The purpose of this article is to collect in one material the ships that marked the key changes in the history of the navies. The material offered to your attention is by no means a rating: it is absolutely impossible to assess what is more important for naval art - the appearance of a steam engine or the replacement of paddle wheels with a propeller, and the author does not make such an attempt.
Of course, the list below is incomplete, since it practically does not capture the ancient history and sailing fleets - and there were many milestone changes. However, the problem is that too little information has been preserved about ancient fleets and its reliability is not always clear. In addition, and this is characteristic of both antiquity and the era of sail, it is often impossible to find out when this or that innovation was first applied - it is difficult to specify even the country in which this happened, let alone a specific ship. Therefore, the list brought to your attention begins with:
1. Battleship "Prince Royal" (1610), Great Britain
The first sailing ships of the line appeared at the beginning of the 17th century and were at first two-deck, but the first three-deck ship of the line was the Prince Royal. Undoubtedly, large ships, equipped with a large amount of artillery, existed before - it is enough to recall the heavily armed galleons, and the first specially built artillery ship is considered to be the Mary Rose Karakka (1510). And yet all these ships - caravels, galleons, karakkas, and even two-deck "ships of the line" (as they were called in England) were only stages to perfection, which became a three-deck ship of the line. The same galleons were transport-warships, they were larger than battleships, and less maneuverable. In a boarding battle, the galleon had a preference, but the three-deck ship of the line was better suited for artillery combat, so it became the top of the "food pyramid" of sailing fleets and for more than 250 years it was the only means of conquering and maintaining sea dominance. The Prince Royal was destined to be the first of these ships.
2. Warship Demologos (1816), USA
The first warship with a steam engine. The Demologos was built as a floating battery to protect the harbor of New York and became, in essence, the forerunner of the coastal defense battleships. The ship had a very original design - a catamaran, between the hulls of which there was a paddle wheel. Machine power - 120 hp, gave the "Demologos" speed up to 5, 5 knots. The armament of this ship was to be thirty 32-pound guns and two 100-pound Columbiades. All this together made the Demologos an extremely dangerous enemy up to and including the battleship. It was enough to wait for the calm and go out to sea, to the sailing ships blocking the harbor - hardly anything could have saved them. It is from this ship that the history of steam fleets begins.
3. Warship "Princeton" (1843), USA
The world's first propeller-driven combat ship. After the era of the sail and the short "enthusiasm" for paddle wheels, propeller driven warships became the basis of the world's combat fleets - and, with rare exceptions, remain so to this day. "Princeton" had a displacement of 950 tons and a steam engine of 400 hp.
4. Mine boat engineer Tiesenhausen, Russia (1853-56, the exact date of construction is unknown)
This boat, the images of which, alas, history has not preserved, is absolutely not famous for anything, since soon after its construction it sank during the tests. But, nevertheless, it was the first specialized mine boat, and as such it can be considered the ancestor of the entire "mosquito fleet" of the world.
Well, the above image shows an American mine launch, which was lucky to be the first in its class to carry out a successful mine attack - it sunk the southern battleship Albemarl. True, the concept of happiness here is very relative - the longboat died along with its goal, either being damaged by a nearby explosion, or being pulled into a crater at the site of the death of an enemy ship.
5. Battleship "Gloire" (August 1860), France.
The world's first seaworthy battleship. Strictly speaking, armored ships were created in France before, and even took part in hostilities: for example, Love, Devastation and Tonnant fought in the Crimean war and forced the Russian fortress of Kinburn to surrender. Yet these ships were nothing more than armored floating batteries, while the Gloire opened the world to the era of nautical battleships.
6. Battleship "Warrior" (October 1861), Great Britain
The world's first battleship with a metal hull. The French "Gloire" had only a metal set, the paneling remained wooden. The Warrior ushered in the era of all-metal armored ships in the navy.
7. Armored cruiser "General-Admiral" (1875), Russia
The world's first armored cruiser. In fact, even before the "Admiral-General" in various countries, attempts were made to arm frigates (and even corvettes and sloops), but, having received protection, these ships lost the most important characteristics of cruisers, such as speed and cruising range. In essence, these were small battleships, not cruisers. At the same time, in the "mistress of the seas" England believed that an ocean cruiser should be fast enough, but armless and with powerful artillery, due to which such cruisers will be able to choose a suitable battle distance for them, with which their guns will be able to crush even armored ships.
At the same time, Russia needed cruisers capable of serving in the Far East, interrupting British ocean trade and fighting her cruisers. Rear Admiral A. A. Popov, and it was implemented in Russian shipyards. The armored cruiser "General-Admiral" gave rise to a whole class of ships, which at the beginning of the 20th century was transformed into battle cruisers.
8. Torpedo ship "Vesuvius" (1874) Great Britain.
Speaking about the firstborn who gave rise to this or that class of ships, it is very difficult to single out the ancestor of destroyers and destroyers, since at least four ships apply for this honorary position. In fact, the main features of a destroyer (and destroyer) are relatively small size, high speed, seaworthiness, and torpedoes as their main armament. The problem is that none of the four "firstborn" ships meets these requirements exactly.
The first to enter service was the British torpedo ship Vesuvius, built in 1874, and is probably the first ship to be armed with a torpedo (not a pole mine). Its dimensions were small, while the ship turned out to be of low seaworthiness, and most importantly - low-speed: the maximum speed of Vesuvius was some 9 knots, while modern battleships were already developing 13, 5-14, 5 knots. In other words, Vesuvius, going at full speed, could not catch up with the next column of battleships with an economic move. Rather, this ship was created as a harbor defender, capable of stepping into the fog and attacking enemy blocking ships at anchor. In the era of sailing fleets, the "blockade at anchor" was used everywhere, but in the era of the steam fleet it is decidedly outdated.
The second contender is the destroyer Ziten, ordered by Germany in England and included in the Kaiser's fleet in 1876. It was a seaworthy and very fast ship for those years - during tests it developed 16 full speed knots, while it was armed with two underwater torpedo tubes and in terms of the totality of qualities, probably most fully corresponded to the key characteristics of a destroyer. But its total displacement was 1152 tons, which was extremely large for the destroyers of those years, so the "Tsiten" can be considered, rather, as a torpedo version of a gunboat.
The next contenders for the role of the progenitor of destroyers are the British destroyer Lightning and the Russian destroyer Explosion. Both of them entered service in 1877, but the exact date of the transfer of the Lightning to the fleet is unknown, why the primacy between the two ships has not been established. The British destroyer was the fastest of the four - it developed 18 knots, but at the same time its displacement was only 33 tons, i.e., in fact, it was nothing more than a seaworthy destroyer.
Unlike all the ships described above, the Russian "Explosion" was supposed to become a full-fledged prototype of the destroyer. The project provided for everything - and a small displacement (according to various sources, 134 or 160 tons), and, at least not oceanic, but seaworthiness (because the design of a seagoing yacht was taken as a basis), and high speed (17 knots), and, of course, torpedo armament (bow underwater torpedo tube). In terms of the totality of his characteristics, it was him that should be considered the founder, but … errors in the calculations were summed up. The ship turned out to be very bad - the real full speed according to the test results did not exceed 13.5 knots, and only later hardly reached 14.5 knots. it was difficult to target the enemy. As a result, they even removed the torpedo tube from it, re-equipping it with a sixth mine. In view of the above, it can be argued that the Russians conceived the world's first full-fledged destroyer, but due to errors in design and, possibly, construction, the brilliant undertaking did not lead to success.
As you can see, all 4 ships have reason to claim the "position" of the founder of the destroyer / destroyer classes, but none of them has absolute rights to this title. It remains only to recognize the ship of the earliest construction as the firstborn, i.e. English "Vesuvius".
9. Armored cruiser "Komus" (1878), Great Britain
No fleet could afford to replenish its ranks exclusively with armored cruisers - these were quite expensive ships, the serial construction of which was limited by their complexity, size and cost. The fleets needed lighter cruisers, but it was impossible to do without armor protection at all - this is how the class of armored cruisers appeared, the first of which was the British Komus. It must be said that the Komus' armored deck was flat and located above the vehicles, but under the ship's waterline. However, later the cruisers began to be equipped with more powerful machines, towering above the waterline, which forced the armored deck to be raised higher. And in order to prevent enemy shells from entering the side under the armored deck, they began to provide for special bevels extending below the waterline. But in any case, it was "Komus" that received an armored deck and became the ancestor of the class of armored cruisers, from which the class of light cruisers later "grew".
10. Battleship Royal Sovereign (1892). United Kingdom
Since the advent of armor on ships, countries with powerful fleets have frantically searched for the most effective type of battleship for squadron battles. What kind of ships were not created! And casemate battleships, and battering ram battleships, and heavily armored, but very low-sided ships … Other battleships looked very comical, sometimes the search for an optimal ship led to tragedy (the British battleship Captain overturned and sunk with almost all the crew). But in 1892, the British put into operation a fairly high-speed (up to 17 knots) large (over 14,000 tons) high-board (freeboard 5.5 m), armed with two two-gun large-caliber installations in the bow and in the stern, which is why everyone could shoot on board. 4 heavy guns, and also equipped with rapid-fire medium-caliber artillery (10 six-inch guns) battleship "Royal Sovereign", whose basic design solutions have become the standard for all subsequent battleships of the world.
11. Battleship "Dreadnought" (1906), Great Britain
The ship that revolutionized naval affairs and became the ancestor of a new class of battleships. The refusal to use medium-caliber artillery in linear combat and the installation of "only large guns" - ten 305-mm guns (while no more than four such guns were installed on squadron battleships) made it possible to fight at hitherto inconceivable distances, at which the firepower " Dreadnought "significantly surpassed any squadron battleship. And the installation of new-fangled turbines allowed the Dreadnought to develop 21 knots - not all cruisers went at such a speed in those years. "Dreadnought" so struck the imagination of contemporaries that all subsequent ships of this class were also called dreadnoughts. In fact, even the most powerful and advanced battleships in the history of mankind (such as Yamato, Richelieu, Vanguard), although they were immeasurably stronger than the Dreadnought, did not have any fundamental differences from the latter
12. Submarine "Lamprey" (launching - 1908) Russia
Of course, the Lamprey was not at all the first submarine in the world: before the Lamprey, many submarines were created by various countries, and some of them even took part in hostilities. But it should be understood that the capabilities of all these submarines were either extremely limited, or even tended to zero: the lack of a suitable power plant was to blame. Steam engines, gasoline engines, muscle power - all this, at best, allowed us to speak of submarines as an extravagant way of defending ports and harbors, but nothing more.
Submarines became a real deadly weapon only after the appearance of diesel engines, on which they moved over water and electric motors for underwater navigation. It was the diesel-electric power plant that allowed the submarines to move at a sufficient speed and distance to intercept merchant ships and even threaten warships. Lamprey became the first submarine in the world to receive a diesel-electric power plant.
13. Minesweeper "Albatross" (1910) Russia.
It must be said that in mine-sweeping business Russia is the recognized leader among other countries. The first trawl was invented in Russia, and its classical scheme was also adopted in Russia. Our country was the first to carry out combat trawling (the Russo-Japanese War), and it was in Russia that the first minesweeper of special construction, the Albatross, was created. An interesting aspect - despite the fact that "Albatross" was created on the instructions of the fleet, and the sailors called it "trawling ship" or "minesweeper", naval officials stubbornly considered the "Albatross" a port ship. The thing is that in those years few people thought about trawling on the high seas - it was assumed that trawling would have to go no further than the roadstead. Hence the "port ship".
fourteen. Cruiser Hawkins (1919), Great Britain
Probably no ship has brought so much trouble to the world's largest fleets as did the Hawkins-class cruisers. In the anti-rating of the ships that had the worst impact on the history of shipbuilding, Hawkins could well claim to be the first place.
Such a gloomy introduction does not negate the fact that these ships themselves were very successful. During the First World War, German surface raiders caused great concern to the British, while German light cruisers posed a significant danger, which became a fairly cheap but highly effective means of interrupting British communications. In response, the British came up with the concept of a "cruiser-hunter": "Hawkins" was much larger than typical light cruisers, usually having a displacement of 3 to 5, 5 thousand tons, while the normal displacement of "Hawkins" reached 9800 tons. Its armament also was much stronger - seven 190-mm guns, of which six could fire on board, while only 105-152-mm guns were installed on light cruisers. Hawkins developed 29.5-30 knots, which was more than many light cruisers developed, but the Hawkins had a special advantage in its size. The fact is that the fresher the weather, the greater the loss of speed of a battleship, but large ships lose speed more slowly than small ones, and this alone gave Hawkins certain advantages. In addition, the length of the Hawkins was optimal for movement on ocean waves, and therefore this ship had a good chance of catching up with even the formally faster, but lighter and shorter enemy ships.
Naturally, by the time of the Washington Conference, there could be no question of persuading Britain to scrapped such perfect cruisers, therefore they were taken as a model when determining the maximum allowable size for post-war cruisers. And, of course, countries that had not previously thought about building such large ships immediately rushed to build them …
The problem was that the Hawkins was a great ship by World War I standards, but the world that followed brought a lot of innovations to shipbuilding - such as efficient medium-caliber gun turrets, for example, but all of this required additional weight. And besides, the Hawkins' 76 mm armor did not badly withstand 105-152 mm high-explosive shells, but it was not very good against its own 190-mm and 203-mm guns permitted by the Washington agreements. Thus, almost all countries were faced with the fact that it was impossible to build a well-protected, sufficiently fast and armed with 203-mm guns cruiser within 10,000 tons - they had to either knowingly violate the agreement by increasing the displacement, or create knowingly defective ships. As a result, "Hawkins", for all its merits, can be considered the ancestor of perhaps the most unbalanced class of ships in the history of mankind - the so-called "Washington" or heavy cruisers.
15. Aircraft carrier "Jose" (1922) Japan
The Jose was the world's first specially built aircraft carrier to enter service, but that was not the only reason to include it on our list. The thing is that "Jose" was the first in the world to receive the main features of the aircraft carriers of the future, such as a continuous flight deck and a small "island" superstructure (dismantled during one of the ship's upgrades). The first ship with a continuous flight deck was the British "Argus" (1918). Before him, aircraft carriers either carried seaplanes, for which no deck was needed for takeoff and landing, or they had a special flight deck instead of part of the superstructures, such as the British "Furyos", converted from a light battle cruiser. But on "Argus" the superstructure was completely absent. Thus, we can say that the Japanese "Jose" became the first aircraft carrier of the classic layout, which is still used today.
16. Aircraft carrier "Coral Sea" (1947) USA.
The first warship in the world to be armed with atomic weapons. On April 21, 1950, an AJ-1 Savage bomber, capable of carrying an atomic bomb, took off from its deck.
17. Nuclear submarine "Nautilus" (1954) USA
The first warship to receive a nuclear power plant. From now on, the cruising range for the ships "bridling the atom" was determined only by the reserves of water, provisions and the endurance of the personnel. In principle, this says it all, but I would like to draw the attention of dear readers to one nuance.
We, as a rule, know quite well the shortcomings of warships of our own construction, an example of this is the description of the problems of the Russian destroyer "Explosion", given in this article. At the same time, Western countries, as a rule, are not too fond of "sticking out" the problems of their military equipment, which is why we often believe that their ships were more perfect than ours. It would seem that the "Nautilus" represented a real breakthrough into the future, and to some extent it was, but according to some data, the ship turned out to be practically incapable of combat - the noise of the first atomarina in the history of mankind was such that already at 4 knots of its own speed sonar became completely useless.
18. Missile cruiser "Boston" (1955) USA.
The first warship to be armed with guided missile weapons (URO), the Boston was built as a heavy cruiser, but in 1952 it was upgraded, during which its aft turret of 203-mm guns was replaced by two Terrier air defense systems. Thus, it can be considered the first combat ship with URO.
On this, perhaps, the list of first-born warships can be completed. Of course, the list turned out to be quite controversial: for example, the American cruiser Ticonderoga (as a carrier of the Aegis system, which integrates all the ship's weapons under centralized control) and Soviet air cushion warships, are asked for it. But the declared capabilities of the Aegis have not been tested in practice, and therefore it is not known how effectively the complex works, and the air cushion has not yet become widespread among the world's navy.
It is interesting to calculate how the innovator ships were distributed by country:
Great Britain - 7 ships
USA - 5 ships
Russia - 4 ships
France - 1 ship
Japan - 1 ship
It is hardly surprising that the first place in this rating was taken by Great Britain - the recognized ruler of the seas, whose domination began with the gray days of the sailing fleet and was "transferred" to the United States relatively recently, after the Second World War. Our country has a very honorable third place, and given that Russia has reason to claim leadership in the category of destroyers ("Explosion"), its rating is quite comparable with the United States of America.
