Rating of the magazine "Popular Mechanics"
Largest: Nimitz-class aircraft carriers
Country: USA
Launched: 1972
Displacement: 100,000 t
Length: 332.8 m
Full speed power: 260,000 hp
Full speed: 31.5 knots
Crew: 3184 people.
Currently, the largest surface ship in the world is the Nimitz-class heavy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The lead USS Nimitz was launched on May 13, 1972, and entered service with the US Navy three years later. A total of ten ships were built, named after famous American politicians. Chester Nimitz, who gave his name to the entire series, was the Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Fleet during World War II. The architecture of the Nimitz is a flat-deck ship with an angled flight deck. Flight deck area - 18200 m2. The ship has surface and underwater structural protection. The bottom is protected by an armored flooring of the second bottom and the third bottom. The four-shaft main power plant includes two water-cooled nuclear reactors and four main turbo-gear units.
Structurally, the ships of the "Nimitz" class are the same, but the last six have increased displacement and draft. The refueling period of their nuclear reactors is up to 20 years. The core of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers' armament is aviation: the George Bush, the last and tenth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier ship, entered service with the US Navy on January 10, 2009. She became a "transition" ship to the new generation of aircraft carriers of the Gerald R. Ford class.
The most original modern: the USS Independence trimaran
Country: USA
Launched: 2008
Displacement: 2784 t
Length: 127.4 m
Full speed: 44 knots
Crew: 40 people.
The most unusual warship in the world is perhaps the American trimaran Independence (LCS-2). By 2035, the Americans are planning to build up to 55 ships of this class in two sizes - small (up to 1000 tons) and large (2500-3000 tons), but today only the first ship, the "founder" of the new class, is ready. It was launched in 2008 and entered the US Navy in January 2010. The peculiar design of the trimaran is dictated by the need to build the fastest possible warship; The hull was developed by Austral, which has already tested the concept on the Benchijigua Express commercial ferry between the Canaries, Tenerife, Homera, Hierra and Palma in the Atlantic Ocean. The Independence is a coastal combat ship capable of accelerating to 50 knots (90 km / h) and conducting combat operations in a five-point sea state (“troubled sea”, wave height 2, 5–4 m). The main class competitor of the trimaran is the Freedom class ships developed by Lockheed Martin. The latter have a classic layout. Time will tell which is better.
The largest of the non-aerial vehicles: "Peter the Great"
Country Russia
Launched: 1996
Displacement: 25,860 t
Length: 250.1 m
Full speed power: 140,000 hp
Full speed: 32 knots
Crew: 635 people.
The most powerful non-aircraft-carrying ship to date is the Russian nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great, which belongs to the Orlan series of Project 1114 cruisers. The first ship of this project, the Kirov heavy nuclear missile cruiser (TARK), was launched in 1977 and handed over to the Navy in 1980. Today only Peter the Great is in service, the other three cruisers are undergoing modernization, and the fifth TARK of the project (Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov) was never laid down due to the collapse of the USSR. "Peter the Great" is designed to destroy enemy aircraft carrier groups; it was laid down in 1986 and handed over to the Navy in 1998. Its cruising range is practically unlimited, and the P-700 Granit cruise missiles are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 550 km. The power plant of the cruiser is equipped with two fast neutron reactors with a thermal capacity of 300 MW each and two auxiliary oil steam boilers.
Most advanced missile cruiser: Ticonderoga-class missile cruisers
Country: USA
Launched: 1980
Displacement: 9750 t
Length: 173 m
Full speed power: 80,000 hp
Full speed: 32.5 knots
Crew: 387 people.
The Ticonderoga-class cruisers are considered the most dangerous of their type. They are designed to work in conditions of the use of weapons of mass destruction and are capable of fighting in seven-point excitement. The Ticonderogs are equipped with two vertical launch units with 61 rocket cells each; their typical load is 26 Tomahawk cruise missiles, 16 ASROC PLUR and 80Z UR Standard-2. From 1981 to 1992, 27 missile cruisers of this class were launched, five of them have already been decommissioned; by 2029, it is planned to completely replace the Ticonderoga class with a new generation of missile cruisers.
The most famous ship of the second world war: the battleship "Bismarck"
Country: Germany
Launched: 1939
Displacement: 50,900 t
Length: 251 m
Full speed power: 150 170 hp
Full speed: 30, 1 knot
Crew: 2092 people.
The Bismarck was one of the most advanced and powerful ships of the Second World War, the lead ship of the Bismarck class (the Tirpitz became the second battleship in the series). Even today, the Bismarck class is one of the three largest battleships of all time, second only to the Iowa and Yamato, built somewhat later. Powerful armament (including eight 380-mm cannons) allowed the Bismarck to withstand any ship of this class. True, the very first raid of the new battleship turned out to be his death: after the Bismarck sank the flagship of the British fleet, the battleship Hood, a targeted hunt was opened for the German giant and destroyed by clearly superior forces.
Largest battleship: Iowa-class battleship
Country: USA
Launched: 1942
Displacement: 45,000 t
Length: 270, 43 m
Full speed: 33 knots
Crew: 2637 people.
The American Iowa-class battleship is the largest surface ship in the world before the era of strike aircraft carriers. Its creators have achieved the maximum combination of weapons, seaworthiness and protection. A total of four battleships of this type were built: Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri and Wisconsin. Entered the US Navy in 1943, decommissioned in 1990. They took part in World War II, in the wars in Korea and Vietnam, and after modernization with the installation of Harpoon anti-ship complexes and Tomahawk-class cruise missiles in addition to the main caliber guns (406 mm), they delivered high-precision strikes against coastal targets during Operation Desert Storm.
Most modern warship: Type 45 Daring
Country: UK
Launched: 2006
Displacement: 8100 t
Length: 152.4 m
Full speed: 29 knots or more
Crew: 195 people.
The most modern and sophisticated warship in the world today is considered the British destroyer type 45 ("Daring"). At the moment, the first two "Daring" - Daring D32 and Dauntless D33 have entered the disposal of the British fleet. These ships are intended primarily for anti-aircraft defense in the area of operation of the fleet, and the ship's systems are capable of coordinating the actions of coastal aviation. On the other hand, the cruising range of over 5000 nautical miles allows the 45th type to be a sufficiently mobile autonomous platform for deploying air defense systems anywhere in the world.
The very first serial drone: Protector
Country: Israel
Launched in series: 2007
Length: 9 m
Full speed: 50 knots
Armament: weapon platform typhoon weapon system with the ability to install 7, 62-mm machine gun, 12, 7-mm machine gun or 40-mm grenade launcher
In 2007, the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd launched into serial production the unmanned boat Protector, which became the first unmanned combat craft to enter service, not only in Israel, but also in Singapore. The option of putting it into service in the US Navy is also being considered. The main purpose of the unmanned boat is reconnaissance and patrolling of coastal areas, when the use of conventional means is dangerous for personnel.
Best WWI ship: Steam-turbine destroyer Novik
Country Russia
Launched: 1913
Displacement: 1260 t (1620 t after
modernization)
Length: 102, 43 m
Full speed power: 42,000 hp
Full speed: 37 knots
Crew: 117 (168 after modernization) people.
For many years the destroyer Novik, launched in 1913, was considered the world's best ship of its class - the fastest, most invulnerable, and maneuverable. On August 21, 1913 (even before the official presentation to the public) at the measured mile the ship reached a speed of 37.3 knots - at that time it was a world record. "Novik" was originally designed to carry 60 ball mines without weight compensation, while its British competitors, in order to take on board such an amount, had to remove the stern cannon and the stern twin-tube torpedo tube.
Best WWII heavy cruiser: Tone-class cruisers
Country: Japan
Launched: 1937
Displacement: 15,443 t
Length: 189.1 m
Full speed power: 152,000 hp
Full speed: 35 knots
Crew: 874 people.
The best ships in the class of heavy cruisers in history are, oddly enough, not American or British developments, but the French "Algeri" and Japanese cruisers of the "Tone" class. Two cruisers of this series (Tone and Chikuma) entered service in 1937 and 1938, respectively. In comparison with the initial project (they were planned as light cruisers), the Tone were heavily overloaded, and the crew lived in a tight space, but in terms of the level of weapons, armor and anti-torpedo protection, and counter-flooding measures, they had no equal in the world.
