The Battleship, what an iconic vessel. Few ships have expressed power, sovereignty and influence so clearly and unmistakably. I know their time is passed as operational naval units, and new ships that replaced them (particularly the super carriers) are impressive too, but I am passionate about battleships (you never would have guessed ;-). The fact is that the story of battleships is pretty much finished, only the disposition of museums and artifacts remains open to new chapters. This completeness is attractive as a subject for analysis, like a dead language. The point of analyzing them, beyond the technical interest (enough in itself), is they were the penultimate method of power projection and strategic deterrence at the time, their construction coincided with the major international events of the times.
Here is another interesting battleship, ahead of its time. :gunut:
The Russian Ekaterina II laid down 1883, commissioned 1888. First of a class of four, Ekaterina was unique in having twin disappearing guns, three mounts with six 12”/30 BLR's and seven 5.9”/35 Krupp guns. The disappearing guns proved unsuccessful and were not repeated on the three sisters.
When she was commissioned in 1888 Ekaterina II outgunned everything else afloat, the third ship Sinop (1889) was the first battleship with VTE engines, the last of the class Georgii Pobedonosets (1893) had nickel steel armor up to 16” thick, more powerful 12”/35 guns in conventional turrets, and even managed to drive SMS Goeben back to her base in WWI.
Sinop plan view and Georgii Pobedonosets color post card
Here is another interesting battleship, ahead of its time. :gunut:
The Russian Ekaterina II laid down 1883, commissioned 1888. First of a class of four, Ekaterina was unique in having twin disappearing guns, three mounts with six 12”/30 BLR's and seven 5.9”/35 Krupp guns. The disappearing guns proved unsuccessful and were not repeated on the three sisters.
When she was commissioned in 1888 Ekaterina II outgunned everything else afloat, the third ship Sinop (1889) was the first battleship with VTE engines, the last of the class Georgii Pobedonosets (1893) had nickel steel armor up to 16” thick, more powerful 12”/35 guns in conventional turrets, and even managed to drive SMS Goeben back to her base in WWI.
Sinop plan view and Georgii Pobedonosets color post card
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