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Navy General Board

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!

Iowa Class Battleships – A Departure from Traditional Design

The Iowa class battleships were the last dreadnoughts put to sea by the United States. In many ways they incorporated all of the lessons learned by the US Navy throughout the dreadnaught age. They were powerfully armed, decently armored, and very fast. It is no doubt...

Warships of Mare Island Shipyard during World War 2

Of the many shipyards used by the United States Navy during the Second World War, few were as busy as the Mare Island Shipyard in California. Famous as the first United States Naval Base on the Pacific Ocean, Mare Island was a hive of activity during World War 2....

The hero of the Hood Battalion

When the First World War broke out in August 1914, the British Admiralty had plans to field ground forces, largely to seize coastal areas, if required, for naval bases. Historically there was nothing unusual about sailors fighting ashore. What was unusual was the...

Largest Cruisers of World War 2

After the success of our article on the largest battleships of all time, we received a lot of requests for a similar article on cruisers. So without further delay, Navy General Board presents the twelve largest cruisers of World War 2 ! 16. USS Wichita (13,015 Long...

The origins of the Washington Treaty of 1922

It is a century since the world’s leading powers negotiated the ‘Washington Treaty’. This agreement of 6 February 1922 – called the ‘Five Power Treaty’ at the time[1] – required signatories to scrap numerous ships, including some as yet unfinished, dictated strict...

Battleship showdown: Vanguard vs. Tirpitz – what might have happened

In the previous article we looked at HMS Vanguard, Britain’s last battleship. She was completed too late for the Second World War.[1] But what if she had been able to join that conflict, as originally intended when she was first planned in 1939? Could we have had...

The Tarawa coast-watch massacre of 1942

During 1941 a small group of New Zealand coast-watchers, mainly civilian volunteers from the Post and Telegraph Department, were stationed in the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati). They formed part of a forward line of listening posts intended to intercept Japanese radio...

How do Torpedoes Damage a Ship?

Nothing shook warship designers so much as the arrival of the torpedo. Striking the ship below the water line, torpedoes could deliver an incredible amount of explosive power to a part of the warship that is not easily protected. Designers would learn that there was...

Why HMS New Zealand’s debt wasn’t cancelled until 1944-45

One of the many myths about the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand – the ship built as a gift from New Zealand to Britain in 1909 - is that she was unaffordable for a small Dominion of just under a million people. In the previous article I showed that this was simply not...

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....

Russia’s Udaloy class Destroyer

Russia’s work horse destroyer

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....

Britain’s Majestic class battleships, part 2 – the politics

Britain’s nine Majestic class battleships of the 1890s were the largest single class of battleships ever built. As we saw in the previous article, the class introduced a range of key technologies, and the Admiralty wanted them in order to maintain the ‘two power...

Alaska Class : America’s (Not Quite) Battlecruisers

The warships of the Alaska class are perhaps one of the more confusing ships ever put to sea by the United States. Designed to prowl the oceans and hunt down enemy commerce raiders, they possessed high speed and considerable firepower. Vastly more powerfully than...

Were Britain’s battleships eggshells? Investigating the loss of HMS Victoria in 1893

The loss of the battleship HMS Victoria to a ramming accident in June 1893 sent shock waves across the British Empire. As we saw in the last article, she went down remarkably quickly after a collision with the battleship HMS Camperdown. There was very heavy loss of...

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. 

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...

Canada’s Next Generation Submarine

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

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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