Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The list of battleships includes all battleships built between 1859 and 1946, listed alphabetically.. The boundary between ironclads and the first battleships, the so-called 'pre-dreadnought battleship', is not obvious, as the characteristics of the pre-dreadnought evolved in the period from 1875 to 1895.
Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5. Whitley, M. J. (2001). Battleships of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell & Co. ISBN 0-304-359572. Whitley, M. J. (1999). Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Brockhampton Press.
Napoléon (1850), the world's first steam-powered battleship. A ship of the line was a large, unarmored wooden sailing ship which mounted a battery of up to 120 smoothbore guns and carronades, which came to prominence with the adoption of line of battle tactics in the early 17th century and the end of the sailing battleship's heyday in the 1830s.
In 1917, the Nagato class was ordered, the first super-dreadnoughts to mount 16-inch guns, making them arguably the most powerful warships in the world. All were increasingly built from Japanese rather than from imported components.
The Second World War brought massive changes in the design and role of several types of warships. For the first time, the aircraft carrier became the clear choice to serve as the main capital ship within a naval task force. World War II was the only war in history in which battles occurred between groups of carriers.
The world's longest ships are listed according to their overall length (LOA), which is the maximum length of the vessel measured between the extreme points in fore and aft. In addition, the ships' deadweight tonnage (DWT) and/or gross tonnage (GT) are presented as they are often used to describe the size of a vessel.
Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Naval Institute Press. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8. Gibbons, Tony (1983). The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers - A Technical Directory of all the World's Capital Ships from 1860 to the Present Day. London, UK: Salamander Books Ltd. p. 272. ISBN 0-517-37810-8.
As such, the 16" gun Colorado-class ships were the last and most powerful battleships built by the U.S. Navy until the North Carolina class entered service on the eve of World War II. The Colorados were the final group of the Standard-type battleships, designed to have similar speed and handling to simplify maneuvers with the line of battle.