W&T: Battleships

BATTLESHIPS ON WWI

A Battleship itself

These vessels were a step up from past creations, they were typically large enough to displace 15,000 to 17,000 tons during the pre - dreadnought era and were equipped with many high caliber weapons. Now considering their massive size it only makes sense that for the technology of the time these massive boats only moved at speeds of up to 16 knots (30km/h).

Types of battleships

• BATTLESHIPS - Built to take a lot of pain, had thick armor and were equipped with the largest weapons, typically used to fight other battleships. The HMS-DREADNOUGHT was the largest battleship of the era.
• CRUISERS - Varying in size, they were the fastest of the ships and could remarkably stand up for themselves, size varied from very small to possibly larger than a battleship.
• DESTROYERS - Shortened name for the old Torpedo Boat Destroyer (TBD). These vessels had a large emphasis on weaponry and were shy of armor, they were primarily made to stop TBD's
• MONITORS - A ship used for coastal bombardments that had a low draught (they could go in shallow water). Not very suitable for fighting other boats because they were very slow and lacked armor.

                               A WWI MONITOR VESSEL

BRIEF HISTORY

Battleships have been in use even since the 1500's, but they really started to take to the front lines of war with the creation of the HMS-DREADNOUGHT. The dreadnought was created in 1906 by a British Admiral named Jackie Fisher. The dreadnought was absolutely massive, it displaced roughly 19,000 tons when it hit the surface of the sea. Idea's had been speculated for years about an "all-big-gun" boat, The Japanese had originally put this thought to reality but were beaten by the British. The HMS-Dreadnought introduced new electronic weapons targeting systems that revolutionized the war and was proven to be far superior to the old method of "yell in a brass pipe" (A very ineffective way of giving directions during a LOUD WAR). The British had secured their position as the strongest naval force, until Germany built 2....

OPERATING A BATTLESHIP

Operating and living on a battleship was not easy, a small vessel typically had around 44 men all living and eating in the same mess hall, there was no internal heating during the winter so they had moveable furnaces to help keep soldiers from dying of frostbite (this happened a lot). Soldiers slept in hammocks. In order to actually fire the large cannons, they typically needed 5-6 men, one aiming, one shooting and the others reloading the massive shells.

COST AND EFFECT

Battleships could cost anywhere from 1.5mil-2.5mil British Pounds (1.9-3.2mil American) so they weren't cheap. However, the cost had a great payout in return, battleships were extremely effective weapons of war, not only could they be used for offensive barrages and shore charges, they could also be used to defend the homelands shores and dominate the sea.

 



OVERALL EFFECT

Battleships were great at the time, they helped to give a country a slight edge over their enemy, but in my opinion any weapon capable of massive killings isn't a win...