From the time that USS Iowa was laid down in 1940 until today, the Iowa class battleships have been around for 78 years. During that time, the ships underwent many changes to help them adapt to the type of conflict they were engaged in. In this article, I gathered a...
As war clouds loomed over Europe in the late 1930s, Britain’s last generation of battleships were well in hand. By 1938 the five King George V class were under construction and the first two examples of their successors, the Lions, were due to be laid down in 1939.[1]...
Following the Civil War, the United States Navy had languished as funding was diverted to efforts aimed at rebuilding a wounded nation. Only a small handful of ships were kept to serve as a coastal defense force. Elsewhere, nations had observed the power of Ironclads...
One of the common misconceptions in naval history is the idea that the so-called ‘escalator clause’ of the Second London Naval Treaty – which allowed main gun calibre to automatically revert to 16-inch if any signatory failed to ratify the treaty...
One of the most ingenious battleship types of the Second World War was the US Navy’s four-strong South Dakota class, which packed excellent fire-power, armour protection, good range and reasonable speed into a Treaty-limited displacement. In part the design was...
The sailor in Room 53 has never, it’s true, been to sea but though not in a boat he has served afloat — in a bath in the Admiralty’ Dillwyn ‘Dilly’ Knox, Cryptographer Room 40 . BEGINNINGS In London there is a building that has stood on its site since...
Recent Comments