When did the battleships disappear?
By the time of the write-off of the magnificent four "Iow" (1990-92), the era of capital ships had long been gathering dust on the shelves of archives and stands of naval museums. The last artillery battle between armored monsters was 25 October 1944, when the Japanese "Fuso" came under heavy fire from five American battleships in the Surigao Strait. In European waters, everything ended even earlier, in the winter of 1943, when the German Scharnhorst was sunk in the battle of m. Nordkapp. Subsequently, the capital ships were still involved in the shelling of the coast, but they never again engaged in fights with each other.
The end of the era of battleships was at the end of World War II, when it became clear that large guns lose in efficiency aviation and underwater the fleet. Unable to withstand the competition, the huge expensive battleships gradually disappeared from the slipways, and instead appeared ... Oops! And then comes the dumb scene.
In the first post-war decade, the fleet of the richest state (USA) was replenished with just a couple of dozen new destroyers. Just nothing against the background of the pace of the previous decade, when the Yankees built several hundred warships a year! Four half-finished battleships were removed from the stocks. Dozens of cruisers under construction were scrapped. The construction of the United States supercarrier was stopped 5 days after it was bookmarked.
The natural result of the reduction of the military budget associated with the cessation of hostilities.
Germany and Japan were defeated by the fleet. The once-powerful players dropped out of the game, having lost their naval ambitions for a long time.
Cheerful Italians were in deep depression. At the end of the war, the “macarons” were allowed to keep a couple of rusty dreadnoughts, but mercy to the vanquished looked like a cruel mockery. All the more or less modern ships the winners took for themselves (the notorious l / c "Giulio Cesare", which later became the "Novorossiysk").
The old British lion fell from the world pedestal, giving way to new superpowers. The last battleship of Her Majesty "Vanguard" was laid in 1941 and brought to the mind only by 1946, using towers and tools that have been rusting in the warehouse since 1920. Sad and funny.
The French fleet looked surprisingly good (against the background of what the French had to endure). After the war, a pair of restored battleships (of the "Richelieu" type) returned to service, which served for 20 years, occasionally participating in colonial wars around the world. However, the construction of new ships of this class and size was out of the question.
Battleship "Jean Bar". Beginning of 60's
The only one who launched the mass construction of warships after the war was the Soviet Union. What for? After years it is difficult to answer. The ships were built according to the deliberately outdated projects of the end of 30's, with archaic mechanisms and weapons. They categorically could not resist the "likely enemy" naval forces.
The official idea was to maintain the shipbuilding industry and speed up the fleet's saturation with ships of the main classes. Anyway, the results were impressive: from 1948 to 1953. The fleet was replenished with 5 light cruisers and 70 th destroyers (type 30-bis). Over the next few years, 14 cruisers of the 68-bis Ave, which became the last artillery ships in the world, entered service. And, of course, what a real fleet could do without battleships!
The plans indicated the construction of three capital ships of the type "Stalingrad" (heavy cruiser project 82). The latter were high-speed battle cruisers with nine guns of caliber 305 mm and a non-cruising displacement of 43 thousand tons. On the technical side, they approached in size, but they were significantly inferior to foreign military companies during the war years in terms of protection and armament. In fact, “Stalingrad” became outdated even 10 years before its foundation.
Model TKR "Stalingrad"
Of course, from the standpoint of our days, everything seems different. Starting from the middle of the century, the US Navy began a mass withdrawal from the fleet of representatives of the era of "cannons and armor" with their subsequent replacement by small armored ships with rocket weapons. Our lag could turn into an advantage!
What could have happened if by the beginning of the 1980's, somewhere in the reserve parking lot in the Strelok Bay, there would have been a rusted armored frame of the battle cruiser "Stalingrad"? After upgrading with the installation of modern anti-aircraft systems and missiles, such a "monster" could pose a real threat to the naval forces of NATO countries.
Total Modernization of the Iowa Battleship, 1984 Year
Its thick skin was not penetrated by any of the existing anti-ship missiles. The use of large-caliber bombs on him required first the suppression of his air defenses — a matter that is extremely long and costly. At the same time, its own shock potential had no analogues in the world. Modern rocket weapons, enhanced by the power of long-range automated "twelve-inch"! Strikes on naval and ground targets, fire support for airborne troops, provision of air defense squadrons at sea crossings, flagship and diplomatic functions ...
But pretty sweet dreams! At that time, nuclear submarines began to intervene on combat duty. The USSR Navy required completely different ships to adequately counter the threats of the new time .. Numerous BOD, helicopter carriers and its own nuclear submarine fleet, not inferior in number to the "likely enemy" nuclear submarine ... In the spring of 1953, immediately after I.V.'s death Stalin, the construction of the heavy cruiser "Stalingrad" was interrupted while the 18% was ready. Two other corps, which were in even lower degree of readiness, suffered a similar fate.
The outcome. When did the battleships disappear?
A common point of view ("capital ships are outdated by the middle of the 40-s.") Is not true! This is indicated by the fact termination of the construction of ships of all major classes with the end of the Second World War. Single destroyers and submarines of the experimental series - and not a single warship larger than 5 thousand tons!
Of course! It was obvious from the very beginning of our conversation. Military aircraft piston aircraft could not pose a serious threat to armored monsters. Easy victories in Taranto and Pearl Harbor is not an argument. In both cases, the fleet was caught at anchor by surprise, becoming the victim of careless command bases. In real conditions, for the sinking of one battleship it was required to fly into the air hundreds of combat aircraft or use ammunition of monstrous power.
227 bombers, fighters and torpedo bombers of the US Navy took part in the sinking of the Yamato, and 53 of the aircraft that went off lost their way and were unable to reach the target.
During the war years, the secured parking lot of Tirpitz underwent an unsuccessful attack on 700 airplanes, until the turn reached the Tollboy 5-ton bombs. The German battleship alone by its presence bound all the forces of the British fleet in the North Atlantic.
"As long as the Tirpitz exists, the British fleet must constantly have two battleships of the King George V type available. In the waters of the metropolis there must constantly be three ships of this type - in case one of them is being repaired."
- First Sea Lord Admiral Dudley Pound
"It creates a general fear and threat at all points at once."
- W. Churchill
Musassi - hundreds of sorties of deck aircraft, incessant attacks within five hours.
Italian "Roma" - destroyed by the guided bomb "Fritz-X". Armor-piercing guided munitions of a special design (weight over one ton), dropped on the target from a height of six kilometers. Only two-or four-engine coast-based bombers could use such weapons, moreover, only on limited-size theater and under conditions of weak opposition from the enemy.
Barham and Royal Oak are not an argument. Outdated superdreadnoughts of the First World War, whose design was devoid of serious anti-torpedo protection.
"Prince of Wales" - an exception, only confirmed the rule. The propeller shaft bent by the explosion turned a huge hole in the hull. Three more torpedoes completed the job. Moreover, the "Prince of Wales" possessed, perhaps, the worst air defense system among all the WWII battleships.
Here such "obsolete" were the battleships that they could with one presence change the situation on the theater of operations and withstand close explosions of nuclear weapons (tests on the Bikini station, 1947). Their security was so high that a charred ship with an irradiated crew still had the opportunity to continue to perform the task or to return to the base under its own power. Those. continued to pose a threat to the enemy!
Combat shock group led by battleship battleship New Jersey, 1986 year. As a part of the escort - nuclear-powered missile cruiser "Long Beach"
It is worth noting that even in the epoch of its heyday, capital ships were a rarity rather than a common occurrence. Only a few ships of this class in the fleets of the seven most developed countries. The combat core of the fleet. The strongest units in the theater of operations. As in chess, there are rarely more than two queens on one board.
So why be surprised if, with the end of the war and the subsequent cuts in the military budget, only the 4 of the most "fresh" battleship remained in the US Navy? On the other side of the ocean, the proportions have not changed. The Soviet fleet received a trophy "Novorossiysk" and made plans to build three "Stalingrad".
Finale of the play
The end of the capital ship era was in the middle of the 50s. With the advent of jet engines, aviation speeds increased 1,5-2 times, while air defense weapons remained at the level of the mid-40-x. (anti-aircraft guns guided by radar data. At best, shells with a radar fuse). Worse, the combat load of the usual A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft exceeded the weight of the “Flying Fortress” combat load. The flight range and capabilities of the aviation sighting systems also increased significantly. As a result, one Skyhock squadron could joke to sink any cruiser and guaranteed to disable the battleship, destroying all the superstructures and causing leaks in the underwater hull with a hail of free-falling bombs.
An even more terrible threat awaited the battleship from under the water. Nuclear submarines that could not ascend to go around the Earth. They got the main role in the modern naval battle.
The overall decline in the strategic role of the fleet in the era of ballistic missiles and thermonuclear weapons. Convulsive preparations for the "third world", after which no one leaves alive. The rapid evolution of rocket weapons: the size of radar and missiles were incomparable with the mass-dimensions of the towers and guns of battleships. Not surprisingly, instead of heavy cruisers and battleships, small armored cruisers and destroyers appeared, whose dimensions rarely exceeded 8-9 thousand tons.
Missile cruiser "Grozny" (1961 g.). Despite its fierce appearance, the ship’s total displacement barely exceeded 5 thousand tons
Atomic missile cruiser "Bainbridge" (1961 g.), Full in / and 9 thousand tons
Prospects
A complete rejection of armor and the neglect of passive protection measures gave a tragicomic result: modern ships began to die from being hit by unexploded rockets and completely fail from one bag of improvised explosives.
Isolated cases could not change the whole paradigm of the modern fleet, however, the idea of a highly protected warship still hovers in the minds of designers, whose nose is not a bad thing to smash a bottle of champagne. He can be sent to the shores of any enemy, where his guns and rockets will sweep away everything in his path.
"Rocket battleship" - heavy nuclear missile cruiser "Peter the Great". 26 thousand tons and 300 with more missiles on board. Local reservation of especially important compartments (armor thickness up to 100 mm!)
The low-profile USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) missile-artillery battleship. 14,5 KT 80 rocket launchers and two ultra-long-range 155 caliber guns. Local booking is available in the CWP area
The concept of a highly-protected rocket-artillery ship, most worked out today, from specialists from the department of reforming the armed forces of the US Department of Defense. Project Capital Surface Warship (CSW, 2007 year)
Information