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Naval historians agree that the first ship of the line (drawings and design by D. Baker) was built in England in 1514. It was a four-masted nave (high-sided wooden ship), equipped with two decks - covered gun decks.

From karakk and galleons

The linear tactics of naval battles began to be used by the fleets of European countries following the initiators of the innovation - England and Spain - at the beginning of the 17th century. Artillery duels replaced boarding duels. According to this strategy, the maximum damage to the enemy fleet was inflicted by ships lined up and conducting aimed volley fire with side guns. There was a need for ships that were maximally adapted to such battles. At first, large sailing ships - karakki - were rebuilt for these purposes. Equipped with decks for the installation of guns and cut holes in the sides - gun ports.

First battleships

The creation of ships capable of carrying powerful, functional artillery weapons required the revision and change of many established shipbuilding technologies, the creation of new calculation methods. So, for example, the flagship sailing ship of the line "Mary Rose", converted from a karakka, sank in 1545 in the naval battle of the Solent, not under the fire of enemy guns, but because of the flooding of incorrectly calculated gun ports by waves.

A new method for determining the level of the waterline and calculating the displacement, proposed by the Englishman E. Dean, made it possible to calculate the height of the lower ports (respectively, the gun deck) from the sea surface without launching the vessel. The first true cannon ships of the line were three-deck. The number of large-caliber guns installed grew. Created in 1637 at the shipyards of England, the "Lord of the Seas" was armed with a hundred guns and for a long time was considered the largest and most expensive warship. By the middle of the century, battleships had from 2 to 4 decks with 50 to 150 large-caliber guns placed on them. Further improvement was reduced to increasing the power of artillery and improving the seaworthiness of ships.

Designed by Peter I

In Russia, the first ship (of the line) was launched under Peter I, in the spring of 1700. The two-deck vessel "God's Omen" that became the flagship of the Azov Flotilla was armed with 58 guns cast at the factories of the industrialist Demidov, caliber 16 and 8 feet. The model of the battleship, which, according to the European classification, belongs to the ships of the 4th rank, was developed personally by the Russian emperor. Moreover, Peter took a direct active part in the construction of the Omen at the shipyards of the Voronezh Admiralty.

In connection with the threat of a Swedish naval invasion, according to the shipbuilding development program approved by the emperor, the composition Baltic Fleet in the next decade, battleships of the Azov flagship type should be strengthened. Full-scale construction of ships was launched in Novaya Ladoga, and by the middle of 1712 several fifty-gun battleships were launched into the water - "Riga", "Vyborg", "Pernov" and the pride of the imperial fleet - "Poltava".

Instead of sails

The beginning of the 19th century was marked by a series of inventions that put an end to glorious history combat sailing fleet. Among them are a high-explosive fragmentation projectile (invented by French artillery officer Henri-Joseph Pexan, 1819) and a ship's steam engine, first adapted to rotate a ship's lead screw by an American engineer R. Fulton in 1807. It was difficult for the wooden sides to resist the new type of shells. To increase the penetration resistance, the tree was covered with metal sheets. Since 1855, after mastering the mass production of a powerful marine steam engine, sailboats began to quickly lose ground. Some of them were converted - equipped with a power plant and lined with armored plating. Rotating machines began to be used as platforms for installing large-caliber guns, which made it possible to make the firing sector circular. The installations began to be protected by barbettes - armored caps, which later transformed into artillery towers.

Symbol of absolute power

By the end of the century, the power of steam engines had increased significantly, which made it possible to build much larger ships. An ordinary ship of the line of that time had a displacement of 9 to 16 thousand tons. Cruising speed reached 18 knots. The ship's hull, divided by bulkheads into hermetic compartments, was protected by armor no less than 200 mm thick (in the area of ​​the waterline). The artillery armament consisted of two turrets with four 305 mm guns.

The development of the rate of fire and range of naval artillery, the improvement of the technique of aiming guns and centralized fire control due to electric drives and radio communications made the military specialists of the leading maritime powers think about creating battleships of a new type. England built the first such ship in record time in 1906. Its name - HMC Dreadnought - has become a household name for all ships of this class.

Russian dreadnoughts

Naval officials drew the wrong conclusions from the results Russo-Japanese War, and the battleship Apostol Andrew the First-Called, laid down at the end of 1905, without taking into account the trends in the development of world shipbuilding, became obsolete even before launching.

Unfortunately, the design of subsequent Russian dreadnoughts cannot be called perfect. If in terms of the power and quality of artillery, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe armored surface, domestic ships were not inferior to English and German ships, then the thickness of the armor was clearly insufficient. The Sevastopol (linear) ship being created for the Baltic Fleet turned out to be fast, well-armed (12 305-caliber guns), but too vulnerable to enemy shells. Four ships of this class were launched in 1911, but became part of the Navy only during the First World War (1914).

The Black Sea battleships "Empress Maria" and "Catherine the Great" had even more powerful weapons and an improved system for attaching armor plates. The Emperor Nicholas I, which received 262-mm monolithic armor, could become the most advanced battleship, but the October Revolution did not allow the construction to be completed, and in 1928 the ship, renamed Democracy, was dismantled for metal.

The end of the battleship era

According to the Washington Agreement of 1922, the maximum displacement of battleships should not exceed 35,560 tons, and the caliber of guns should not exceed 406 mm. These conditions were met by the maritime powers until 1936, after which the struggle for military naval superiority resumed.

The bursting fire of the Second World War served as the beginning of the decline of battleships. The best battleships - the German Bismarck and Tirpitz, the American Prince of Wales, the Japanese Musashi and Yamato - despite powerful anti-aircraft weapons, were sunk by enemy aircraft, the strength of which increased every year. By the middle of the 20th century, the construction of battleships had ceased in almost all countries, and the rest were put into reserve. The only power to keep battleships in service until the end of the century was the United States.

A few facts

The legendary battleship Bismarck took just five salvos to destroy the pride of the British Navy, the battlecruiser HMS Hood. To sink a German ship, the British involved a squadron of 47 ships and 6 submarines. To achieve the result, 8 torpedoes and 2876 artillery shells were fired.

The largest ship of World War II - the ship of the line "Yamato" (Japan) - had a displacement of 70 thousand tons, an armor belt of 400 mm (frontal armor of gun turrets - 650 mm, conning tower - half a meter) and a main caliber of 460 mm.

As part of the "Project 23" in the 40s of the last century, three "class" super battleships were built in the USSR Soviet Union", in terms of technical characteristics, slightly inferior to the Japanese" giant ".

The most famous American battleships of the class "Iowa" last time modernized in 1980, having received 32 ballistic missiles"Tomahawk" and modern electronic equipment. The last ship was put into reserve in 2012. Today, the US Naval Museums operate on all four ships.

background

Many interconnected technological advances and circumstances led to the emergence of battleships as the main force of the navies.

The technology of building wooden ships, which is considered today as a classic - first the frame, then the skin - was formed in the Mediterranean basin during the 1st millennium AD. e. and began to dominate at the beginning of the next. Thanks to its advantages, it eventually replaced the previously existing methods of construction, starting with sheathing: the Roman one used in the Mediterranean, with a sheathing consisting of boards, the edges of which were connected with spikes, and the clinker used from Russia to the Basque Country in Spain, with overlaid sheathing and inserted into finished case with transverse reinforcement ribs. In the south of Europe, this transition finally took place before the middle of the 14th century, in England - around 1500, and in Northern Europe merchant ships with clinker sheathing (holki) were built as early as the 16th century, possibly later. On most European languages this method was denoted by derivatives of the word carvel (à carvel, carvel-built, Kraweelbauweise)- probably from caravel, "caravel", that is, initially - a ship built starting from the frame and with sheathing smooth.

The new technology gave shipbuilders a number of advantages. The presence of a frame on a ship made it possible to accurately determine in advance its dimensions and the nature of the contours, which, with the previous technology, became fully apparent only during the construction process. Since then, ships have been built according to pre-approved plans. Besides, new technology made it possible to significantly increase the dimensions of the ships, both due to the greater strength of the hull, and due to the reduction in the requirements for the width of the boards used for plating, which made it possible to use less quality timber for the construction of ships. Also, the requirements for the qualifications of the labor force involved in the construction were reduced, which made it possible to build ships faster and in much larger quantities than before.

In the XIV-XV centuries, gunpowder artillery began to be used on ships, but initially, due to the inertia of thinking, it was placed on superstructures intended for archers: forcastel and aftercastle, which limited the permissible mass of guns for reasons of stability. Later, artillery began to be installed along the side in the middle of the ship, which largely removed the restrictions on the mass and, consequently, the caliber of the guns, however, aiming them at the target was very difficult, since the fire was fired through round holes made to the size of the gun barrel in the sides, in the marching plugged from the inside. Real cannon ports with covers appeared only towards the end of the 15th century, which opened the way for the creation of heavily armed artillery ships. True, loading guns was still a big problem - even in the days of Mary Rose, the most advanced muzzle-loading guns at that time had to be loaded outside the hull, since the cramped interior space of the gun deck of ships of that era did not allow them to be pulled inside (it is because of this that on ships for a long time they used breech-loading bombards, which were very unreliable and, in terms of characteristics, were inferior to their modern muzzle-loading guns). Because of this, the reloading of guns in battle was practically excluded - heavy artillery was saved for a single volley during the entire battle right in front of the boarding dump. However, this volley often decided the outcome of the entire battle.

Only by the second quarter of the 16th century, ships began to appear, the design of which allowed for convenient reloading of heavy artillery during the battle, which made it possible to fire with repeated volleys from a long distance, without risking losing the opportunity to use it if they approached the boarding distance. So, the Spaniard Alonso de Chavez, in his work Espejo de Navegantes (Navigator's Mirror), published in 1530, recommended dividing the fleet into two parts: the first approached the enemy and waged a classic boarding battle, while the second, acting on the flanks of the main forces , exhausted him with artillery fire from a long distance. These recommendations were developed by British sailors and applied during the Anglo-Spanish War.

So, over the course of the 16th century, a complete change in the nature of naval battles takes place: rowing galleys, which had been the main warships for thousands of years, give way to sailboats armed with artillery, and boarding battle - to artillery.

Mass production of heavy artillery pieces was very difficult for a long time. Therefore, until the 19th century, the largest of those installed on ships remained 32 ... But working with them during loading and aiming was very complicated due to the lack of mechanization and servo drives - such guns weighed several tons each, which necessitated a huge gun crew. Therefore, for centuries, ships tried to arm as many relatively small guns as possible, located along the side. At the same time, for reasons of strength, the length of a warship with a wooden hull is limited to about 70 ... 80 meters, which also limited the length of the onboard battery: several dozen heavy guns could only be placed in several rows one above the other. This is how warships arose with several closed gun decks - decks - carrying from several dozen to hundreds or more guns of various calibers.

In the 16th century, cast iron cannons began to be used in England, which were a great technological innovation due to their lower cost relative to bronze and less laborious manufacturing compared to iron, and at the same time had better characteristics. Superiority in naval artillery manifested itself during the battles of the English fleet with the Invincible Armada (1588) and since then began to determine the strength of the fleet of any state, making history of massive boarding battles. After that, boarding is used solely for the purpose of capturing an enemy vessel already disabled by fire. By this time, artillery had reached a certain degree of perfection, the characteristics of the guns had more or less stabilized, which made it possible to accurately determine the strength of a warship by the number of guns and build systems for their classification.

AT mid-seventeenth century, the first scientific systems for the design of ships, methods of mathematical calculation appear. Introduced into practice around the 1660s by the English shipbuilder Anthony Dean, the method of determining the displacement and waterline level of a ship based on its total mass and the shape of the contours made it possible to calculate in advance at what height from the sea surface the ports of the lower gun deck would be located, and to arrange the decks accordingly and the guns are still on the slipway - earlier for this it was required to lower the ship's hull into the water. This made it possible to determine the firepower of the future ship at the design stage, as well as to avoid incidents similar to what happened with the Swedish "Vase" due to too low-lying gun ports. In addition, on ships with powerful artillery, part of the gun ports necessarily fell on the frames. Only frames that were not cut by ports were power, so the exact alignment of their relative position was important.

History of appearance

The immediate predecessors of the battleships were heavily armed galleons, carracks and the so-called "big ships" (Great Ships). The English Mary Rose (1510) is sometimes considered the first purpose-built artillery ship - although in fact it retained many features that indicate a focus primarily on boarding combat (very high superstructures-towers in the bow and stern, anti-boarding nets stretched over deck in the middle part of the hull during the battle, a large boarding team, the number of soldiers in which was almost equal to the number of ship sailors) and, in fact, was more of a transitional type to a well-armed artillery ship. The Portuguese attribute the honor of their invention to their king João II (1455-1495), who ordered several caravels to be armed with heavy guns.

Until the end of the 16th-17th centuries, there was no strictly established order in the battle, after the rapprochement of the opposing sides, the sea battle turned into a disorderly dump of individual ships. Firefighters were a terrible weapon in such conditions - old ships that were stuffed with combustible and explosive substances, set on fire and launched at the enemy.

The formation of wake columns began to be used in battle towards the end of the 16th century, but it took at least 100 years (1590-1690) for its widespread adoption, since the use of linear tactics required specific changes in the design of ships, as well as the introduction of a certain degree of standardization. During this period, the wartime British Royal Navy consisted of a "core" of specially built warships and numerous requisitioned "merchants". However, it soon became clear that with a linear construction, such heterogeneity of ships in terms of seaworthiness and combat qualities is extremely inconvenient - weaker ships turned out to be when placed in a battle line " weak link» chains due to worse driving performance and less resistance to enemy fire. It was then that the final division of sailing ships into combat and merchant ships took place, and the former were divided by the number of guns into several categories - ranks. The belonging of the ships to the same rank guaranteed their ability to operate in the same formation with each other.

The first real battleships appeared in the fleets of European countries at the beginning of the 17th century, and the 55-gun HMS Prince Royal  (1610) is considered the first three-deck (three-deck) battleship. It was followed by the even larger and well-armed three-deck 100-gun HMS Sovereign of the Seas (1637), which was one of the largest (and most expensive) ships of its time.

The French responded by laying down the two-decker, 72-gun battleship La Couronne (1636), which set the standard for a more moderate and cheap but still powerful battleship. This marked the beginning of a long-term "arms race" between the main European naval powers, the main instrument of which was the battleships.

Battleships were lighter and shorter than the "tower ships" that existed at that time - galleons, which made it possible to quickly line up sideways to the enemy when the bow of the next ship looked at the stern of the previous one.

Also, battleships differ from galleons by straight sails on a mizzen mast (galleons had from three to five masts, of which usually one or two were “dry”, with oblique sailing weapons), the absence of a long horizontal latrine on the bow and a rectangular tower on the stern , and the maximum use of the surface area of ​​the sides for guns. The lower hull increased stability, which made it possible to increase windage by installing higher masts. The ship of the line is more maneuverable and stronger than the galleon in artillery combat, while the galleon is better suited for boarding combat. Unlike galleons, which were also used to transport merchant cargo, battleships were built exclusively for naval combat, and only as an exception sometimes took on board a certain number of troops.

The resulting multi-deck sailing ships of the line were the main means of warfare at sea for more than 250 years and allowed countries such as Holland, Great Britain and Spain to create huge trading empires.

By the middle of the 17th century, there was a clear division of battleships into classes depending on the purpose, and the number of guns became the basis for the classification. So, the old two-deck (with two closed gun decks) ships, which had about 50 guns, were not strong enough for linear combat as part of a squadron, and were used mainly for escorting convoys. Double-deck ships of the line, carrying from 64 to 90 guns, made up the bulk of the war fleets, while three- or even four-deck ships (98-144 guns) served as flagships. A fleet of 10-25 such ships made it possible to control sea trade lines and, in case of war, block them for the enemy.

Ships of the line should be distinguished from frigates. The frigates had either only one closed battery, or one closed and one open on the upper deck. The sailing equipment of battleships and frigates was fundamentally the same - three masts, each of which had direct sails. Initially, frigates were inferior to battleships in terms of driving performance, having superiority only in cruising range and autonomy. However, subsequently, the improvement of the contours of the underwater part of the hull allowed the frigates, with the same sail area, to develop a higher speed, making them the fastest among large warships (the armed clippers that appeared in the 19th century as part of some fleets were faster than frigates, but they were a very specific type of ships , generally unsuitable for military operations). The battleships, in turn, surpassed the frigates in terms of artillery firepower (often several times) and the height of the sides (which was important during boarding and, partly, from the point of view of seaworthiness), but lost to them in speed and cruising range, as well as could not operate in shallow water.

battleship tactics

The term "battleship" itself arose due to the fact that in battle, multi-deck ships began to line up one after another - so that during their volley they were turned sideways to the enemy, because the volley from all onboard guns caused the greatest damage to the target. This tactic was called linear. Building in a line during a naval battle was first used by the fleets of England, Spain and Holland at the beginning of the 17th century and was considered the main one until the middle of the 19th. Linear tactics also protected the leading squadron well from attacks by firewalls.

It is worth noting that in a number of cases, fleets consisting of ships of the line could vary tactics, often deviating from the canons of the classic skirmish between two wake columns going in parallel courses. So, at Camperdown, the British could not line up in the correct wake column and attacked the Dutch battle line in formation close to the front line followed by a disorderly dump, and at Trafalgar they attacked the French line with two intersecting columns, competently using the advantages of longitudinal fire, inflicting undivided transverse bulkheads to wooden ships suffered terrible damage (at Trafalgar, Admiral Nelson used the tactics developed by Admiral Ushakov). Although these were out of the ordinary cases, nevertheless, even within the framework of the general paradigm of linear tactics, the squadron commander often had enough room for bold maneuver, and the skippers for showing their own initiative.

Design features and fighting qualities

Although in comparison with all-metal ships of subsequent eras, wooden battleships were relatively small, nevertheless they were structures of an impressive scale for their time. So, the total height of the main mast of Nelson's flagship - "Victory" - was approximately 67 m (above a 20-story building), and the longest yard reached a length of 30 m, or almost 60 m with extended fox spirits. Of course, all work with spars and rigging was carried out exclusively by hand, which required a huge crew - up to 1000 people.

The wood for the construction of battleships (usually oak, less often teak or mahogany) was selected most carefully, soaked (stained) and dried for a number of years, after which it was carefully laid in several layers. The side plating was double - inside and outside of the frames. The thickness of the outer skin alone on some battleships reached 60 cm at the gondek (in the Spanish Santisima Trinidad), and the total thickness of the inner and outer skin was up to 37 inches (that is, about 95 cm). The British built ships with relatively thin plating, but often located frames, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich the total thickness of the side at the gondek reached 70-90 cm of solid wood. Between the frames, the total thickness of the side, formed by only two layers of skin, was less and reached 2 feet (60 cm). For greater speed, French battleships were built with sparser frames, but with thicker skin - up to 70 cm in total between the frames.

To protect the underwater part from rot and fouling, it was covered with outer skin made of thin planks of soft wood, which was regularly changed during the timbering process in dry dock. Subsequently, at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, sheathing with copper began to be used for the same purposes.

Even in the absence of real iron armor, the battleships were still to some extent and at a certain distance protected from enemy fire, in addition:

In battle, they were usually put out of action by shooting at the spars, by the defeat of the crew or by fire, in some cases they were captured by the boarding team after the possibilities of resistance were exhausted, and as a result, they changed hands for decades until they fell victim to fire, dry rot or wood-boring beetle. The sinking of a battleship in battle was a rare matter, since flooding with water through relatively small holes from the cannonballs, usually located above the waterline, was small, and the pumps on the ship coped with it quite well, and the holes themselves were sealed from the inside during the battle - with wooden plugs, or from the outside - cloth plaster.

It was this factor that became decisive in establishing English naval dominance in the Atlantic during the Seven Years' War, when the French fleet, equipped with technically more advanced ships, lost battles to more experienced English sailors, which led to the loss of French colonies in the West Indies and Canada. After that, England rightfully bore the title of mistress of the seas, supporting his so-called. "double standard", that is, maintaining such a size of the fleet, which made it possible to counteract the two next most powerful fleets in the world.

Russo-Turkish wars

Napoleonic Wars

This time Russia and England are allies. Accordingly, Napoleonic France was opposed at once by two of the strongest maritime powers at that time. And if the Russian-Austrian army was defeated at Austerlitz, then at sea the British and Russian fleets, on the contrary, won one victory after another. In particular, the English, under the command of Admiral Nelson, utterly defeated the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar, and the Russian fleet, under the command of Admiral Ushakov, for the first time in the history of military fleets, captured the fortress of Corfu by storm from the sea with the direct participation of the warships of the fleet. (Prior to this, almost always the naval fortress was stormed only by the assault landing force landed by the fleet, while the ships of the fleet did not participate in the attack on the fortress, but only blockaded the fortress from the sea.)

Sunset sailing ships of the line

Between the end of the 18th and the middle of the 19th century, the development of battleships went almost exclusively along an extensive path: ships became larger and carried more heavier guns, but their design and combat qualities changed very little, in fact, they had already reached the perfection possible with the existing level of technology. The main innovations during this period were the increase in the level of standardization and the improvement of individual elements of the hull design, as well as the increasing introduction of iron as a structural material.

• List of men-of-war 1650-1700. Part II. French ships 1648-1700.
• Histoire de la Marine Francaise. French naval history.
• Les Vaisseaux du roi Soleil. Contain for instance list of ships 1661 to 1715 (1-3 rates). Author: J.C. Lemineur: 1996 ISBN 2-906381-22-5

battleship

SHIP OF THE LINE (battleship)

in the sailing navy 17 - 1st floor. 19th centuries a large three-masted warship with 2-3 decks (decks); had from 60 to 130 guns and up to 800 crew members. It was intended for combat in the battle line (hence the name).

In the steam armored fleet, 1st floor. 20th century one of the main classes of large surface ships. It had 70-150 guns of various calibers (including 8-12 280-457 mm) and 1500-2800 crew members. After the 2nd World War, battleships lost their importance.

Battleship

in the sailing navy of the 17th-1st half of the 19th centuries. a large three-masted warship with 2≈3 artillery decks (decks); had from 60 to 135 guns, installed along the sides in a line and up to 800 crew members. He fought while in the wake column (battle line), which is why he got his name, which traditionally passed to the ships of the steam fleet.

In the steam armored fleet, one of the main classes of the largest artillery surface ships in size, designed to destroy ships of all classes in a sea battle, as well as to deliver powerful artillery strikes against coastal targets. Battleships appeared in many navies of the world after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 to replace battleships. At first they were called dreadnoughts. In Russia, the name of the class L. k. was established in 1907. L. k. were used in the First World War of 1914–18. By the beginning of World War II (1939-45), L. to. had a standard displacement of 20 to 64 thousand tons, armament of up to 12 main-caliber turret guns (from 280 to 460 mm), up to 20 anti-mine, anti-aircraft or universal artillery guns caliber 100≈127 mm, up to 80≈140 anti-aircraft small-caliber automatic guns and heavy machine guns. The speed of the L. k. ≈ 20≈35 knots (37≈64.8 km / h), the wartime crew is ≈ 1500≈2800 people. Side armor reached 440 mm, the weight of all armor was up to 40% of the total weight of the ship. On board the LK there were 1-3 aircraft and a catapult to take them off. In the course of the war, in connection with the growing role of naval, especially aircraft carrier aviation, as well as the submarine forces of the fleet and the death of many L. to. from air strikes and submarines, they lost their significance; after the war, in all fleets, almost all L. to. were scrapped.

B.F. Balev.

Wikipedia

Ship of the line (disambiguation)

Battleship- the name of heavy artillery warships intended for combat in wake columns:

• A ship of the line is a sailing wooden military ship with a displacement of 500 to 5500 tons, which had 2-3 rows of cannons in the sides. Sailing battleships were not called battleships.
• Battleship is an armored artillery ship of the 20th century with a displacement of 20,000 to 64,000 tons.

Battleship

Battleship:

• in a broad sense, a ship intended for combat operations as part of a squadron;
• in the traditional sense (also abbreviated battleship), - a class of heavy armored artillery warships with a displacement of 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length of 150 to 280 m, with a main battery caliber of 280-460 mm, with a crew of 1500-2800 people.

Battleships were used in the 20th century to destroy enemy ships as part of a combat formation and artillery support for land operations. They were the evolutionary development of battleships of the second half of the nineteenth century.

Ship of the line (sailing)

Battleship- a class of sailing warships. Sailing battleships were characterized by the following features: full displacement from 500 to 5500 tons, armament, including from 30-50 to 135 guns in side ports (in 2-4 decks), the crew size ranged from 300 to 800 people with full staffing. Sailing ships of the line were built and used from the 17th century until the early 1860s for naval battles using linear tactics.

In 1907, a new class of armored artillery ships with a displacement of 20,000 to 64,000 tons was named battleships (abbreviated as battleships). Sailing battleships were not called battleships.

For many years, battleships were considered the most powerful combat units of the world fleet of their time. They were called "sea monsters". And this is no coincidence. Huge, fearless, with a large number of weapons on board - they carried out attacking maneuvers and defended their sea lines. Dreadnoughts represented the highest level of battleship development. And only managed to show its superiority over them. Against aircraft, these rulers of the oceans were powerless. They have been replaced. Nevertheless, battleships left a big mark on history, participating in important battles for hundreds of years. Consider the stages of development of the described ships, starting with the first wooden sailing model and ending with the steel armored dreadnought of the latest generation.

In order not to get confused in the terminology, we will clarify.

• Battleships were called warships whose guns could carry out a one-time volley from one side;
• Dreadnought - the first in its class super battleship released in 1906, it was distinguished by a completely metal hull and large-caliber turrets, this name has become a household name for all ships of this type;
• Battleship is the name of all super battleships with a metal hull.

Prerequisites for the creation of battleships

The seizure of territories and the expansion of the trade zone became the basis for the financial development of many European powers. In the middle of the 16th century, Spain and Great Britain increasingly clashed off the coast of the New World - the struggle for territory forced them to improve the fleet, which had to not only transport valuable cargo, but also be able to protect its property. The turning point for England was the victory over the Armada in 1588. With the development of trade relations and colonization, it became clear that the sea is the source of the future wealth and power of the country, which must be protected.

Some merchant ships were converted into combat ships - guns and other weapons were installed on them. At this point, no one adhered to uniform standards. This heterogeneity had a negative effect in clashes on the high seas. The battle was won by luck, and not as a result of planned tactical maneuvers. For unconditional victories, it was necessary to improve the naval forces.

The realization that a warship could be more effective in conjunction with others did not just lead to the creation of new tactics for naval battles. But it also changed the ships themselves, namely the location of the guns on them. Also a system of communication between ships, without which wake tactics are impossible.

Line tactics battle of Gabbard (1653)

The first positive experience of linear combat was recorded in 1653. The wake arrangement of the English ships - one behind the other, easily made it possible to repulse the first attack of the Netherlands, which also lost two ships. The next day, Dutch Admiral Marten Tromp again gave the order to advance. This was his fatal mistake, the fleet was defeated. 6 ships were sunk, 11 captured. England did not lose a single ship, and besides, she gained control of the English Channel.

Wake column - a type of battle formation of ships, in which the bow of the next ship looks exactly into the plane of the ship in front.

Battle of Beachy Head (1690)

In July 1690, there was a collision between French and allied (England, Holland) ships. Admiral of France Tourville led 70 ships of the line, which he put up in three rows:

• The first line - the vanguard, consisted of 22 battleships;
• The second is a corps debatalia, 28 vessels;
• The third is the rearguard, 20 battleships.

The enemy also lined up his weapons in three rows. It consisted of 57 battleships, which at times surpassed the French in terms of the number of artillery. However, Tourville's tactics managed to win an undeniable victory without losing a single ship. The Allies lost 16 battleships, another 28 were seriously damaged.

This battle allowed the French to seize control of the English Channel, which led the English fleet into disarray. A few days later they regained their maritime borders. The Battle of Beachy Head went down in history as one of the largest battles of sailing ships of the line.

Battle of Trafalgar (1805)

During the years of Napoleon's reign, the French-Spanish fleet met with fierce resistance from the British naval forces. Not far from Cape Trafalgar in Atlantic Ocean the allies lined up the ships in a linear pattern - in three rows. However, bad weather conditions and the beginning of a storm did not allow fighting at a long distance. After analyzing the situation, the English Admiral Nelson, who was on board the battleship Victoria, ordered the ships to group in two columns.

Further battle tactics of the British Royal Navy proved to be more successful. None of the ships were sunk, although many were seriously damaged. The Allies lost 18 sailboats, 17 of which were captured. The commander of the English fleet was wounded. On the first day of the battle, a French gunner on the battleship Redoutable fired his musket. The bullet hit the shoulder. Nelson was taken to the infirmary, but he was never cured.

The benefits of this tactic became clear. All ships form a living wall with a high fire potential. When approaching the enemy, the first ship in the column attacks the target, as does each subsequent battleship. Thus, the enemy falls under the strongest onslaught, which is no longer interrupted by reloading guns, as it was before.

Wake column during a review on the Black Sea 1849

The first ships of the line

The forerunners of battleships were galleons - large multi-deck merchant ships with artillery on board. In 1510, England built the first artillery ship, named "". Despite the large number of guns, it was still considered the main type of struggle. The Mary Rose was equipped with special nets to prevent the enemy from entering the deck. This was a period when, at the time of the naval battle, the ships were located haphazardly, as a result of which the artillery could not fully demonstrate its abilities. Cannons from distant ships could even hit their own ships. Often the main weapon against a similar pile of enemy naval forces became - an old ship that was filled with explosives, set on fire and sent towards the enemy.

At the end of the 16th century, during the next battle, the ships lined up in a wake column for the first time - one after another. It took about 100 years for the world fleet to recognize such an arrangement of warships as the most optimal. Each combat unit at that moment could use its artillery for its intended purpose. However, the variety of ships, most converted from merchant ships, made it impossible to create an ideal line. There were always vulnerable ships in the row, as a result of which the battle could be lost.

HMS Prince Royal 1610

In 1610, the first three-deck ship of the line, HMS Prince Royal, was built in Great Britain, which had 55 guns on board. A few decades later, another similar combat vehicle appeared in service with England, already including 100 pieces of artillery. In 1636, France commissioned "" with 72 guns. A naval arms race has begun between European countries. The main indicators of combat readiness were considered the number of weapons, speed and the ability of operational maneuvering.

"La Couronne" 1636

The new ships were shorter than their galleon predecessors and lighter. This means that they could quickly get into line, turning sideways to the enemy to launch an attack. Such tactics created an advantage against the background of haphazard shooting from the enemy. With the development of military shipbuilding, the firepower of a warship also increased. Artillery increased its number and impact force.

Over time, new combat units began to be divided into classes that differed in the number of weapons:

• Vessels with up to 50 pieces of artillery located on two closed gun decks were not included in combat squadrons for conducting linear battles. They acted as an escort for the convoy.
• Double-deck ships with up to 90 pieces of fire equipment on board formed the basis of most of the military forces of maritime powers.
• Three- and four-deck ships, including from 98 to 144 guns, served as flagships.

The first Russian battleship

Tsar Peter I made a great contribution to the development of Russia, especially in the field of naval forces. Under him, the construction of the first Russian warships began. After studying shipbuilding in Europe, he went to the Voronezh shipyard and began building a ship of the line, later called the Goto Predestination. The sailing ship was equipped with 58 guns and was similar in design to the British brethren. hallmark became a slightly shorter hull and reduced draft. This was due to the fact that "Goto Predestination" was intended for service in the Azov shallow sea.

In 2014, an exact copy of the battleship from the time of Peter the Great was built in Voronezh, today it is used as a floating museum.

Arms race

Along with the development of shipbuilding, smoothbore artillery also evolved. It was necessary to increase the size of the nuclei, to create new types of exploding projectiles. The increase in flight range helped to position their ships at a safe distance. Accuracy and rate of fire contributed to faster and successful completion fight.

The 17th century was marked by the birth of the standardization of naval weapons in terms of caliber and barrel length. Gun ports - special holes in the sides, made it possible to use powerful guns, which, if properly located, did not interfere with the stability of the ship. The main task of such equipment was to cause maximum damage to the crew. After that, the ship was boarded.

It was almost impossible to sink a wooden ship. Only in the 19th century did the production of new heavy shells begin, carrying a large amount of explosives. These innovations have changed the tactics of warfare. Now the target was not people, but the ship itself. There was a possibility of its sinking. At the same time, the wear of equipment (artillery) was still very fast, and repairs were expensive. The need to create more modern weapons increased.

The production of rifled artillery in the 19th century marked another leap in the field of naval weapons. She had the following advantages:

• Improved shooting accuracy;
• The range of the projectiles was increased, which marked the prospect of combat at long distances;
• It became possible to use heavier shells, inside of which there were explosives.

It should be noted that before the advent of electronic guidance systems, artillery still had low accuracy, since mechanical devices had many errors and inaccuracies.

Armament was used not only for shelling enemy ships. Before the start of the assault on the enemy coast, the battleships carried out artillery preparation - this is how they ensured the safe exit of their soldiers to foreign land.

The first battleship - metal hull plating

An increase in the firing power of naval artillery forced shipbuilders to strengthen the hull of a warship. For production, high quality wood was used, usually oak. Before use, it was dried and stood for several years. To ensure strength, the skin of the ship consisted of two layers - external and internal. The underwater part of the hull was additionally covered with a soft layer of wood that protected the main structure from decay. This layer was updated periodically. Subsequently, the bottoms of wooden ships began to be sheathed with copper.

HMS « Victory » 1765

A striking representative of the battleship of the 18th century with a metal sheathing of the underwater part is the British battleship Victoria (HMS). In connection with the participation of England in Seven Years' War its construction took many years. But this period contributed to obtaining high-quality raw materials for construction - wood began to have excellent characteristics. The underwater part of the ship was sheathed with copper plates attached to the tree with iron nails.

Any ship of that period had a significant drawback - no matter how well the bottom of the ship was made, water still seeped inside, rotting occurred, which exuded an unpleasant odor. Therefore, periodically the captain of the Victoria sent sailors to the lower part of the hull to pump out water.

Over the years of service, weapons have changed their number and size several times. At the beginning of the 19th century, it included 104 guns of various calibers. For each gun, 7 people were assigned to ensure the operation of the equipment.

"Victoria" participated in the majority naval battles during the years of her service. One of the most striking was the Battle of Trafalgar. It was on this ship that the commander of the British fleet, Vice Admiral Nelson, was mortally wounded.

It is noteworthy that you can see this ship today. In 1922 it was restored and installed in Portsmouth as a museum.

steam propulsion

Further development of battleships required improved seaworthiness. Sailing ships gradually became obsolete, because they could only move with a good wind. In addition, the strengthening of artillery power made sailing equipment more vulnerable. The period of steam engines powered by coal began. The first samples were equipped with paddle wheels, which, although they ensured the movement of the vessel, but their speed was very low and suitable for river navigation or at sea in absolute calm. However, the new installation interested the military forces of many countries. Testing of steam engines began.

Replacing paddle wheels with propellers helped increase the speed of steamboats. Now even a steam-powered vessel, small in size and armament, was superior to a huge sailing ship of the line. The first one could swim up from any side, regardless of the strength and direction of the wind, and launch an attack. At this time, the second continued to struggle intensely with natural phenomena.

Ships built after the 40s of the 19th century were tried to be equipped with steam engines. Among the first countries to start building military ships with heavy artillery on board were the United States, Great Britain and France.

In 1852, France built its first propeller-driven ship of the line, while retaining the sailing system. Equipping with a steam engine forced to reduce the number of artillery to 90 guns. But this was justified by improving seaworthiness - the speed reached 13.5 knots, which was considered a very high figure. Over the next 10 years, about 100 such ships were built in the world.

armadillos

The appearance of shells filled with explosives required an urgent update ship's composition. There was a risk of great damage and burnout of a significant part of the wooden case. After a couple of dozen successful hits, the ship went under water. In addition, the installation of steam engines on the ship increased the risk of immobilization and subsequent flooding if at least one enemy projectile hit the engine room. It was necessary to protect the most vulnerable parts of the hull with steel sheets. Later, the entire ship began to be made of metal, which required a complete redesign. Booking occupied a significant part of the ship's displacement. In order to keep the same amount of artillery, it was necessary to increase the size of the battleship.

A further development of battleships was squadron battleships with an all-metal hull, which became widespread at the end of the 19th century. They had a powerful armor belt that protected against enemy projectiles. Armament included 305 mm, 234 mm and 152 mm artillery. It was assumed that such a variety of equipment would have a positive effect during the battle. Experience has shown that this assertion was erroneous. The simultaneous control of different-caliber guns caused many difficulties, especially at the time of adjusting the fire.

First battleship - Dreadnought

The superbattleship Dreadnought, built by Great Britain in 1906, became the crowning achievement of all previous types of battleships. He became the founder of a new class of battleships. It was the first ship in the world to carry a large amount of heavy weapons. The “all-big-gun” rule was followed - “only big guns”.

On board were 10 units of 305-mm artillery. The steam turbine system, first installed on the battleship, made it possible to increase the speed to 21 knots - incredible figures in those years. Hull protection was inferior to the battleships of the Lord Nelson type that preceded it, but all other innovations made a real sensation.

Battleships built after 1906 on the all-big-gun principle became known as dreadnoughts. They played an important role during the First World War. Each maritime power sought to have at least one dreadnought-type ship in service. The United States and Great Britain have become the undisputed leaders in the number of such vessels. However, the 40s of the 20th century and naval battles involving aviation showed the vulnerability of sea giants.

Battle of Jutland (1916)

The most famous battle with the use of dreadnoughts took place off the coast of the Jutland Peninsula. For two days, the German and British battleships tested their strength and capabilities. As a result, each side declared its victory. Germany claimed that the one who had the biggest losses lost. The Royal Navy believed that the winner is the country that did not move away from the battlefield.

Regardless of the outcome, this battle was a huge experience, which was later studied in detail. The construction of all subsequent world dreadnoughts was based on it. All shortcomings were taken into account, the most vulnerable places on the ship were fixed, in which armor should be strengthened. Also, the knowledge gained forced the designers to change the location of the main caliber towers. Despite the fact that a large number of weapons were involved in the battle, this clash did not affect the outcome of the First World War in any way.

End of the battleship era

The attack of the Japanese Imperial Navy on the American base of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 showed the unviability of the battleships. Enormous, clumsy and vulnerable to air attack, their heavy weapons, hitting for tens of kilometers, became useless. The sinking of several pieces of equipment blocked the possibility of going to sea for the rest of the warships. As a result, they lost a significant part of modern battleships.

The end of World War II marked the final end of the battleship era. Last years battles showed that these ships cannot defend themselves against submarines. They were replaced by even more powerful and gigantic ones, carrying dozens of aircraft.

At the same time, the dreadnoughts did not immediately write off, their phased replacement was necessary. So, in 1991, the last American battleships Missouri and Wisconsin, built during the Second World War, made a trip to the Persian Gulf, where they fired Tomahawk cruise missiles. In 1992, the Missouri was withdrawn from service. In 2006, the last dreadnought in the world, the Wisconsin, also left service.