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Home of Naval History and News

Welcome to the home page of the Navy General Board website! This is your portal to all things navy, whether it be current events or historical topics. You can find a wide range of news stories or historical articles on the website. You can also connect with fellow readers on the website forum.

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History Articles

Navy General Board was created to help share all aspects of naval history from throughout the ages. Here you will find our collection of history articles. It has come a long way and has something for everyone. Take your time and browse them all!

Aircraft launching devices of the Imperial Japanese Navy Vol 1A – Flying-off platforms

By Joseph Ed. Low, and Sander Kingsepp This is the first of a series of articles that explores the history of aircraft launching devices used by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The series will start with flying-off platforms and will eventually also cover catapults....

The origins of the American battlecruiser, part 4: British infusion

Designs for the first American battlecruisers, the Lexington class, were developed across several major incarnations during and soon after the First World War. We traced the origins of the American battlecruiser – first as concept, then as designs flowing from the...

Was ‘cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’ a naval phrase?

The unprecedented cold that swept parts of the United States in early 2019 could be called 'brass monkey weather', though with the temperatures reported, that might be an understatement. According to legend, the term - in full, 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a...

The Armoured Conning Tower on Battleships

Even the mightiest warship, with its intimidating guns and thick armor, would be severely handicapped without a conning tower. The conning tower served as the control center for a warship, allowing officers to observe everything around the ship and direct it. What Is...

Eggshells and hammers: Fisher’s last battlecruisers

In 1919 an embittered Admiral Sir John Fisher published a trenchant criticism of the British Admiralty’s latest heavy warship. He did not name her, but he didn’t have to: there was only one. To Fisher, HMS Hood had too much weight devoted to armour. ‘And so bang went...

F-14 vs F-15 : Tomcat vs Eagle

It's interesting seeing how naval aircraft compare to their contemporaries ashore. Not only does the operating environment impact aircraft design, but the rigors of operating in a maritime environment can also radically influence design as well. This can result in...

F4U Corsair vs P-51 Mustang

In the first of a new series of posts, we will begin to examine various carrier aircraft and see how they compare to other aircraft. And what better way to start the series off than to examine two of the most famous American fighter aircraft of the Second World War....

Aircraft Launching Devices of the Imperial Japanese Navy: Vol 1B – Flying-Off Platforms on Wakamiya and Yamashiro

By Joseph Ed. Low, and Sander Kingsepp. This is the second of a series of articles that explores the history of aircraft launching devices used by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) that will be featured on the NGB (Naval General Board) website. The series started with...

Naval heroism, politics and Jutland: the story of Jack Cornwell VC

One of the most poignant human stories to come out of the Battle of Jutland was that of sixteen year old John Travers Cornwell, J/42563. He was a Boy, 1st Class, aboard HMS Chester during that clash of fleets at the end of May 1916, and he became one of the youngest...

Battleship showdown: King George V vs. North Carolina

King George V vs. North Carolina, a question that reveals a lot about the design and intentions behind the first modern post-treaty battleships of the United Kingdom and United States. In this article, we will examine some of the features behind both ships and see how...

Myths about the Montana Class Super Battleships

A stretched Iowa with an extra turret. A ship designed to kill the Yamato class. Many myths surround the Montana class, the immensely powerful super battleships of the United States Navy. Designed to be larger and more powerful than any previous dreadnought, these...

Who won the Battle of Jutland?

On the afternoon of 31 May 1916, and on into the early hours of 1 June, the British Grand Fleet and the German fleet came to blows off the Denmark coast in a battle known to the British as the Battle of Jutland, to the Germans as the Skagerrak.[1] It was the first –...

Admiral Sir John Fisher and the first fast battleships

At the end of 1904 Britain’s First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir John Fisher, set up a committee that met over a period of several months into early 1905 and produced two new types of vessel: an all big-gun battleship and its armoured cruiser homologue. The latter...

“Thank God for the Navy!” – HMS Veronica and the Hawke’s Bay quake of 1931

It’s not often that a city’s memorial to a warship is larger than the ship itself. Or that the ship’s bell continues to be rung in that city to this day, honouring the way the navy came to the rescue when tragedy unfolded. But that’s true in Napier, New Zealand, where...

New photos of HMS Hood in 1924

It is not often that previously unknown photos of HMS Hood are discovered. A set were found recently in a New Zealand archive, and are reproduced here for the first time on a naval website. The quality is typical of the day: the slightly blurred imagery typical of the...

News and Current Events

A relatively new addition to the Navy General Board website. While we remain focused on sharing history, we also want to examine naval current events that are occuring across the world. This section is still new, but more articles are coming. 

Canada’s Next Generation Submarine

My own opinion and hypothesis on what class of submarine could become Canada’s next generation submarine

The Navy’s FFG(X) Program : Foreign and Domestic Options

The Navy has all but admitted that the Littoral Combat Ships are a flop. Therefore, they have started looking at potential ships to fulfill requirements for a new frigate design known as the FFG(X) Program. Make makes things interesting is that this time the US Navy...

China’s Newest Warship : The Type 55 Destroyer

At a time when the United States Navy is struggling to determine the future of its Navy, China has been quietly building up its naval forces. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has risen to be the second largest navy in the world by tonnage. It’s not just quantity that...

Why China’s Island Bases are Not a Big Deal

Over the past few years, the media has made a big deal of the artificial island bases that China has built in the South China Sea. Several of these islands are well fortified, featuring harbors, airstrips, and formidable land-based weaponry. Some in the media have...

Want to go a little bit further than simply reading an aritcle? Interesting in writing your own and sharing it with Navy General Board? Check out our about us page for information on becoming a guest writer for the Navy General Board website! We are looking for both historical pieces and current events happening with navies across the World. 

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