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The Ships Of Wwii

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The Ships Of Wwii essay

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It was also the largest air war in history, but that’s another story..Ships that fought in the second world war established technology, and patterns that would be used throughout the 20th century. thousands of ideas that would have never been tried on ships during peace time were applied in the then emergency state of the world. Different color writing than black indicates a link, click on it to learn more about. see picture of that topic.

Battleships. Well into the twentieth century Battleships were the most feared vessel in the sea. They were by those days standards very large, weighing in at a minimum of 20,000tons. Their armor was enormous in some cases 12 inch thick belts of steel along their sides! They were armed with 8 to 12 of the heaviest caliber cannon possible the largest of these were18.1 inchers that shot shells that weighed 3,200 lbs. To counter the threat of surface attack from light and extremely fast torpedoe boats was countered with a secondary armament, the mini gun.

Which today has evolved into the phalanx gun system, which is a last resort point-defense weapon. There are three main types of battleships. The lightest of these being the battlecruiser. These were usually very light and therebye very fast.

To obtain this maneuverability, they gave up a lot of armor, although they still had a deadly armament. These forms of battleships proved very unaffective. They were too light to do battle with a true battleship. and their speed mattered not against aircraft.

Plus they were very expensive because of the engines, and light weight material they used. Thus, making them not only an east target, but a good one too. By the end of the war, only 1 of the 40 or so of these ships that were built was still in service. Next up from these we have the battleship battleships.

These were the regular old descendents of the ship of the line, back from the day of Admiral Nelson, and John Paul Jones. They usuall weighed from 17,000 tons to 21,000. They were of medium armor, medium speed, and medium armament. But one must keep in mind that they were anything but a medium/normal ship.

These ships were before the age of the carrier, the second most feared ship on the seas, as they carried roughly a dozen 12 inchers, and 1/2 a dozen 5 inchers. One step above this, and the king of all kings was the battlewagons. These were the equivelant of the 19th century Flag Ship. They were expensive, big, and could take an unbelievable amount of damage without going down. The two/three most famous of these were the USS Iowa, and the JIN(Japanese Imperial Navy)Yamato.

4 Yamato class battleships were scheduled to be made, but only 2 were, before the japanes realized that for the same price they could have 3 Shimanto class carriers including planes. The Yamato was 244 (800ft, 2 1/2)football fields meters long, had 9 18.1 inch guns! 12 6.1 inchers, for use against smaller, quicker ships, and 12 5 inchers, foruse as an Anti Aircraft, or Surface gun. Its crew was 2,500 strong. And it had 16.1 inch thick armor belting around its waterline.

The Yamato class battleships are the biggest ever made. But they were not the best. The best was the USS Iowa. which was the last battleship ever to fire a shot in time of war. Doing so in the Persian Gulf as a part of Operation Desert Storm.

The Uss Iowa was longer than the Yamato, went 7 knots faster (32 knots) and at the same time had roughly the same armament, and armor(a little smaller in both categories..9 16inchers, 13 inch belt). Cruisers Cruisers were and are the descendant of frigayes from the navies of past. Cruisers were much smaller than Battleships, but at the same time 2 or 3 times larger than a destroyer. Cruisers more than anything were to show the flag in places where locals needed to be impressed, as they otherwise did not have near as well defined role as the battleships, or destroyers. Their only real purpose was as a scout with firepower for the fleet. But the Japanese put cruisers into use as the head of destroyer squadrons.Light Cruisers were and where from 2500 to 10000 tons, and depending on size had six to a dozen 5 inch guns.

Heavy Cruisers were from 8000 to 17000 tons. And usually had about 6 to 10 8 inch guns plus anti aircraft armaments. Cruisers by the end of the war lost their scouting effectiveness as radar made scouts obsolete. This gave them an even more undefined role. Especially BattleCruisers which was discussed earlier in the battleships section.

Destroyers Destroyers were the real workhorse of the fleet , anyones fleet.. they did everything. Destroyers were created at the turn of the century to defend heavier shps(Battleships) against smaller more maneuvarable ships such as the torpedo boats. This is where they got their name: “torpedo bat destroyers,” which was eventually shortened to just destroyer. Originally very small, about 200- 300 tons, which throughout the war grew to about 1500 to 2500 tons. Meanwhile their missions expanded.

From scout, to sub hunter, to torpedo boat destroyer, to anti aircraft gun platform. These ships did everything! And destroyers were fast. They could keep up with any other ship in the fleet and could maneuver around convoys and the fleet to get at a pesky torpedo boat, or sub. They were also small cramped, and not real fun to be on in foul weather. But becasue they were so light and fast.. they used a lot of fuel.

The typical destroyer would run out of gas after 4 days at full steam. Today, our whole fleet is destroyers. Although much bigger, the biggest reaching 5000tons. They can take the place of 4 0r 5 battleships. The best of these being the Arleigh Burke and Ticoronda class destroyers.

Which use the new Aegis itnergrated radar system, which is capable of tracking and engaging up to 150 multiple targets, sea, air, and land all included. The Little Guys These ships include all ships that are smaller than a destroyer. Gunboats-a catch all designation which included vessels that ranged in size from 30 to 2000tons. Frigates- essentially cut rate destroyer escorts of about 500tons, in some navies called sloops.

Torpedo Boats- Speedy vessels much smaller than destroyers 600 to 800tons. designed primarily to give torpedo attack to larger surface vessels. Mine Warfar Vessels- Small ships specializing in the planting and clearing of mines. Carriers Carriers made their mainstage appearence in WWII. First used in WWI made from converted battleships with planks of wood layed down on the main guns. Carriers pretty much are the reason the pacific theatre of war was won by the alied armies.

The Japanese while launching the first major carrier strike on Pearl Harbor, never fully grasped the true potential of carriers. This along with the fact that the Japanese seemed to hav the worst luck ever with aircraft (Marianas Turkey shoot the Japanese lost over 400 aircraft to America’s 28). This is very suprising however seeing how the Japanese started the war with better and more pilots. But unlike the Americans who brought their great fighters back to teach new ones, the Japanese kept their greatest pilots on duty. Eventually they died, and their knowledge was not, could not be passed on.

So by the end of the war the Japs as they were known, were using carriers as bait. Which the Americans took, and proceded to destroy the bait, and the ambush that was set up. It seems that the Japanese with all their supreme bravery did not know how to fight a smart war. They made 2 super batltleships, long after they had been proven inferior to carriers. These battleships, the biggest ever made (Yamato class) cost each the same as about 3 or 4 fleet carriers with aircraft. Perhaps this was the stupidity of the Japanese, perhaps the frustration with the pilots, and their unbelievable lossto win ratio against american pilots.

Anyhow.. Carriers came in different classes. Light carriers, escort carriers, and fleet carriers. Escort carriers usually carried up to 30 aircraft, but usuallt less like 9. They were used mostly as bait by the Japanese to draw out the american aircraft, so the Japanese could folllow the planes back to base, and attack the carriers.

But usually all would go according to plan, but then the Japanese planes would get decimated. In one battle a battleship got 3 dozen kills alone. This was partly due to the new invetion on proximity shells. When AA shells came within a certain distance of an object they would detect it with a small radar, and explode. The Japanese did not have this technology.Light carriers, were usually converted vessels, such as battleships. They carried up to 50 or so aircraft.

But the real prize was the Fleet Carriers. These were huge carriers that in the case of the USS YTorktown carried up to 96 aircraft. These eventually gave way to the Essex class carriers. These were unbelievable ships, serving as a front line fighting vessel well into the 80’s. They had their own AA defenses, and were basically a carrier with the same armor as battleships, and the power of a carrier.Most/ almost all WWII ships were destroyed in the Bikini Island A- Bomb tests. as a matter of fact about 80% of them were put at ground zero, and turned into literally molecules and dust.All Japanese vessels at the end of the war were either converted to mine sweeprers, or became target practice.

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The Ships Of Wwii. (2018, Dec 01). Retrieved from https://sunnypapers.com/the-ships-of-wwii/