The largest battleship in the world. German battleships of World War II

29.04.2015 21 333 0 Jadaha

Science and technology

It is believed that as a class of warships, battleships appeared only in the 17th century, when a new tactic of naval battles was formed.

The squadrons lined up against each other and began an artillery duel, the ending of which determined the outcome of the battle.

However, if we mean by linear large warships with powerful weapons, then the history of such ships goes back thousands of years.

In ancient times, the combat power of the ship depended on the number of warriors and rowers, as well as the throwing weapons that were placed on it. The name of the ships was determined by the number of rows of oars. Oars, in turn, could be designed for 1-3 people. The rowers were placed on several floors, one above the other or in a checkerboard pattern.

Quinqueremes (penters) with five rows of oars were considered the most common type of large vessels. However, in 256 B.C. e. in the battle with the Carthaginians at Ecnome, the Roman squadron included two hexers (with six rows of oars). The Romans were still insecure at sea and instead of traditional rams, they started a boarding battle, installing the so-called “ravens” on the decks - devices that, having fallen on an enemy ship, tightly fettered it to the attacking ship.

According to modern experts, the largest ship could be a septirema (seven rows of oars) about 90 meters long. A ship of greater length would simply break in the waves. Nevertheless, ancient sources contain references to octers, eners and decims (respectively, eight, nine and ten rows of oars). Most likely, these ships were too wide, and therefore slow-moving, and were used to defend their own harbors, as well as in the capture of enemy coastal fortresses as mobile platforms for siege towers and heavy throwing devices.

Length - 45 meters

Width - 6 meters

Engines - sail, oars

Crew - about 250 people

Armament - boarding "raven"

It is widely believed that armored ships appeared in the second half of the 19th century. In fact, their birthplace was medieval Korea...

We are talking about kobukson, or "turtle ships", created, as it is believed, by the famous Korean naval commander Lee Sunsin (1545-1598).

The first mention of these ships dates back to 1423, but the opportunity to try them in action appeared only in 1592, when the 130,000-strong Japanese army tried to conquer the Land of Morning Calm.

Having lost a significant part of the fleet due to a surprise attack, the Koreans, having four times smaller forces, began to strike at enemy ships. The battleships of the samurai fleet - sekibune - had crews of no more than 200 people and a displacement of 150 tons. In front of twice as large and tightly armored kobuksons, they turned out to be defenseless, since it was impossible to take such "turtles" for boarding. Korean crews sat in chest-like casemates made of wood and iron and methodically shot the enemy with cannons.

Kobuksons were set in motion by 18-20 single oars and even with a fair wind they could hardly reach speeds of more than 7 kilometers per hour. But their firepower was crushing, and invulnerability brought the samurai to hysterics. It was these "turtles" that brought victory to the Koreans, and Lee Sunsin became a national hero.

Length - 30-36 meters

Width - 9-12 meters

Engines - sail, oars

Crew - 130 people

Number of guns - 24-40

The rulers of the Republic of Venice, perhaps, were the first to understand that dominance over maritime communications allows them to control world trade, and with such a trump card in their hands, even a tiny state can become a strong European power.

The basis of the sea power of the Republic of St. Mark were galleys. Vessels of this type could move both on sails and on oars, but were longer than their ancient Greek and Phoenician predecessors, which made it possible to increase their crews to one and a half hundred sailors, capable of acting both as rowers and as marines.

The depth of the galley hold was no more than 3 meters, but this was enough to load the necessary supplies and even small batches intended for the sale of goods.

The main element of the vessel were curved frames that determined the shape and influenced the speed of the galley. First, a frame was assembled from them, and then sheathed with boards.

This technology was revolutionary for its time, allowing the construction of a long and narrow, but at the same time rigid structure that did not bend under the influence of waves.

The Venetian shipyards were a state-owned enterprise surrounded by a 10-meter wall. More than 3,000 professional craftsmen, who were called arsenolotti, worked on them.

Unauthorized entry into the territory of the enterprise was punishable by imprisonment, which was supposed to ensure maximum secrecy.

Length - 40 meters

Width - 5 meters

Engine - sail, oars

Speed ​​- b knots

Load capacity - 140 tons

Crew - 150 rowers

The largest sailing ship of the line of the 18th century, unofficially nicknamed El Ponderoso ("Heavyweight").

It was launched in Havana in 1769. It had three decks. The hull of the ship, up to 60 centimeters thick, was made of Cuban redwood, the mast and yardarms were made of Mexican pine.

In 1779 Spain and France declared war on England. The Santisima Trinidad went to the English Channel, but the enemy ships simply did not engage with it and slipped away, taking advantage of the speed advantage. In 1795, the Heavyweight was converted into the world's first four-deck ship.

On April 14, 1797, at the Battle of Cape San Vincent, British ships under the command of Nelson cut off the nose of a column led by the Santisima Trinidad and opened artillery fire from a convenient position, which decided the outcome of the battle. The victors captured four ships, but the pride of the Spanish fleet managed to escape capture.

The British flagship Victoria, which carried Nelson, attacked, along with seven other British ships, each with at least 72 guns, the Santisima Trinidad.

Length - 63 meters

Displacement - 1900 tons

Engines - sail

Crew - 1200 people

Number of guns - 144

The most powerful sailing ship of the line of the Russian fleet was launched in 1841 at the Nikolaev shipyard.

It was built on the initiative of the commander of the Black Sea squadron Mikhail Lazarev, taking into account the latest developments of British shipbuilders. Due to careful processing of wood and work in boathouses, the life of the vessel exceeded the standard eight years. The interior decoration was luxurious, so that some officers compared it to the decoration of the imperial yachts. In 1849 and 1852, two more similar ships left the stocks - "Paris" and "Grand Duke Konstantin", but with simpler interior decoration.

The first commander of the ship was the future vice-admiral Vladimir Kornilov (1806-1854), who died during the defense of Sevastopol.

In 1853, the "Twelve Apostles" transported almost 1.5 thousand infantrymen to the Caucasus to take part in the battles against the Turks. However, when the British and French came out against Russia, it became obvious that the time of sailing ships was a thing of the past.

A hospital was set up on the Twelve Apostles, and the cannons removed from it were used to strengthen coastal defenses.

On the night of February 13-14, 1855, the ship was scuttled to strengthen the underwater barriers at the entrance to the bay that had been washed away by the current. When work began on clearing the fairway after the war, it was not possible to raise the Twelve Apostles and the ship was blown up.

Length - 64.4 meters

Width - 12.1 meters

Speed ​​- up to 12 knots (22 km/h)

Engines - sail

Crew - 1200 people

Number of guns - 130

The first full-fledged battleship of the Russian fleet, built on Galerny Island in St. Petersburg according to the project of Rear Admiral Andrei Popov (1821-1898), originally bore the name "Cruiser" and was intended specifically for cruising operations. However, after it was renamed "Peter the Great" in 1872 and launched, the concept changed. Speech began to be conducted already about a vessel of a linear type.

It was not possible to bring the engine part to mind; in 1881, Peter the Great was transferred to Glasgow, where specialists from the Randolph and Elder company took up its reconstruction. As a result, the ship began to be considered the leader among the ships of its class, although it did not have to show off its power in real hostilities.

By the beginning of the 20th century, shipbuilding had gone far ahead, and the next modernization of the case no longer saved. In 1903, the Peter the Great was converted into a training ship, and since 1917 it has been used as a floating base for submarines.

In February and April 1918, this veteran took part in two of the most difficult ice transitions: first from Revel to Helsingfors, and then from Helsingfors to Kronstadt, avoiding capture by the Germans or White Finns.

In May 1921, the ex-battleship was disarmed and reorganized into a mine block (floating base) of the Kronstadt military port. From the list of the fleet "Peter the Great" was excluded only in 1959.

Length - 103.5 meters

Width - 19.2 meters

Speed ​​- 14.36 knots

Power - 8296 l. With.

Crew - 440 people

Armament - four 305 mm and six 87 mm guns

The proper name of this ship became a household name for a whole generation of warships, which differed from the usual battleships in greater armor protection and the power of guns - it was on them that the “all-big-gun” principle (“only big guns”) was implemented.

The initiative of its creation belonged to the first Lord of the British Admiralty John Fisher (1841-1920). Launched on February 10, 1906, the ship was built in four months, involving almost all the shipbuilding enterprises of the kingdom. The power of his fire salvo was equal to the power of a salvo of an entire squadron of battleships of the recently ended Russo-Japanese War. However, it cost twice as much.

Thus, the great powers entered the next round of the naval arms race.

By the beginning of the First World War, the Dreadnought itself was already considered somewhat outdated, and the so-called "superdreadnoughts" were replacing it.

This ship won the only victory on March 18, 1915, sinking the German submarine U-29, commanded by the famous German submarine Lieutenant Commander Otto Weddingen, with a ramming attack.

In 1919, the Dreadnought was transferred to the reserve, in 1921 it was sold for scrap, and in 1923 it was dismantled for metal.

Length - 160.74 meters

Width - 25.01 meters

Speed ​​- 21.6 knots

Power - 23,000 liters. With. (estimated) - 26350 (at full speed)

Crew - 692 (1905), 810 (1916)

Armament - ten 305 mm, twenty-seven 76 mm anti-mine guns

The largest (along with the Tirpitz) German battleship and the third largest representative of this class of warships in the world (after the battleships of the Yamato and Iowa types).

Launched in Hamburg on Valentine's Day - February 14, 1939 - in the presence of Prince Bismarck's granddaughter Dorothea von Löwenfeld.

On May 18, 1941, the battleship, together with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, left Gotenhafen (modern Gdynia) in order to disrupt British sea lanes.

On the morning of May 24, after an eight-minute artillery duel, Bismarck sent the British battlecruiser Hood to the bottom. On the battleship, one of the generators failed and two fuel tanks were pierced.

The British staged a real raid on the Bismarck. The decisive hit (which led to the loss of control of the ship) was achieved by one of the fifteen torpedo bombers that rose from the Ark Royal aircraft carrier.

Bismarck went to the bottom on May 27, confirming with his death that now the battleships must give way to aircraft carriers. His younger brother Tirpitz was sunk on November 12, 1944 in the Norwegian fjords as a result of a series of British air raids.

Length - 251 meters

Width - 36 meters

Height - 15 meters (from keel to upper deck)

For a certain time, they were significantly inferior in technical terms and armament to slow-moving armadillos. But already in the 20th century, countries wishing to strengthen their fleet began to create battleships that would have no equal in terms of firepower. But not all states could afford to build such a ship. The superships were of enormous value. Consider the world's largest battleship, its features and other important details.

Richelieu and Bismarck

The French ship called "Richelieu" boasts a displacement of 47,000 tons. The length of the vessel is about 247 meters. The main purpose of the ship was to contain the Italian fleet, but this battleship never saw active hostilities. The only exception is the Senegalese operation of 1940. In 1968, the Richelieu, named after the French cardinal, was scrapped. One of the main guns was erected in Brest as a monument.

The Bismarck is one of the legendary ships of the German Navy. The length of the vessel is 251 meters, and the displacement is 51,000 tons. The battleship was launched in 1938, with Adolf Hitler himself present. In 1941 the ship was sunk by the forces resulting in the loss of many lives. But this is far from the largest battleship in the world, so let's move on.

German "Tirpitz" and Japanese "Yamato"

Of course, the Tirpitz is not the largest battleship in the world, but during the war she had outstanding technical characteristics. However, after the destruction of the Bismarck, he did not take an active part in the hostilities. It was launched into the water in 1939, and already in the 44th it was destroyed by torpedo bombers.

But the Japanese "Yamato" - the world's largest battleship, which was sunk as a result of military battles. The Japanese treated this ship very economically, so until the 44th year it did not take part in hostilities, although such an opportunity fell out more than once. It was launched into the water in 1941. The length of the vessel is 263 meters. There were always 2.5 thousand crew members on board. In April 1945, as a result of an attack by the American fleet, she received 23 direct hits by torpedoes. As a result, the bow compartment exploded, and the ship went to the bottom. According to rough estimates, more than 3,000 people died and only 268 managed to escape as a result of a shipwreck.

Another tragic story

Japanese battleships during World War II had bad luck on the battlefield. It is difficult to name the exact reason. Whether it was in the technical part or the command was to blame for everything, this will remain a mystery. Nevertheless, after Yamato, another giant was built - Musashi. It was 263 meters long with a displacement of 72,000 tons. First launched in 1942. But this ship also faced the tragic fate of its predecessor. The first one went, one might say, successfully. After the attack by the American submarine "Musashi" received a serious hole in the bow, but safely left the battlefield. But after some time in the Sibuyan Sea, the ship was attacked by American aircraft. The main blow fell just on this battleship.

As a result of 30 direct hits by bombs, the ship sank. Then more than 1,000 crew members and the captain of the ship died. In 2015, Musashi was discovered by an American millionaire at a depth of 1.5 kilometers.

Who held dominance in the ocean?

Here you can definitely say - America. The fact is that the largest battleship in the world was built there. Moreover, during the war, the United States had more than 10 combat-ready superships, while Germany had about 5. The USSR did not have any at all. Although today it is known about the project called "Soviet Union". It was developed during the war, and the ship was already 20% built, but no more.

The world's largest battleship of the war, which was decommissioned after all - "Wisconsin". He went to the parking lot in the port of Norflok in 2006, where he is today as a museum exhibit. This giant was 270 meters long with a displacement of 55,000 tons. During the war, he actively participated in various special operations and accompanied aircraft carrier groups. The last time it was used during the fighting in the Persian Gulf.

Top 3 giants from America

"Iowa" - a linear American ship 270 meters long with a displacement of 58 thousand tons. This is one of the most outstanding US ships, even if not the largest ship in the world. was first launched in 1943 and took part in many naval battles. It was actively used as an escort for aircraft carriers, and was also used to support ground forces. In 2012 he was sent to Los Angeles, where he is now as a museum.

But almost every American knows about the "black dragon". "New Jersey" was so nicknamed because it terrified by its mere presence on the battlefield. This is the world's largest battleship in history, which took part in the Vietnam War. It was launched in 1943 and was similar in type to the Iowa ship. The length of the vessel was 270.5 meters. This is a real veteran of naval battles, who in 1991 was sent to the port of Camden. There it is now and serves as a tourist attraction.

World's largest battleship of World War II

The honorable first place is occupied by the ship "Missouri". She was not only the largest representative (271 meters in length), but was also the last American battleship. This ship is known for the most part due to the fact that it was on board that the surrender pact of Japan was signed. But at the same time, Missouri took an active part in the hostilities. It was launched from the shipyard in 1944 and was used to escort aircraft carrier groups and support various special operations. He fired his last shot in the Persian Gulf. In 1992, it was decommissioned from the US reserves and went to the parking lot at Pearl Harbor.

This is one of the most famous ships in America and around the world. More than one documentary film has been made about him. By the way, millions of dollars are spent annually in the United States to maintain the working condition of already decommissioned battleships, because this is a historical value.

Hopes were not justified

Even the world's largest battleship of the war did not live up to the hopes placed on it. A vivid example of this is the Japanese giants, which were destroyed by American bombers without having time to respond with their main calibers. All this spoke of low effectiveness against aircraft.

Nevertheless, the firepower of the battleships was simply amazing. For example, 460-mm artillery pieces weighing almost 3 tons each were installed on the Yamato. In total, there were about 9 such guns on board. True, the designers introduced a ban on simultaneous salvo, as this would inevitably lead to mechanical damage to the ship.

Defense was also important. Armored plates of various thicknesses protected the most important components and assemblies of the ship and were supposed to provide it with buoyancy in any situation. The main gun had a 630 mm mantlet. Not a single gun in the world would have pierced it, even when firing almost point-blank. But still, this did not save the battleship from death.

It was attacked by American attack aircraft for almost the whole day. The total number of aircraft that took part in the special operation reached 150 aircraft. After the first breakdowns in the hull, the situation was not yet critical, when another 5 torpedoes hit, a list of 15 degrees appeared, it was reduced to 5 degrees with the help of anti-flooding. But already at this time there were huge losses of personnel. When the roll reached 60 degrees, a monstrous explosion thundered. These were cellar stocks of the main caliber, approximately 500 tons of explosives. So the world's largest battleship, the photo of which you can see in this article, was sunk.

Summing up

Today, any ship, even the largest battleship in the world, is significantly behind from a technical point of view. The guns do not allow effective aimed fire due to insufficient vertical and horizontal aiming angles. The huge mass does not allow you to gain high speed. All this, along with their large dimensions, makes battleships easy prey for aviation, especially if there is no air support and destroyer cover.

The defeat in the First World War, it would seem, finally crossed out Germany from the contenders for naval dominance. According to the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans were allowed to have in service ships with a displacement of up to 10 thousand tons with guns with a caliber of no more than 11 inches. Therefore, they had to say goodbye to the hope of keeping even their very first dreadnoughts and be content with hopelessly outdated battleships of the Deutschland and Braunschweig types. When it became possible to replace the latter with ships of new projects (and this was allowed to be done no earlier than after 20 years of their being in service), it was these "Versailles" restrictions that led to the appearance of "capital" ships of the Deutschland type, unusual in all respects.

When it was created, the Germans proceeded from the fact that the new ship would primarily be used on enemy communications as a raider. The successful actions of Emden and Koenigsberg in 1914 against British shipping at the same time clearly showed that the weak armament of light cruisers leaves them no chance when a more serious enemy appears. Therefore, the Deutschland must be stronger than any enemy heavy cruiser and at the same time faster than any battleship. This idea, frankly, is not new, but previous attempts to implement it rarely led to the desired result. And only the Germans finally managed to embody it in metal as close as possible to the idea. "Deutschlands" with a very limited displacement received powerful weapons, decent (by cruising standards) protection and a huge cruising range. In the German Navy, the new ships were officially classified as battleships (panzerschiffe), in fact they were heavy cruisers, but because of the excessively powerful main battery artillery, they remained in the history of world shipbuilding as "pocket battleships".

Indeed, the armament of the "Deutschland" - two three-gun 11-inch towers and another 8 six-inch as a medium caliber - looked quite "battleship". The new 283-mm cannon (the Germans officially called it "28-cm", and therefore in the literature it is often listed as 280-mm) - with a barrel length of 52 calibers and an elevation angle of 40, it could fire 300-kg shells at a range of 42.5 km. To "shove" such artillery into cruising dimensions was made possible, firstly, by the all-round lightening of the hull due to the widespread introduction of electric welding and, secondly, by the use of fundamentally new engines - four twin diesel units with hydraulic transmission. As a result, the project left room for an armor belt with a thickness of 60-80 mm, and for anti-torpedo protection about 4.5 m wide (together with boules), ending with a 40-mm longitudinal bulkhead.

The entry into service of the lead "pocket battleship" coincided with Hitler's coming to power and resulted in a noisy propaganda campaign designed to instill in the layman that the revival of the German fleet began with the creation of "the best" ships in the world. In fact, these statements were far from the truth. For all their originality, the "Deutschland" and the "Admiral Scheer" and "Admiral Graf Spee" that followed it were by no means superior to all the "Washington" cruisers in terms of armor protection, and in speed they were inferior to everyone by an average of 4-5 knots. The seaworthiness of the "pocket battleships" at first turned out to be unimportant, because of which they had to urgently redo the bow of the hull. To crown it all, it should be noted that their real standard displacement exceeded the declared one (10 thousand tons) by 17-25%, and the total displacement on the "Admiral Count Spee" generally reached 16020 tons!

The obvious limitations of the capabilities of "pocket battleships" in the light of the new naval doctrine announced by Hitler forced the construction of three more ships of the same type to be abandoned in favor of full-fledged battleships. In June 1935, an agreement was concluded in London, allowing Germany to have a fleet that was 35% of the British. Having won a diplomatic victory, the Germans could now build battleships quite legally.

The creation of ships went under the personal control of the Fuhrer. It is he who is considered to be the author of the new role assigned to the armored giants of the Kriegsmarine in the impending war. The fact is that, being unable to compete with the British fleet in a general battle, the Nazis intended to use their battleships as ocean raiders. It was in the actions of mighty ships against transport shipping that Hitler saw an opportunity to bring the "mistress of the seas" to her knees.

By the combination of parameters, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are often (and quite rightly) called battlecruisers. However, their continuity with their outstanding ancestors - "Derflinger" and "Mackensen" - is very arbitrary. The Scharnhorst project is largely descended from "pocket battleships". The only thing that the designers borrowed from the Kaiser battlecruisers was the armor scheme. Otherwise, the Scharnhorst is simply a Deutschland that has grown to normal size with a third 283-mm turret and a steam turbine plant.

The armor protection of the Scharnhorst according to the scheme was old-fashioned, but at the same time very powerful. A vertical belt of 350 mm cemented armor was mounted on the outside and could withstand 1016 kg 406 mm projectiles at ranges of more than 11 km. Above was an additional 45 mm belt. There were two armored decks: 50 mm upper and 80 mm (95 mm above the cellars) lower with 105 mm bevels. The total weight of the armor has reached a record value - 44% of the normal displacement! Anti-torpedo protection had an average width of 5.4 m on each side and was separated from the hull by an inclined 45-mm bulkhead.

The 283-mm guns of the SKC-34 model were somewhat improved compared to the previous model SKC-28: the barrel length increased to 54.5 calibers, which allowed the heavier 330-kg projectile to provide the same firing range - 42.5 km. True, Hitler was dissatisfied: he considered the German ships of the First World War period clearly underarmed and demanded that 380-mm guns be installed on the Scharnhorst. Only the unwillingness to delay the entry of battleships into service for a long time (and new weapons would delay their readiness for at least a year) forced him to compromise, postponing the rearmament of the ships at the time of their future upgrades.

The mixed placement of medium artillery in two-gun turrets and deck shield installations looks very strange. But this fact is explained very easily: the latter had already been ordered for the failed 4th and 5th "pocket battleships", and the Scharnhorst designers simply "disposed" them.

Already during the construction of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, it became clear that the attempts of the international community to limit the naval arms race had failed. The leading maritime powers immediately began designing super-battleships, and the Germans, of course, did not stand aside.

In June 1936, the Bismarck and Tirpitz, the largest warships ever built in Germany, were laid down at the shipyards of Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven. Although it was officially announced that the displacement of the new battleships was 35 thousand tons, in reality this value was exceeded by almost one and a half times!

Structurally, the Bismarck largely repeated the Scharnhorst, but fundamentally differed primarily in the main caliber artillery. A 380 mm cannon with a barrel length of 52 calibers could fire 800 kg projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 820 m/s. True, by reducing the maximum elevation angle to 30, the firing range, compared with the 11-inch, decreased to 35.5 km. However, this value was also considered excessive, since it seemed impossible at that time to fight at such distances.

The armor differed from the Scharnhorst mainly by increasing the height of the main belt and thickening the upper belt to 145 mm. Deck armor, as well as the width of anti-torpedo protection, remained the same. Approximately the same can be said about the power plant (12 Wagner boilers and 3 four-casing turbo-gear units). The relative weight of the armor has decreased somewhat (up to 40% of the displacement), but this cannot be called a disadvantage, since the ratio between protection and armament has become more balanced.

But even such giants as Bismarck and Tirpitz could not satisfy the Fuhrer's growing ambitions. At the beginning of 1939, he approved the design of the "H" type battleship with a total displacement of over 62 thousand tons, armed with eight 406-mm guns. In total, it was supposed to have 6 such ships; two of them managed to lay in July-August. However, the outbreak of war crossed out the plans of the Nazis. Surface ship construction programs had to be curtailed, and in September 1939 Hitler could only oppose 22 English and French battleships and battlecruisers with the "11-inch" Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ("pocket battleships" do not count). The Germans had to rely only on new raider tactics.

The first joint corsair operation "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" was carried out in November 1939. It resulted in the sinking of the English auxiliary cruiser Rawalpindi, a former passenger liner armed with old cannons. The success was, to put it mildly, modest, although Goebbels' propaganda inflated this unequal duel to the scale of a major naval victory, and in the German Youth Library series they even published a separate book called The End of Rawalpindi.

In April 1940, both sisterships provided cover for the German invasion of Norway and for the first time engaged in battle with a worthy enemy - the battlecruiser Rinaun. The duel proceeded in conditions of poor visibility and continued intermittently for more than two hours. The Gneisenau scored two hits on the British, but also received two 381-mm shells, one of which silenced the rear turret. The Scharnhorst was not hit, but her forward turret was also out of action due to damage caused by the storm.

Soon another battle took place in Norwegian waters, which received a huge response in the navies of the whole world. On June 8, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau stumbled upon the British aircraft carrier Glories, escorted by the destroyers Ardent and Ekasta. Using radar, the Germans opened fire from a range of 25 km and quickly achieved hits that damaged the flight deck and prevented the aircraft from being lifted into the air. Glories caught fire, capsized and sank. Trying to save the aircraft carrier, the destroyers bravely rushed into a suicidal attack. Both were shot, but still one torpedo from the Ecasta hit the Scharnhorst. The battleship took in more than 2500 tons of water and received a roll of 5 to starboard; two artillery turrets - aft 283 mm and one 150 mm - were out of order; speed has dropped drastically. All this somewhat blurred the undoubted success of the operation.

The results of the first battle between battleships and an aircraft carrier inspired admirals with conservative views on naval warfare, but, alas, not for long. It soon became clear that the shooting of the Glories was just a tragic coincidence, an exception to the rule...

Finest hour "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" - their joint "ocean voyage" in January - March 1941. During two months of piracy in the Atlantic, they captured and sank 22 allied steamships with a total tonnage of over 115,000 tons and returned to Brest with impunity.

But then fortune turned away from the Germans. While in French ports, the battleships began to be subjected to massive air attacks. It was hardly possible to complete the repair of some damage, as the English bombs caused new ones. I had to take my feet. The breakthrough across the English Channel to Germany in February 1942 was the last joint operation of the Nazi super raiders.

On the night of February 27, the Gneisenau, which had just arrived in Kiel, was hit by a British 454-kg armor-piercing bomb in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe first tower. The explosion caused huge destruction and a fire (230 powder charges of the main caliber flared up at once). 112 sailors were killed and 21 wounded. The battleship was towed to Gotenhafen (Gdynia) for repairs. During the latter, by the way, it was planned to replace the main artillery with six 380-mm guns. Alas, these plans remained on paper. In January 1943, all work was stopped, and on March 27, 1945, the skeleton of the Gneisenau was flooded in order to block the entrance fairway.

The Scharnhorst, after a lengthy repair (and it was blown up by two mines during the English Channel breakthrough), moved to Norway, where it then mainly settled in the fjords. On December 26, 1943, under the flag of Admiral Erich Bey, while trying to attack the allied convoy JW-55B, he was intercepted by British cruisers. The very first hit from the Norfolk cruiser disabled the German radar, which in the conditions of the polar night led to fatal consequences. Soon the battleship Duke of York joined the cruisers, and the Scharnhorst's position became hopeless. After stubborn resistance, the raider, mutilated by heavy shells, was finished off by torpedoes from British destroyers. The British picked up 36 people from the water - the remaining 1932 crew members of the fascist battleship died.

Bismarck and Tirpitz entered service with the Kriegsmarine already during the war. The first combat campaign for the lead ship was the last. The beginning of the operation, it would seem, was going well: the unexpected death of the Hood in the eighth minute of the battle on May 24, 1941 shocked the British admirals. However, the Bismarck also received a fatal hit from a 356-mm projectile that dived under the armor belt. The ship received about 2 thousand tons of water, two steam boilers failed, the speed decreased by 3 knots. What follows is well known. Three days later, the Nazi battleship sank. Of the 2092 people on board, 115 escaped. Among the dead was Admiral Lutyens, a former hero of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau Atlantic raid.

"Tirpitz" after the death of the sistership, the Germans used extremely carefully. As a matter of fact, he also had only one combat operation on his account - an almost fruitless campaign to Svalbard in September 1942. The rest of the time, the super-linker hid in the Norwegian fjords and was methodically "beaten" by British aircraft. In addition, on September 11, 1943, he received a severe blow from under the water: the British midget submarines X-6 and X-7 blew up 4 two-ton mines under its bottom. The last Nazi battleship was no longer able to go out to sea under its own power:

It should be noted that in the maritime historical literature, Bismarck and Tirpitz are often referred to as almost the most powerful battleships in the world. There are several reasons for this. First, the Nazi propaganda said so. Secondly, the British played along with her in order to justify the not always successful actions of their fleet, which was many times superior in strength. Thirdly, Bismarck's rating was greatly increased, in general, by the accidental death of Hood. But in reality, against the background of their counterparts, the German super-battleships did not stand out for the better. In terms of armor, armament and anti-torpedo protection, they were inferior to the Richelieu, Littorio, and South Dakota, not to mention the Yamato. The weak points of the "Germans" were capricious energy, the "non-universality" of 150-mm artillery, and imperfect radar equipment.

As for Scharnhorst, it is usually criticized, which again is not entirely fair. Although it had the same disadvantages as the Bismarck (to which, at first, poor seaworthiness was added, which forced the bow of the hull to be rebuilt), due to its smaller size, in accordance with the cost-effectiveness criterion, it deserves a good rating. In addition, it should be borne in mind that it was the second in the world (after the Dunkirk) completed project of a high-speed battleship, which was ahead of its more powerful "class brothers" in time. And if the Scharnhorst could be rearmed with six 380-mm guns, then it could generally be considered a very successful battlecruiser, surpassing the British Repulse in almost all respects.

For a complete understanding of the picture: a battleship is a class of heavy armored artillery warships with a displacement of 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length of 150 to 280 m, with a main caliber guns of 280-460 mm, with a crew of 1500-2800 people.

Battleships became an evolutionary development of battleships in the second half of the 19th century. But before they were sunk-decommissioned-turned into museums, the ships had to go through a lot. We'll talk about this.

Richelieu

• Length - 247.9 m
• Displacement - 47 thousand tons

Named after the famous statesman of France, Cardinal Richelieu. It was built to stop the raging fleet of Italy. He never went into a real battle, except for participation in the Senegalese operation in 1940. Sadness: in 1968, “Richelieu” was sent for scrap. Only one of his guns survived - they were installed in the port of Brest as a monument.

Source: wikipedia.org

Bismarck

• Length - 251 m
• Displacement - 51 thousand tons

Left the shipyard in 1939. When launching, the Fuhrer of the entire Third Reich, Adolf Hitler himself, was present. The Bismarck is one of the most famous ships of World War II. He heroically destroyed the English flagship, the cruiser Hood. For this, he also paid a heroic price: they staged a real hunt for the battleship, and yet they caught it. In May 1941, British boats and torpedo bombers sank Bismarck with a long battle.

Source: wikipedia.org

Tirpitz

• Length - 253.6 m
• Displacement - 53 thousand tons

Although the second largest battleship of Nazi Germany was launched in 1939, it practically could not take part in real battles. With his presence, he simply kept the hands of the Arctic convoy of the USSR and the British fleet tied. Tirpitz was sunk in 1944 as a result of an air raid. And then with the help of special super-heavy bombs like Tallboy.

Source: wikipedia.org

Yamato

• Length - 263 m
• Crew - 2500 people

The Yamato is one of the largest battleships in the world and the largest warship in history ever sunk in a naval battle. Until October 1944, he practically did not participate in battles. So, “little things”: fired at American ships.

On April 6, 1945, he went on another campaign, the goal was to resist the Yankee troops that had landed on Okinawa. As a result, for 2 hours in a row, the Yamato and other Japanese ships were in hell - they were fired upon by 227 American deck ships. The largest battleship in Japan caught 23 hits of air bombs and torpedoes → pulled the bow compartment → the ship sank. Of the crew, 269 people survived, 3 thousand sailors died.

Source: wikipedia.org

Musashi

• Length - 263 m
• Displacement - 72 thousand tons

The second largest Japanese ship of the Second World War. Launched in 1942. The fate of Musashi is tragic:

• the first campaign - a hole in the bow (torpedo attack by an American submarine);
• the last campaign (October 1944, in the Sibuyan Sea) - came under attack by American aircraft, caught 30 torpedoes and bombs;
• along with the ship, its captain and more than a thousand crew members died.

On March 4, 2015, 70 years after the sinking, the Musashi sunk in the waters of Sibuyan was discovered by American millionaire Paul Allen. The battleship rested at a depth of one and a half kilometers.

Source: wikipedia.org

Soviet Union

• Length - 269 m
• Displacement - 65 thousand tons

"Sovki" did not build battleships. They tried only once - in 1938 they began to lay down the "Soviet Union" (Project 23 battleship). By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the ship was 19% ready. But the Germans began to actively attack, and terribly frightened the Soviet politicians. The latter, with trembling hands, signed a decree to stop the construction of the battleship, they threw all their efforts into stamping “thirty-fours”. After the war, the ship was dismantled for metal.

There is a myth according to which the fleet that helped the United States win the war, America began to build on the morning of December 8, 1941, when it recovered a little from the Japanese defeat of Pearl Harbor that had happened on the eve. Myth. In fact, the American militarists began building all ten high-speed battleships that brought victory to Washington on their decks at least ten months before the samurai attack on Pearl Harbor. The North Carolina-class battleships were laid down at two-week intervals in June 1940 and entered service in April and May 1941. In fact, three of the four South Dakota-class battleships were launched before December 7, 1941. Yes, the fleet that crushed Japan had not yet been built, but even more so it could not have been built by rolling up its sleeves only on the morning of December 8th. Thus. The strike of Japanese aviation on the main base of the US Pacific Fleet played absolutely no role in the fate of the high-speed battleships of the US Navy.

Fast battleships in World War II and after

The Washington Treaty of 1922 stopped the production of heavy ships for the US Navy. Due to the intrigues of politicians, the construction of seven battleships and six battlecruisers had to be stopped or not started at all. It got to the point that on February 8, 1922, it was decided to dismantle the battleship Washington (BB47), which was in 75% of the readiness stage - a blatant act of vandalism! The Washington Treaty limited the number of battleships in the US and British navies to 18 and 20 respectively. Japan was allowed to have ten such ships, France and Italy - a few. In the ten years that have passed since the conclusion of the treaty, only two battleships have entered service in the world - the British Nelson and Rodney. The construction of these ships began in 1922 and was specifically stipulated in the Washington Treaty, because the frankly weak Grand Fleet at that time had only extremely outdated battleships. The world “vacation” in battleship building ended in 1932 with the laying of the Dunkirk ship with a displacement of 26,500 tons in France.

In the US Navy, the conclusion of the Washington Treaty was treated with mixed feelings. The admirals mourned over the missing battleships and cruisers, but those of them. who were considered realists, understood the complexity of the political and economic situation in the country and the world that developed after the end of the First World War. Although for the United States, this situation was rather favorable. The United States entered the First World War as the third largest naval power in the world. And after the war, the US Navy became one of the two great fleets of the world, and most experts agreed that in a short time the US Navy would become the No. 1 fleet in the world. The grandeur of the Grand Fleet, unattainable before, was fading into history. The war clearly demonstrated the strategic role of the fleet. Only the fleet was able to ensure the passage of convoys across the Atlantic. After the war, the US Navy was de facto the only serious enemy - the Japanese navy. Everything was fun and rosy for the American admirals, but then the Great Depression suddenly happened.

The global economic crisis contributed to the coming to power in a number of countries that did not firmly defend the ideals of freedom and democracy, authoritarian regimes. In Italy, Duce Mussolini came to power, in Germany - the Fuhrer Hitler. Well, in the USA - Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt was at one time related to the affairs of the US Navy, served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. In 1932, the ex-assistant became the President of the United States from the Democratic Party. Roosevelt considered the adoption and implementation of an ambitious shipbuilding program one of the ways to bring the country out of the Great Depression. However, the first "naval" budget, adopted in the time of Roosevelt, provided for the construction of aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers, it did not say anything about the construction of battleships. Japan's sudden declaration of refusal to comply with the terms of the Washington Treaty, made in 1934, changed the situation by 1936 in the most dramatic way. For the first time in ten years, American designers rolled up their sleeves, washed their hands, took a drawing board, drawing paper and drawing pen, after which they began to draw the outline of a battleship of the future. The process has begun. It remains to deepen it.

The design of the battleship after 1922 was determined to a greater extent not by technology, but by politics. The British constantly insisted on limiting the size, displacement and armament of battleships due to the simple fact that they themselves had decrepit, small and poorly armed battleships. They all wanted the same. The British demanded that the new battleships not be armed with artillery above 14 inches, although the Washington Treaty set the limit of the main caliber of battleships at 16 inches. Surprisingly. but the Americans were the first to benefit from the requirements of the British in terms of displacement and size. The size and displacement of all American ships were limited by the capacity of the Panama Canal - the requirement for ships to pass through the canal from the Pacific to the Atlantic and back was mandatory when designing any American ship or vessel. At the same time, American admirals began to swear in American style when they heard about the limitation of the main caliber of a battleship to 14 inches. The restrictions imposed by the Panama Canal, combined with restrictions on the main battery, promised the US Navy a battleship weaker than the British Nelson or the Japanese Nagato. Japan withdrew from the treaty and put 16-inch guns on the battleship. The British demanded 14 inches from everyone but themselves, also arming the Nelson with 16-inch main battery artillery. In October 1935, US representatives began negotiations with British representatives regarding the limitations of the Washington Treaty in the light of the perfidy of the Japanese military. The parties came to an agreed opinion on April 1, 1937 ... after which the permitted main caliber of battleships automatically increased to 16 inches.

On September 14, the North Carolina was hit by a torpedo fired by the Japanese submarine 1-19. The submarine fired six torpedoes in one gulp, three of them hit the USS Wasp, one hit the destroyer O'Brien, and one hit the battleship. 1 main caliber. The explosion destroyed the battleship's armor belt. The battleship listed five degrees, but retained the ability to maneuver at high speed. On October 11, 1942, the battleship was put in dry dock for repairs at Pearl Harbor.

The decision to increase the caliber gave rise to new problems. The design of battleships for the US Navy in 1937 was already in full swing, and now even more powerful guns were required to develop new larger and heavier turrets, then "fit" new turrets into the design of the already designed ship. At one time, Admiral Standley took a well-thought-out position, having ordered the design of universal three-gun turrets of the main caliber, designed for mounting both 14-inch guns and 16-inch guns. The size and caliber of battleship guns even became a subject of debate during the presidential election campaign of 1936. Republicans criticized Democrat Roosevelt for publicly speaking in favor of increasing the main caliber of battleship artillery, pointing out that such statements promote an increase in the arms race and are a tangible blow to detente international tension. Ordinary Americans did not heed the arguments of the Republicans, electing Roosevelt for a second term as president and, thereby, confirming the obvious fact that America has always been a reserve of rabid imperialism. Japan, on the other hand, did not react at first to the statements of the American Democrats. believing that the unclear international situation will delay the design of new battleships for the US Navy. Only on March 27, 1937, did the Japanese government publicly speak out against the new terms of the Washington Treaty. It was then that a decision was made in Japan to build Yamato-class battleships with a displacement of 64,000 tons armed with 18-inch artillery.

In the interval between firing the main battery, the sailors walk along the poop of the battleship "Massachusetts". Two huge American flags are raised on the mast - a faint hope that the French will not shoot at their sincere American friends, with whom they fought shoulder to shoulder with the Boches during the First World War.

Even the refusal of the Japanese to comply with the 14-inch limit on the caliber of battleship artillery did not cause sharp statements in the USA and Great Britain. Roosevelt was the first politician to advocate arming his own ships with guns larger than 14 inches. The British began in 1937 to build a new series of battleships of the King George V type with 14-inch guns, although the former Secretary of the Navy, a certain Winston Churchill, sharply objected to this.

Roosevelt, however, reconsidered his decision regarding the main caliber of battleships - in favor of 14 inches. Specialists from the Naval Design Bureau felt offended and even outraged somewhere. Meanwhile - in vain: they should read the newspaper "Pravda" more often. After all, the venality of bourgeois politicians has long been known to the whole world, who weave any fairy tales in order to attract the votes of voters, and immediately after the elections they forget about fairy tales and voters. In fact, the choice in favor of a larger caliber battleship artillery is not so unambiguous. as it may seem to amateurs. A 14-inch projectile weighs 680 kg. Projectile caliber 16 inches - 450 kg. Due to a more powerful powder charge, a 14-inch projectile flies further than a 16-inch one, due to its greater mass it has a greater destructive ability, and wear on an expensive gun barrel causes less wear. However, as representatives of the design bureau noted in their excited message dated May 17, 1937 to the President of the United States: the real difference lies in the "dead" zone of the guns. In this case, a dead zone is not considered to be a zone that cannot be penetrated due to an insufficiently small angle of descent of the guns, but a zone in which the projectile is not even theoretically capable of penetrating armor of a certain thickness. That is, the "dead" zone is not adjacent to the ship, but far away from it. Experts made calculations based on the average thickness of the armor of battleships - 12 inches of the main armor belt and 5-6 inches of armored deck. It turned out that at short firing distances, the armor penetration of 14 and 16 caliber shells is approximately the same. At long firing distances, at which a naval battle is actually conducted, a 14-inch projectile is significantly inferior to a 16-inch one, about ten times!

Iowa

Roosevelt, in response to the message, promised to think or come up with something. The President kept his word. In the early days of June 1937, he suggested that Ambassador Gru once again turn to the Japanese side with a proposal to agree to limit the main caliber of battleships to 14 inches. While the court - yes, the case - Roosevelt puts forward a proposal, the Japanese discuss it, then prepare an answer - the design of battleships could not stand still. This time it didn't take long for an answer. The Japanese agreed to the proposal of the US President, with a slight amendment: subject to the limitation of the total number of battleships in the US Navy and the British Navy - ten American and ten British. Such an amendment was completely unacceptable for Roosevelt, so on July 10, 1937, the president gave the command to design battleships with 16-inch artillery.

The debate over the main caliber of battleships delayed the design of battleships for several months. But as soon as the decision was made, the design moved forward by leaps and bounds. The budget for the 1938 financial year allocated financial flows for the construction of two battleships "North Carolina" and "Washington" with the laying, respectively, on October 27, 1937 and June 14, 1938. According to the budget for the 1939 financial year, July 5, 1939 was laid "South Dakota", after 15 days - "Massachusetts". November 20, 1939 "Indiana" and February 1, 1940 "Alabama". The budget for fiscal year 1941 called for laying the Missouri on January 6, 1941 and the Wisconsin on January 25, 1941.

The Two Oceans Navy Act passed in 1940 by Congress provided for the construction of seven more battleships - two more Iows (Illinois and Kentucky) and five Montana-class monsters armed with four towers with three 16-inch tools in each and on each. Due to their width, the Montanas would no longer be able to pass the Panama Canal. The last two Iowas were laid down, the first two Montanas were ordered, but their construction was abandoned in 1943. The Kentucky was no longer considered a modern ship, which is why discussions were held for a very long time on what to do with the hull of the unfinished battleship. The corps occupied a wasted slipway for five long years. In the end, the unfinished ship was launched in 1950. J. but they did not finish building it, and in 1958 they sold it for scrap.

There is a myth according to which the fleet that helped the United States win the war, America began to build on the morning of December 8, 1941, when it recovered a little from the Japanese defeat of Pearl Harbor that had happened on the eve. Myth. in fact, the American militarists began building all ten high-speed battleships that brought victory to Washington on their decks at least ten months before the samurai attack on Pearl Harbor. The North Carolina-class battleships were laid down at two-week intervals in June 1940 and entered service in April and May 1941. In fact, three of the four South Dakota-class battleships were launched before December 7, 1941. Yes, the fleet that crushed Japan had not yet been built, but even more so it could not have been built by rolling up its sleeves only on the morning of December 8th. Thus. The strike of Japanese aviation on the main base of the US Pacific Fleet played absolutely no role in the fate of the high-speed battleships of the US Navy.

The U-boats of the Kriegsmarine began to pose a mortal threat to England. It was the presence of such a threat that forced the command to shift priorities in the development plans of the US Navy. In 1941, the American fleet was involved on an ever-larger scale in escorting Atlantic convoys. First of all, not the Pacific, but the Atlantic fleet was strengthened. In the US Navy. as well as in the White House, they clearly underestimated the yellow danger. The calculation was based on that the power of the Pacific Fleet would be enough to defend the Philippines from a possible Japanese attack while Hitler was dealt with in Europe. Intended for operations off the East Coast of the United States, the North Carolinas and the aircraft carrier Hornet were sent to the Atlantic. But after Pearl Harbor, both battleships were transferred to the Pacific Ocean.

While not yet fully commissioned, the Washington became the first high-speed American battleship to take part in the hostilities. The battleship was transferred from the base in Casco Bay to the base of the British fleet of Scapa Flow, from where she, together with Her Majesty's ship Wasp, set off on a campaign in March 1942. the purpose of which was to support the landing of New Zealand troops on Madagascar. In early May, the Washington took part in the escort of the PQ-15 and QP-11 convoys to and from Murmansk. Together with the British battleship King George V, the American ship patrolled the waters between Norway and Iceland in case the Kriegsmarine ships appeared. The naval battle did not take place then, but the adventures happened. A British battleship collided with a British destroyer. "Washington" went on a military campaign from Scapa Flow again. On June 28, 1942, he, along with the battleship Duke of York, went out to guard the ill-fated convoy PQ-17. To defeat the convoy, the Germans initiated Operation Rosselsprung. Four large surface ships of the Kriegsmarine appeared in the Alta Fjord. including Tirpitz. Well, "Tirpitz", he alone was able to smash the entire combined Anglo-American fleet to smithereens. And here - as many as four large ships of the German fleet. The order of the British Admiralty to leave convoys to the warships to their fate looks quite understandable under such conditions. In fact, the German ships never left Norwegian waters, which did not save the convoy. Participation, or rather non-participation, in guarding the PQ-17 convoy was the last combat (type of combat) operation of the battleship Washington in the Atlantic. With a short stop on the West Coast, the battleship was transferred to the Pacific Ocean.

The beginning of the campaign in the Pacific turned out to be the hardest losses for the Americans in aircraft carriers. By mid-May 1942, the Lexington was sunk, the Saratoga was torpedoed, and the Yorktown was badly damaged. The fleet was in urgent need of replenishment. The USS Wasp hurried to the rescue, escorted by the battleship North Carolina. By the time the Panama Kapal ships passed, the peak of the crisis in the Pacific campaign had passed safely for the Americans, but the Yorktown was lost in the Battle of Midway and the Pacific Fleet needed a new aircraft carrier even more urgently. Wasp, North Carolina and four cruisers made up the TF-18 formation. The formation arrived in San Diego on June 15, 1942, and then headed for the South Pacific. Along the way, "North Carolina" was isolated from TF-18 and became part of the TG-61 group. 2 guarding the USS Enterprise. Enterprise aircraft were involved in Operation Watchtower, the landing on Guadalcanal, which began on August 7, 1942. As part of TG-61. 2 "North Carolina" took part in a two-day battle off the Eastern Solomon Islands. August 23-24, 1942 At one point in the battle, the battleship's anti-aircraft guns became so dense that the North Carolina disappeared in clouds of smoke. A request was received from the Enterprise - what is wrong with the ship, do you need help? In eight minutes, the battleship's anti-aircraft gunners shot down 18 Japanese aircraft and damaged seven (or seventy - it was not possible to establish exactly). Thanks to the art of the North Carolina anti-aircraft gunners, the American fleet then had no losses.

Despite clear success in the first battle, North Carolina failed to protect the USS Wasp in the next. Perhaps that battle was the most successful example of the use of torpedo weapons in history. On September 14, 1942, the Japanese submarine 1-19 fired a salvo of six torpedoes at an aircraft carrier from a distance of approximately 1400 m. One covered a distance of ten miles, passing the keels of two destroyers along the way. after which it stuck into the left side of the nose of the "North Carolina" below the armored belt. As a result of the explosion of a torpedo, a hole of 32 square meters was formed in the board. foot through which the ship received 1000 tons of water. Two torpedoes passed in front of the nose of the aircraft carrier, one of them hit the destroyer "O'Brien" (also in the left bow of the hull, the torpedo passed 11 miles). The remaining three torpedoes hit the starboard side of the aircraft carrier. The consequences of the torpedo explosions became catastrophic for the aircraft carrier. The ship did not sank, but its repair did not make sense. "O" Brien lost her nose and sank three days later. "North Carolina" acquired a negative pitch angle of 5 degrees, the bow cellar of the battleship's ammunition was flooded. Attempts to tow the battleship were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the battleship continued to guard the aircraft carrier Enterprise under its own vehicles. sometimes developing a stroke of 25 knots. There was no danger of flooding, but the damage to the battleship turned out to be great. The ship was sent to Pearl Harbor for repairs, and the Enterprise went there along with the battleship. The battleship was under repair until January 1943.

The American fleet in the South Pacific remained without high-speed battleships for only three weeks - Washington came from the Atlantic to Noumea already on October 9, 1942. A week later, South Dakota and Enterprise (reorganized) left Pearl Harbor for the South Pacific. connection TF-6I). "Washington" became part of the TF-64 compound. along with three cruisers and six destroyers. This connection was intended to escort convoys between Noumea and Gaudalcanal. the formation was commanded by Rear Admiral Wills A. "Ching" Lee. formerly served as Chief of Staff to the Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Vice Admiral William F. "Bill" Halsey. Lee would spend most of the war as commander of TF-64. The admiral was at the right time and in the right place. Subsequent events culminated in the confrontation between American and Japanese battleships in the Pacific. The month of the war of battleships has come.

The month began with an attempt by Japanese aircraft carriers to make another raid in the area of ​​the Solomon Islands. Again, the aircraft carriers of the United States fleet rushed to intercept them, and again, high-speed battleships provided an escort for carrier-based aircraft carriers. "South Dakota" was still guarding the "Enterprise", retaining the aircraft carrier in the tough case at Santa Cruz, which took place on October 26, 1942. Then the battleship's anti-aircraft gunners shot down at least 26 Japanese airplanes. The next day, the battleship Washington was nearly hit by a torpedo fired by the submarine I-15. On the same day, the South Dakota became the target of a Japanese submarine attack. Dodging a torpedo, the South Dakota collided with the destroyer Mahan. Fortunately, none of the ships received serious damage.

Admiral Lee's battleships went into action again two weeks later. On November 11, 1942, the TF-64 formation was reorganized, it included the battleships "South Dakota" and "Washington", the destroyers "Winham" and "Welk". The connection was intended to give additional protection to the TF-16 grouping, the core of the bark was the aircraft carrier Enterprise. Two days later, after the dramatic first naval battle at Guadalcanal, TF-64 was reinforced by the destroyers Preston and Gwin. The unit was ordered to go to Guadalcanal in case of a possible second coming of the Japanese Admiral Kondo. On November 14, Lee approached the strait, and from the other end Kondo sailed here with his battleship Kirishima, heavy cruisers Rakao and Atagi, light cruisers Nagara and Sendai, and eight destroyers.

The forces of the opponents, who inexorably walked towards each other, were theoretically approximately equal. The Japanese had more ships, and Lee had more large-caliber artillery. In addition, Admiral Lee had the opportunity to use radar, which the Japanese were completely deprived of. But the Japanese had excellent training for naval battles at night and far surpassed the Americans in the art of using torpedo weapons. Kondo led his forces in four separate columns. Lee lined up his squadron with the destroyers at the head, followed by the Washington and South Dakota.

The Japanese discovered the American fleet at 10:15 p.m. on November 14, 1942, identifying the enemy forces as four destroyers and two heavy cruisers. At 2245 Lee changed course, heading south. At 23.00, the radar of the battleship "Washington" spotted Japanese ships. Minutes later, eye contact was made. At 23:17, the battleship Washington opened fire with its main caliber on the Japanese destroyers. The destroyers withdrew undamaged. The return fire of the Japanese heavy ships and the main group of destroyers led to horrific consequences for the American destroyers. The two lines of enemy ships diverged on opposite courses. The Japanese put all their artillery and all their torpedo tubes into action. The destroyer "Priston" came under concentrated fire from the cruiser "Nagara" and destroyers. The destroyer exploded at 23.27 and disappeared from the surface nine minutes later. The destroyer Welk was next in sight of the Nagara gunners. It was hit by a torpedo at 23:32. The ship sank 11 minutes later.

However, the fight was not at all like a one-sided game. As soon as the American battleships entered the business, events quickly took a completely different turn. The lead Japanese destroyer "Ayanami" received three gifts of the main caliber from the "South Dakota" at 23.32, after which it was engulfed in flames.

Eight minutes later, the fire reached the magazines of the ammunition, and after seven minutes, "Annami" went down in history. The fight, however, was far from over. Another American destroyer in the line - "Gwin" - received a portion of 1-inch shells from the "Nagara" at 23.37, after which it was forced to withdraw from the battle. Benham, the last American destroyer, received a torpedo in her bow a minute later. Its speed immediately dropped to 5 knots, but the ship still remained afloat, although it was no longer possible to continue the battle.

Suddenly, silence hung over the gray waves of the greatest of the oceans of the planet Earth. Relative silence: the noise of ship engines after the rumble of artillery reminded sailors of the chirping of grasshoppers among the fields of Arizona and the fields of Fujiyama. The guns fell silent, for at 23.43 the column of the Japanese samurai of Nagara went beyond the firing range of the American ships. The two battleships of the US Navy still held out to the west. The lull was just an episode on the way to a climax. The main forces of the Japanese appeared on the scene - the Kondo column consisting of the battleship Kirishima, two heavy cruisers and two destroyers. And here is Lee. at the most critical moment, an unfortunate incident occurred: the radar of the main battery fire control system on the battleship South Dakota failed. Another problem faced by the American naval commander. there was a violation of battle formation by battleships. The ships walked in the wake of each other for a very short time. To avoid a collision with sinking and damaged destroyers, the South Dakota took to the north, as a result of which it was a good few hundred meters closer to the Japanese than the Washington. Unexpectedly, at 2350, South Dakota was illuminated by the searchlight of the Japanese battleship Kirishima. At the same time, all five Japanese ships fired on the battleship of the US Navy. In a short time, 27 shells with a caliber of 5 inches or more hit South Dakota. The South Dakota was unable to return fire to fire. The third tower of the main caliber was temporarily out of order, a fire spread through the superstructure, among the team 58 people were killed and 60 injured. The South Dakota turned south.

However, the South Dakota situation also had some positive side. Behind the flaming Dakota, the Japanese did not see the Washington, whose radar worked properly in normal mode. Around midnight, the Washington opened fire with its main caliber from a distance of 8000 m. The battleship in the shortest possible time laid nine 16-inch shells and more than 40 5-inch shells in the Kirishima. On the Kirishima, the poorly armored steering gear failed, after which the Japanese battleship began to describe a wide circulation. Kondo had only one thing left - to give the order to withdraw, so as not to give up. "Washington" tried to pursue the enemy for several miles, but then the Yankees decided: "Game over." "Kirishima", unable to stay on course, was flooded by the Japanese themselves at 3.20 November 15, 1942.

For the first and last time in the entire war, American high-speed battleships met face to face in open battle with their Japanese opponent, the battle was won by ships of the United States fleet. It is worth noting that the conditions of the battle are not quite equal. "Kirishima" at a venerable age, which was approaching 30 years old, was two generations older than the American battleships, that is, they were fit for their grandfathers. The Kirishima began its life as a battlecruiser designed by the British during the First World War, and then, with successive steps, it was turned into a high-speed battleship. Booking "Kirishima" was half inferior to booking "Washington" or "South Dakota". Was it armor? Kirishima's sister ship, the Hiei battleship, two days earlier, also in a night battle, the Americans took out of the battle with one hit of an 8-inch projectile on the steering machine. The Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ended in victory for the American fleet, but the price, as in many other cases that took place in the waters of the Solomon Islands, was high. Three American destroyers sank (Benham sank by the end of the day), another destroyer and the battleship South Dakota were heavily damaged. It took seven months to repair the battleship.

Meanwhile, other South Dakota-class ships had completed combat training and were ready to take part in the fighting. "Massachusetts" received a baptism of fire on November 8, 1942 Off the coast of North Africa, where the battleship escorted transports with landing forces that took part in Operation Torch. The American battleship also took part in the "neutralization" of the French battleship Jean Bar. The Massachusetts hit the Jean Bart with five 16-inch shells and disabled the French ship's only active main battery turret. By the evening of November 8, the invasion fleet began to be threatened by several destroyers of the Vichy government fleet. One 16-inch Massachusetts shell and several 8-inch shells fired through the Tuscaloosa's gun barrels sank the destroyer Fogue. In this battle, Massachusetts was nearly hit by a torpedo fired by a French submarine. The torpedo missed the battleship's hull only 15 feet away. By nightfall, a 16-inch shell from the American battleship's guns pierced the bow of the French destroyer Milan, after which the latter withdrew from the battle. At about 11 p.m., Massachusetts was hit by a 5-inch cannon shell from the French destroyer Boulogne, which soon disappeared in a flurry of concentrated artillery fire from the battleship Massachusetts and the light cruiser Brooklyn. The battle ended with a direct hit by a 16-inch shell from the battleship Massachusetts on the French flagship, the light cruiser Primakyu. The French fought bravely, but their light forces stood no chance against the latest fast battleship in the US Navy. The commander of the French squadron gave the order to return to port.

"Indiana" at the end of November 1942 was in the waters of. Tonga, where she, along with the Washington and the repaired North Carolina, provided cover for the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Saratoga during operations off Guadalcanal. Here, there was not much work for the battleships, since both the Japanese and the Americans had not yet recovered from the fierce naval battles off the Solomon Islands. For the first almost six months of 1943, there were almost no major naval battles in the South Pacific. Most of this period, teams of fast American battleships spent on Noumea. where they periodically hunted the wild animals of New Caledonia, took them for food, washing down the meat with excellent Australian champagne. Time worked for America. When the US Navy resumed offensive operations in the Pacific in mid-1943, the command already had a much stronger fleet at its disposal.

The activity of the American fleet in 1943 resumed in June both in the Pacific and in the Atlantic. The refurbished South Dakota joined the Alabama at Scapa Flow. enabling the British to send the battleships of the Home Fleet Hove and King George V to Sicily to participate in Operation Husky. Together with the remaining British battleships of the Anson Home Fleet. Duke of York and Malaya, cruisers Augusta and Tuscaloosa, two American battleships took part in a demonstration off the coast of Norway in order to divert the attention of the Kriegsmarine command from the Mediterranean Sea. Unfortunately for the Allies, German intelligence did not detect the movements of the Anglo-American fleet. Shortly after the demonstration, the South Dakota left the hospitable waters of Great Britain, leaving for the Pacific Ocean, where the battleships Washington, North Carolina and Indiana formed the TF3 formation. 3, designed to support Operation Cartwil, the June 30 invasion of New Georgia. It was the first of the typical amphibious operations in which high-speed US Navy battleships were involved - three battleships escorted aircraft carriers (in this case, the American "Saratoga" and the British "Victorius"), while the "old" battleships provided fire support for the invasion forces . Later, "Indiana" will be involved in the escort of the first raid of aircraft carriers, during which, on August 31, carrier-based aircraft hit Makin. The aircraft carriers Yorktown, Essex and Independence took part in that raid.

Indiana returned to the Gilbert Islands on November 19, 1943 as part of TF50 formation. 2 with the battleship North Carolina. The battleships came in the escort of the aircraft carriers Enterprise, Belly Wood and Monterey, involved in Operation Galvanic, the invasion of Makin. Washington, South Dakota, and Massachusetts made up the TF50 compound. 1, which also included the aircraft carriers Yorktown, Lexington and Cowpens, which covered the landing on Mile. At the end of August, carrier-based aircraft softened the Japanese defenses on the Gilbert Islands, so the samurai resisted the invasion for no more than a week. The Japanese were able to hold out only on Makin and, to a greater extent, on Tarawa. The same five high-speed battleships were brought together again by December 8 to cover the movement of aircraft carriers in the direction of Kwajalein. All five battleships became part of one formation, TF50. 8, commanded by Rear Admiral Lee. The battleships advanced to Nauru under the cover of aircraft from the aircraft carriers Bunker Hill and Monterey, where they fired 810 shells of 16-inch caliber and 3400 shells of 5-inch caliber at the small Japanese garrison of the island. By return fire, the Japanese sank one destroyer guarding the American squadron.

High-speed battleships again found themselves in the fire of battle January 29, 1944 - Operation Flintlock, the invasion of the Marshall Islands. Now there were already eight battleships, the Alabama (came from the Atlantic) and the first two Iowas (Iowa and New Jersey) were added. Again, the battleships were divided between aircraft carrier groups. "Washington", "Indiana" and "Massachusetts" were attached to the connection TG58. 1 ("Enterprise", "Yorktown" and "Belli Wood"), operating in the waters of the islands of Roy and Namur (Kwajalein). "North Carolina", "South Dakota" and "Alabama" escorted the aircraft carriers "Essex", "Intrepid" and "Cabot" of the TG58 formation. 2 in the waters of Maloelap. The newest "Iowa" and "New Jersey" worked in the interests of TG58. 3 ("Bunker Hill", "Monterey" and "Cowpens") in the Enewetok area. In the early hours of February 1, the battleships Indiana and Washington collided in the waters of Kwajalein. The ships were not seriously damaged, but their combat activity was interrupted for several months.

The six surviving high-speed battleships took part in the raid under the code name "Halestone", undertaken against Truk Island on February 17-18, 1944. "Iowa" and "New Jersey" were attached to the formation TG50. 9. Then Admiral Spruance chose the battleship New Jersey as his flagship. The other four battleships, along with the escort aircraft carriers, made up the TG58 formation. 3, it played an auxiliary role in the operation. A month later, on March 18, the Iowa and New Jersey, again under Rear Admiral Lee, escorted the USS Lexington and seven destroyers in TG50. 10 during the bombardment of Milli Atoll, south of Majuro. During the operation, Iowa received several direct hits from 6-inch shells fired by Japanese coastal batteries, which, however, did not cause serious damage to the ship. The battleship remained in the battle line. A similar grouping was formed on May 1, it was again commanded by our good friend Lee (already Vice Admiral!). for a raid on Ponape Island from the Caroline Archipelago. Seven fast battleships (Indiana was suspended) and ten destroyers, supported by aircraft from aircraft carriers of the TF58 formation. 1 fired back at the island without interference.

For the next raiding operation, seven battleships were again brought together, although now the place of Massachusetts was taken by Washington (with a new bow); "Massachusetts" went for repairs. The battleships formed the core of the TG58 group. 7. intended for shelling the enemy as part of Operation Forager - the invasion of the Mariana Islands. Spruance expected opposition from the Japanese fleet. The expectations of the American naval commander were justified - on June 18, 1944, an epic naval battle unfolded in the Philippine Sea, well known as the Great Marianas Rout. Lee's battleships then formed the core of the 5th Fleet. Throughout the day, the American battleships were subjected to sporadic raids by Japanese aircraft, the main target of which was actually the US Navy aircraft carriers. "South Dakota" then received one direct hit by an air bomb, another bomb exploded under the side of the "Indiana".

Spruance's strategies in that three-day battle, according to modern critical experts, lacked aggressiveness at times. Most of all, the admiral's decision to turn away from Ozawa's fleet on the evening of the 18th, leaving the initiative in the hands of the Japanese naval commander, raises the most questions. Spruance's decision was then very much influenced by Lee, who did not want to risk his as yet undamaged battleships in a night battle with the Japanese, known for their art of warfare at night. Lee reasonably doubted the possibility of his ships, which had never yet operated in a single battle formation, to inflict more damage on the enemy than the enemy would inflict on them.

The damage inflicted on the South Dakota did not become a reason for sending the battleship for repairs to Pearl Harbor. At the same time, the North Carolina went to the West Coast of the States for repairs, which this ship needed more than the South Dakota. Thus, six high-speed battleships remained available, capable of taking part in Admiral Halsey's TF38 raid in the Philippine Sea in September - October 1944.

And again, the grouping of fast battleships was dismembered. "Iowa" and "New Jersey" (Admiral Halsey's flagship) gave the TG38 compound. 3. Four other battleships ("Washington", "Indiana", "Massachusetts" and "Alabama") entered TG38. 3. "Washington" - the flagship of Admiral Lee. These forces supported raids on Palatz (September 6–8), Mindanao (September 10), Visayas (September 12–14) and Luzon (September 21–22). During the short pause that followed the strike on Luzon. "South Dakota" was replaced by "Indiana"; "South Dakota" went for repairs. The strikes resumed with a raid against Okinawa (October 10), then again against Luzon (October 11), then Formosa (October 12-14), Luzon again (October 15). In anticipation of the invasion of Leyte Gulf, which began on October 17, Washington and Alabama were transferred from TG38. 3 in TG38. 4.

The Imperial Japanese Navy responded to the American invasion of the Philippines by bringing together all of its main forces for the last time. The last time Lee's battleships had an excellent chance, with a high probability of a successful outcome, to meet face-to-face with their opponents without intermediaries in the form of aircraft carriers. This chance did not work out for Lee.

The high-speed battleships were distributed in pairs among Admiral Halsey's aircraft carrier formation, which was in the San Bernardino Strait for most of the day on October 24. By the main forces of the Japanese fleet, the squadron of Admiral Kuri. carrier-based aircraft of the American fleet worked. The planes sank the super-linker Musashi, and the Kurita formation was partly sunk and partly dispersed. By the evening of October 24, the aircraft carriers of the Northern Fleet of Admiral Ozawa, who acted independently, were seen by the Americans north of Luzon. At 15:12 Halsey ordered Lee's fast battleships to head north, separating them into a separate formation, TF34.

Lee protested against the exclusion of his battleships from the general fleet and the immediate dispatch of ships from the San Bernardino Strait. He protested twice, both of which had no effect on Halsey. There were not even radar patrol destroyers left in the San Bernardino Strait.

In a slow and dangerous night maneuver, Lee regrouped his forces, concentrating his battleships in a screen in front of the carriers. Maneuvering took most of the night. At dawn on October 25, TF34 was formed and, at the head of Halsey's fleet, began to pursue Ozawa's aircraft carriers at high speed, the American fleet filled the entire horizon. Three hours after Halsey's departure from the strait, the ships of Admiral Kurita's Central Squadron arrived here. Accurately at the moment of Halsey's first attack on Ozawa's ships, Admiral Kincaid, who was in Leyte Gulf, 300 miles to the south, radioed for help. Admiral Nimitz at Pearl Harbor heard Kincaid's calls and did not understand how the Japanese had gone undetected right on the Taffy-3 compound and why the Japanese had not been intercepted by Lee's battleships. At 10:00 Nimitz radioed Halsey:

- FROM WITH IN PAC ACYION COM TFIRD FLEET INFO COMINCH CTF77 X WHERE IS RPT WHERE IS TF34 RR THE WORLD WONDERS

The last three words were added to the radiogram to confuse Japanese cryptographers, but Halsey took them personally. Halsey flew into a rage, believing that he was put up as an eccentric with the letter "M" in front of Admiral King (COMINCH) and Admiral Kincaid (CTF77). The admiral had a stroke, almost an hour passed before he gave the order to Admiral Lee at 10.55 at full speed to help. TF34 returned to the channel at 01:00 on October 26, having left Kurita three hours earlier. The irony of fate - at the time of receiving the order to return to San Bernardino, Lee's battleships were only 42 miles from Ozawa's aircraft carriers. There was a chance for a successful battle both at the starting point and at the end point of the route. As a result, it didn't work out. not here. Four battleships scurried across the sea-ocean in a completely indecent way.

The chance for the last general battle of the battle fleets turned out to be missed, to the great indignation of naval historians of all countries and generations - how many lost fees! It's one thing to criticize Halsey and Lee, it's another to describe the battle. The number of printed characters, directly proportional to the amount of the fee, in the latter case increases many times over. Well - so lay the cards of historical solitaire.

Having missed the chance to put an end to the sunset of their historical career, American battleships escorted aircraft carriers for the rest of the war, occasionally being involved in shelling Japanese coastal positions. Of the significant events, it is worth noting that the New Jersey and the newest Wisconsin campaign to Cam Ranh Bay in January 1945 guarding a cruiser and destroyer in order to shoot at the surviving ships of Kurita, who allegedly found their refuge in Cam Ranh. The campaign was interrupted, as on January 12, aviation reconnaissance was convinced of the absence of Kurita in Cam Ranh.

With the exception of the campaign to Cam Ranh, high-speed battleships were engaged until the end of the war exclusively in escorting aircraft carriers. Battleships, together with aircraft carriers, passed from November 1944 to March 1945 Luzon, Okinawa, Indochina, mainland China, Formosa and the waters of the Japanese islands. On January 25, the Indiana bombarded Iwo Jima once, firing 203 16-inch shells. In April 1945, the main efforts of the American fleet were directed to Okinawa, then high-speed battleships fired several times at Japanese positions on the island. When the carriers returned to Japanese waters in July, the fast battleships came with them. The South Dakota, Indiana, and Massachusetts bombarded Kamaishi Island on July 14. 29–30 July aircraft factory at Hamamatsu and again on 9 August 1945 Kamaishi Island.

Victory Day over Japan found the fast battleships of the US Navy in Tokyo Bay divided into four aircraft carrier groups. The fact that the South Dakota was the flagship of Admiral Nimitz, and the signing of the Japanese Surrender Act on board the Missouri completely obscured the very modest contribution that high-speed battleships actually made to the outcome of the Pacific campaign. In fact, except for the first battles, these ships acted only as high-speed armored floating batteries.

With the end of World War II, heated discussions unfolded in the United States about reducing appropriations for military needs, as well as about ways to further build the armed forces in general and the Navy in particular. The fate of the ten newest battleships was also discussed. These ships became the crown of development, but the crown of development, according to most experts, no longer had a future. Battleships couldn't fly. Aircraft have finally become the main caliber of the navy.

In 1946, the battleship Missouri took part in the very successful Operation Goodwill, a campaign in the Mediterranean Sea, undertaken to limit the activity of the communist movement in Greece and Turkey. The operation of large ships with numerous crews required significant costs, while the role of such ships remained not entirely clear. In this light, the decision to withdraw battleships from the combat strength of the fleet looks logical. September 11, 1946, exactly one year after the Victory Day over Japan, the Indiana was withdrawn from the Navy. "North Carolina" and three other "South Dakotas" followed the path laid by "Indiana" in 1947, "New Jersey" and "Wisconsin" were excluded from the lists of the fleet in 1948, "Iowa" - in 1949.

At the start of the Korean War in 1950, the only battleship remaining in the US Navy was the Missouri. He arrived off the coast of Korea in mid-September 1950 and immediately began using his large guns to very remarkable effect. The assessment of the combat work was so high that it was decided in 1951 to put three battleships of the Iowa type back into operation.

The second "round" of the Iowa combat service turned out to be longer than the first. The interested parties signed an armistice in 1952, but before the armistice, the main caliber of four American battleships actively fought against the threat of communism, shelling Korea from the left and right, in the sense - from the East and from the West. Two years after the armistice, four battleships remained in the combat strength of the Navy, until legislators again intervened in their future fate, who decided to cut defense spending. The first on February 26, 1955, the Missouri was excluded from the lists of the combat strength of the Navy. The following year, the "sisters" "Missouri" were sent to rest. The Mississippi was withdrawn from the Navy on March 8, 1958 - for the first time since 1895, not a single battleship remained in the US Navy.

SK

SK-2

One after another, the battleships went to the cutting, although there were also supporters of the continuation of the active service of battleships. In the early 1950s, the possibility of increasing the full speed of six old "high-speed" battleships to 31 knots was studied, so that they could again be used to escort aircraft carriers. The price of such an improvement turned out to be prohibitively high, which is why the idea had to be abandoned. The North Carolina and Washington were scrapped on June 1, 1960 (the North Carolina, however, was preserved as a memorial ship). Two years later, it was time for the four South Dakotas. Two of them, "Massachusetts" and "Alabama", put on eternal parking. If the Vietnam War had not happened, then a similar fate would most likely have awaited Iowa. The Vietnam War made me think about battleships - a decision was made to modernize and commission the New Jersey. The battleship once again entered the combat structure of the US Navy on April 8, 1968. The participation of the battleship in the Vietnam events turned out to be very short-lived, despite the extremely positive effect of its main caliber. Anxious diplomats made a fuss about "... destabilizing influence ..." in fear of a possible super-response of the enemy. December 17, 1969 "New Jersey" was again pushed into the reserve.

The radio equipment of the Iowa differed from that of the New Jersey only by the installation of an FC antenna on a tower-like superstructure. Coloring - extremely unusual, camouflage: Dull Black/Ocean Gray. Please note: one side of the black stripes is clear, the other is "softened" with gray paint. This paint scheme was developed for use in the Atlantic on escort aircraft carriers. Presumably, "Iowa" styles are the only ship in the Pacific Ocean, painted according to this scheme.

A ray of light in the dark life of old battleships flashed again in the 70s. Many narrow-minded people from among the inhabitants of the Pentagon have repeatedly criticized the authorities for their desire to store expensive relics of the Second World War. However, at the end of the decade, prominent analysts, mainly outside the Pentagon, began to work out new scenarios for naval policy, in which there was a place for battleships. Since the mid-1960s, the US Navy has been undergoing a rather slow process of replacing surface ships built during the Second World War with new ships focused on use in the oceans under the dominance of aircraft carriers and submarines as the main means of waging war at sea. At that time, the majority of the navies of the world (but not the Navy) were armed with relatively small and relatively weak ships, which were intended to combat aircraft and submarines. In most cases, they did not have body armor at all, and their superstructures were generally made of aluminum. Artillery, on the other hand, was represented at best by a caliber of 5 inches. The ships were intended to protect aircraft carriers or to hunt for enemy submarines. The main work was assigned to carrier-based aviation.

fire control radar

FC

FH

In the late 1970s, this approach to the construction of the Navy was criticized by prominent representatives of the expert community. The Vietnam War showed that the development of air defense systems is progressing as rapidly as the development of aviation. This conclusion was confirmed during the Middle East war of 1973. At that time, the Israeli Air Force fulfilled the tasks assigned to them only at the cost of very large losses in people and equipment. Even if the level of losses in tactical aircraft participating in the raid is 1% (a very optimistic estimate), their cost becomes fabulous - the price of one aircraft already then went off scale for a million dollars. In addition, again with a loss level of 1%, two aircraft carriers (the standard composition of the US Navy aircraft carrier group) are not capable of providing close air support to the ground forces in the required volume for more or less a long time. None of the above problems could have been solved by the guns of the ships of that time. 5-inch caliber shells did not have sufficient damaging effect to destroy coastal fortifications. The big question is that ships that are not protected by armor will be able to withstand the fire of ground artillery and tanks. Aluminum burns, and the superstructures of many American ships were made of aluminum to save weight. What a fire on an “aluminum” ship can lead to was well shown by the collision of the Belknap cruiser with the Kennedy aircraft carrier in 1975. The British lost four destroyer-frigate class ships in the Falklands campaign, and several more ships failed due to damage, which would hardly have become fatal for ships of a similar class during the Second World War.

An alternative to the use of aviation, insufficient and sometimes inadequate, analysts saw in the high-speed battleships of the Second World War. At the end of the 1970s, the issue of introducing ships of the Iowa type into the combat structure of the US Navy again arose on the agenda. The logic is simple: aircraft from two aircraft carriers will deliver 420 tons of explosives to the coast in about 12 hours of operations. while a battleship armed with nine 6-inch guns is capable of bringing down a similar "payload" on coastal installations in just 18 minutes. On the other hand, the range of carrier-based aircraft is several hundred miles, while the firing range of a battleship's main battery is only 20 miles. However, the experience of the Vietnam War showed that in 80% carrier-based aircraft worked on targets that could be fired from the guns of a battleship. In terms of accuracy of ammunition delivery and response time to a threat, a battleship is preferable to an aircraft. If we take naval artillery, then the 5-inch / 45-caliber guns that were widespread at that time on the ships of the US Navy simply should not be compared with the 16-inch monsters of the Iowa-class battleships. Let's compare anyway. The five-inch projectile weighs about 70 kg, the firing range is about 13 nautical miles; the projectile is capable of penetrating a 90 cm thick concrete floor. The mass of a 15-inch caliber projectile is from 860 to 1220 kg, the firing range is more than 20 nautical miles, the projectile pierces a concrete floor up to 9 m thick. New technologies have made it possible to increase the firing range of 16-inch guns to 50 nautical miles. With 12 inches of armor and an all-steel construction, the Iowa-class battleships were virtually immune to the French Exocet-type anti-ship missiles or the 500-pound bombs that had inflicted such heavy losses on the British fleet at the Falklands.

Despite the weight of the arguments of supporters of the next advent of battleships, cuts in the military budget during the presidency of Jimmy Carter made the return of the Iows to the US Navy impossible. Only the rise to power in 1980 of Ronald Reagan ignited hope in the hearts of battleship supporters. Reagan, immediately after his housewarming party, announced the start of a program to build a 600-ship navy. Appropriations allocated for fiscal year 1981 provided for the commissioning of the battleship New Jersey, appropriations for fiscal year 1982 for the commissioning of the Iowa. In the future, it was planned to modernize and commission the battleships Missouri and Wisconsin. Budget cuts and revisions of plans are typical of US politicians at the end of the 20th century, which is why the plans were not fully implemented, and the battleship commissioning program itself slowed down. The commissioning ceremony of the battleship "New Jersey" was furnished in Hollywood style, it took place on December 28, 1982 at a shipyard in Long Beach. Iowa underwent a deeper modernization, in full, and not in a truncated form like New Jersey. Iowa entered service on April 28, 1984. Congress blocked the allocation of funds for the modernization and commissioning of two other battleships. "New Jersey" proved to be excellent in the first year of service after commissioning in Nicaragua and Lebanon.

According to the plan, the New Jersey was to become the core of an autonomous formation of surface ships designed to strike at the coast and enemy ships.