had made a clever deal and would soon resell the dreadnought to a third party (USA, Germany or Japan). Nothing like this! Brazil has paid in full for the purchase of two large toys - Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo have triumphantly joined the ranks of the Brazilian fleet.
Argentine dreadnoughts of the "Rivadavia" type
Impressed by the successes of their neighbor, two other South American freaks entered the arms race - Chile and Argentina.
Argentina has ordered two Rivadavia-class dreadnoughts from the United States. Chile signed a contract to build Almirante Lattore-class dreadnoughts at British shipyards. This phenomenon became known as the "South American Dreadnought Race" - an event that is certainly interesting for historians, but very sad for the unwitting witnesses of all this madness.
The first and main question that arises after meeting the South American dreadnoughts: WHY?
The answer in the style of "strengthening the country's defenses" does not work - it is impossible to imagine a situation in which Argentina and Brazil might need a battleship. In a possible war with each other, the fleets of both powers did not decide anything - Argentina and Brazil have a common land border with a length of 1000 km. All conflicts in South America from time immemorial were resolved only on land.
And even more so, a pair of dreadnoughts was completely useless for solving any global tasks. What did the Brazilian Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo mean against the backdrop of the might of the British Grand Fleet or the German High Seas Fleet?
The fleet is an interconnected system of components. Dreadnoughts require light cover, and all South American countries, despite the efforts being made to purchase new ships, experienced a shortage of modern cruisers, destroyers and even the simplest minesweepers. Finally, in the event of any real hostilities, individual battleships of the countries of South America could not go to sea at all, becoming victims of all sorts of sabotage and sabotage. The likelihood of such incidents is extremely high - especially given the attitude of mulattoes towards the navy and measures to ensure the safety of ships.
It was from these positions that the Argentines and Brazilians should have developed their armed forces, and not acquire "superweapons" for crazy money, which, in fact, turned out to be a useless toy.
Volley of the battleship "Minas Gerais"
Saving up money for a dreadnought is only half the problem. The subsequent operation of such a powerful and complex ship will require colossal costs. The freaks from South America, of course, did not pull such expenses. The result is a report from the Armstrong technical representative:
The ships are in poor condition, with rust covered towers and steam boilers. Estimated Repair Cost £ 700,000
And this is just after a couple of years of being in the Brazilian Navy! Then it was only worse - the Brazilian dreadnoughts underwent rapid moral and physical aging; the capabilities of the ships were limited by outdated fire control systems, and the poor condition of the machines and mechanisms did not allow them to move faster than 18 knots.
It is easy to imagine what would have happened to the South American dreadnoughts in the event of real hostilities - the brave mulattoes would have neither the strength, nor the means, nor the experience in repairing combat damage, and all the "spare parts" would have to be delivered from another hemisphere. In the worst case, towing the damaged ship to the USA or the UK for repairs. The problem is colossal in its complexity, especially given the possible embargoes from European countries.
But all this is sheer trifles against the background of the following problem:
Effective control of a huge ship requires a well-trained crew and competent officers. Regular exercises, firing and maneuvers, working out interaction with diverse aviation and naval forces. None of this was in South America.
If the issue with the officers was more or less resolved - many military sailors underwent an "internship" in the US Navy or attended naval academies in European countries, then the situation with the rank and file was simply catastrophic:
Uneducated black sailors in the position of half-slaves, cruel corporal punishment, lack of any real combat training - the Brazilian navy of the early twentieth century was a hell of a mess. In such conditions, the appearance of dreadnoughts in the fleet sounds like a ridiculous anecdote - the level of training of the Brazilian Navy personnel was hardly enough to fly a simple destroyer, let alone the most complex capital ship.
Sailors on the deck of the dreadnought "Minas Gerais", 1913
As soon as "Minas Gerais" was transferred to the Brazilian Navy, a riot of black sailors broke out on board the dreadnought - fortunately, the conflict was resolved peacefully, but the leadership of the fleet had to remove the shutters of the ship's guns - out of harm's way. This fact eloquently testifies to the real condition and combat capabilities of the Brazilian battleships.
The situation with the Argentine Navy was not in the best way - already during its maiden voyage to the shores of South America, the new dreadnought "Rivadavia" twice hit the stones and collided with a barge. Its twin - "Moreno" is famous for being disgraced at the international naval parade in Spithead (1937) - the Argentines could not properly anchor, and "Moreno", like a clown, stood the whole parade in a crooked position.
The South American arms race ended as suddenly as it began - all the competitors ran out of money.
Since the start of the arms race in 1910, financial conditions, even then not brilliant, have gotten even worse; when the time came to pay, it became clear to the inhabitants of the three countries that they needed money more than battleships.
- Henry Fletcher, then U. S. Ambassador to Chile
Dreadnoughts never took part in battles, and the uselessness of the purchase soon became apparent even to the highest leaders of South American countries. The situation with the purchase of battleships finally reached a dead end and caused a lot of angry responses from the population:
The first two dreadnoughts cost the Brazilian treasury £ 6,110,000, another £ 605,000 was spent on ammunition, and £ 832,000 was invested in the modernization of the docks. In other words, the battleship epic cost a quarter of Brazil's annual budget, not counting the costs of their subsequent operation.
A Brazilian newspaper estimated that the funds could have been used to build 3,000 miles of railroad tracks or 30,000 peasant estates.
Of course, the plans to build a third Brazilian battleship died in the bud - the dreadnought "Rio de Janeiro" laid in Great Britain was sold on the stocks … to the Ottoman Empire! (how can a Turkish sultan live without his own dreadnought?)
In the eastern part of Europe, a similar comedy was played - not too wealthy Greece and the Ottoman Empire, breathing in incense, decided to repeat the feat of Brazil. Alas, this time nothing good came of the venture with dreadnoughts - "Sultan Osman I" (formerly "Rio de Janeiro") was never transferred to Turkey in connection with the outbreak of the First World War. Greece did not wait for its dreadnought either - the Salamis, which was being built at the shipyard in Szczecin, was confiscated by Germany at the beginning of the war, and stood unfinished for twenty years. After a long legal battle, the wreck of the ship was dismantled for metal in 1932.
Similar attempts were made to build a dreadnought in Spain - as a result, a series of battleships of the "Espana" type appeared. It is worth noting that Spain built its battleships at its own shipyards - of course, using ready-made components, materials and mechanisms supplied from the UK.
However, this time, the capital ships did not bring happiness. It was a shame to compare the Spanish "pelvis" with British or Japanese superdreadnoughts - battleships of the "Espanya" type were in fact low-speed coastal defense battleships with rather weak weapons and armor (even by the standards of the First World War).
Their fate developed in the most tragic way: taking advantage of the fact that the Spanish Navy was engulfed in a revolutionary mess, the battleship Jaime I committed suicide - an accidental fire and detonation of ammunition left the ship no chance of salvation. No less misfortune befell the head "España" - in 1923 the battleship sat tightly on the stones and collapsed under the blows of the waves.
History, as you know, moves in a spiral
The senseless "dreadnought races" of the early twentieth century are the only possible explanation for the existence of many modern fleets. "Attack of the Clowns" continues today: instead of the dreadnoughts that have sunk into oblivion, no less epic ships - aircraft carriers - have gained popularity.
The Kingdom of Thailand is setting a proud example to the whole world - Thai sailors are the proud owners of an aircraft carrier "Chakri Narubet" … It does not matter that the ship spends most of the time at the Chuck Samet naval base, and the rare outings to the sea are timed to the cruises of dignitaries - on board the world's smallest aircraft carrier there are the largest luxury cabins for the royal family of Thailand.
HTMS Chakri Naruebet
It is quite obvious that the Thai Navy "cabin carrier" is not a combat ship, and the presence of a couple of aircraft equipment on its decks can be regarded as an accidental curiosity.
The Brazilian Navy is in a hurry to repeat its former exploits - the Brazilian Navy is the proud owner of a rusty pile of metal called "Sao Paulo" … There is nothing to be surprised at - it's just the former French aircraft carrier Foch (bookmarked in 1957, launched in 1960). In 2001, the ship was solemnly sold to Brazil and since then has been the flagship of the Brazilian navy.
NAe São Paulo (A12)
Deck aviation of the Brazilian Navy!
Everyone stand! Hands behind head!
No less amusing is the Sao Paulo air group - a couple of dozen A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft (an American subsonic aircraft originally from the 1950s). Brazilian carrier-based aviation uses a modification of the A-4KU Skyhawk - aircraft with a depleted resource, which were once in service with the Kuwaiti Air Force.
Despite the venerable age of aircraft, accidents on a Brazilian aircraft carrier are extremely rare - probably, this is somehow connected with the fact that the "Sao Paulo" goes to sea once a year for photo sessions.
Until recently, the whole world laughed at the Argentine aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (May 25) - the former Dutch aircraft carrier "Karel Doorman", aka the British "Venereble", launched back in 1943.
ARA Veinticinco de Mayo
The real combat value of this floating circus was shown by the Falklands War - barely colliding with Her Majesty's fleet, the aircraft carrier "May 25" left the combat zone and hid in the base.
Fortunately (or unfortunately), Argentina has recently stopped its jokes - "May 25" was finally dismantled by the beginning of the XXI century and now only corvettes and patrol boats remained in the Argentine Navy.
The brave Indians are in a hurry to sign up for jokers - the epic with the aircraft carrier has been going on for 10 years Vikramaditya.
In connection with the need to replace the old aircraft carrier Viraat (formerly British HMS Hermes), the Indian Navy faced a difficult choice: the 45-year-old classic aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, decommissioned from the US Navy, or a light aircraft carrier with a bow springboard based on a used aircraft-carrying cruiser "Admiral Gorshkov".
The Indians chose the best of two evils - they acquired the Soviet / Russian TAVKR with its subsequent overhaul and modernization. It is difficult to call the Vikramaditya an outdated aircraft carrier, but this does not prevent the Vikramaditya from being a useless ship.
It is useless to look for any intelligible reasons and reasonable explanations for the purchase of an Indian aircraft carrier - THEY DON'T EXIST. And it is not worth rhetoric in style: India has acquired a modernized aircraft carrier - which means that Russia definitely needs the same ship.
Not needed.
There is no hidden connotation in the story of Vikramaditya. The key to understanding the Vikramaditya phenomenon, the Thai aircraft carrier Chakri Narubet or the Brazilian aircraft carrier São Paulo is the senseless “dreadnought race” among the less developed countries of the early 20th century.
