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The'Duncailsl ArmedForces of the

in Action World: Norway ,

A fully illustfated ':Wide t0 Pfe,Didadnought Battleships

Volume ll Issue l3l
Published by
Orbis Publish n9 Ltd
@ Aerospace Publishing Ltd 1986
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The battleships with which lapan crashed the Russian fleet
in 1905 were rendered obsolete just nine months later by the
lawrch of HMSDreadnought. Capital ship design was
revolutionized, and, earlier battleships became known as
'pre-Dreadnoughts', but despite their infertority they saw
extensive action during World W ar I.
fo be 'pre-Dreadnought' in August l914 was to be obsolete, but to be
:bsolete was not necessarily to be useless, Smaller, slower and far more
--ghtly armed than 'Dreadnoughts', these shrps had to be retained in the
baitle lines until they could be replaced, This, of course, took time; in the
:,cyal Navy for instance, the famous 'Wobbly Eight' were with Jellicoe's
::ain body untrl the spnng of 1915, but the Germans were obliqed to
keep them in the flrst team for much longer, a squadron actually serving
:: Jutland, At the outbreak of World War I, the newest pre-Dreadnoughts
',',
ere only recently commissroned (e.g the Brrtish'Lord Nelsons' rn IgOB, HMS Majestic rara s the name ship of the largest class of battleships ever built,
and setnew standards inwarship designwhen shewas launched inlanuary
:re German 'Deutschlands 1906-8 and the French 'Dantons' as late as I 89 5. S he was the first of what came to be known after I g0S as,pre-'
-911). They were well-built and some of a transrtional nature wtth'healry' Dreadnoughts' and was torpedoed and sunk bytJ-2l off Gallipoli in l9 jS.
ard 'semi-heavy' batteries rather than the three-tier armament struc-
:rres of earlier examples, Thus they lurnished a valuable and, rn some agarnst enemy colonies, In at least one case, a conversion was made for
3ases, expendable means of establishrng and maintaining sea control mrnelaying,
a-,ruay from the main area of the North Sea, Like their German opposite numbers, responsible for securing the
About 50 pre-Dreadnoughts were available to the Royal Navy, Not atl Baltic and its approaches, they had lrttle chance for combat against their
condition for prolonged active service, and the oldest became
',,!rere in a peers, so the Russo-Japanese and, to a certaln extent, the Spanish-
euard,/training shrps, transports or storeships. Those in the active fleet American wars remain the best examples of their operatronal use,
served worldwide from South America to North Russia, from the Carrb-
bean to Hong Kong, releasing more modern and useful units fcr the Mikasa was ffie Japanese flagship atthe battleof Tsushimawhich shattered
Grand Fleet, No less than 16 were rnvolved wrth the Dardanelles opera- Russian power in the Pacific and established J apan as a world power . The
:;cn, five being sunk, They were particularly useful here (as off the J_apanese navywas trained and heavily influ6niedby theRoyilNavy, and
]apanese battleships were built in Britishyards to British designs. Sfte js
Belgian coasi) in fire support, but were also found leading expeditions presewed today as amuseum.

rlrr]
fE !Hn"rt"*agne' class
Contemporary with the later ships of
the 'Majestrc' class, the three'Charle-
magne' class units were the frrst
French battleshrps to adopt the 'hvo-
forward, two-aft' heavy gun layout,
favoured for a decade by the British,
and a more rational secondary battery
down each broadside, the guns sepa-
lated by splinter-proofscreens, Up to
and including lhe Bouvet that im-
mediately preceded the 'Charle-
magnes', French battleships had a
character all of their own, with a single
Iarge gmn at each end, its muzzles ex-
tending to the extremity of the short
upper deck to minimize blast effects,
From these points both bows and stem
extended outward to an exaggerated
degree in order to grain sufficient
buoyancy and length. Though the
Charlemagnes' were more moderate
-n their design they, too, retained a
:urther feature in the pronounced
:rmblehome that gave the secondary
;runs a degrree of axial fire, Launched
-r 1895 and i896, the class comprised
-:e Charlemagne, Gaulois and Sainf
Louis.
As was usual in French practice, the
:rain belt was very nafiow but ran full
lenqth. Between its upper edge and
-ie lower edge of the battery armour
-:e swell of the tumblehome was with-
: j: protection, At this level was set a
ir:iective deck and, one level below,
: s-ohnter deck, the space between
:eng closely sub-divided ('cel1ular')
:: contalri floodrng following damagte
-- . doubdul if this cellular layer was of
sj=oient depth to avoid being sub-
:--:rged by sigmiflcant water ingTress,
tfrus allowing progrressive flood-
-j
:ii"*o"' class
By 1914 the class was of low combat
value (like the 'Majestics' the ships just
predated the pre-Dreadnoughts) but
were nevertheless useful in low-risk
areas, On 18 March 1915, the Charle-
magne and Gaulois were operating
with the Bouvef and Sult?en as a bom-
bardment group under Admiral Gu6p-
ratte at the Dardanelles in the battle
with the forts, The Gaulois had been
heavily damaged forward and was
having to withdraw, when the Bouvel
was mined, Her magazines went and
she disappeared in less than three mi-
nutes, On thrs day the Brltish HMS
Irresistible and Ocean were also des-
troyed, effectively srgnalling the end of
serious attempts to force the strait. The
Gaulois had to be grounded and,
though later refloated and reparred at
Toulon, was sunk by submarine torpe-
do,
Specification Armament: two twin 305-mm ( l2-in), 10 Pictured here in J900, Gaulois was
'Charlemagme'class 136,8-mm (5,4-in) and eight 100-mm obso/ete as a b attleship by World
Displacement: I i,300 tons fulI load (3,94-in) gmns, andtwo 45O-mm (17,7- W ar I but accompanied Charlemagna
Dimensions:length 118.0 m (387, I ft); in) torpedo tubes to the Dardanelles as part ofthe
beam20,5 m(67,25 ft); draushtB,4m Protection: belt 400 mm (15.75 in) Anglo-French fleet which failed to
(27 6 ft) taperingto 250 mm (9,84 in); decks 90 force the straits. Gaulois was badly
Propulsion: three sets oftriple- and 40 mm (3,54 and i.57 in)t barbettes mauled byTurkish shore batteries
expansion steam engnnes delivering 400 mm (15.75 in) maxrmum; on 18 March 1915 andhadto
108 10 kW ( 14,500 rhp) to three shafts casemates 75 mm (2,95 in) withdraw. Shewas repaired only to
Speed: 18 ks Complement:725 be sunkbyB-47 in 1916.
With the'Charlemagne' class, the
French abandoned their quixotic
Iayouts and followed contemporary
practice with main armament
I
concentrated in one turret forward
i and one aft.The mainarmoured bei:.
was narrow but ran the full lengtlt of
the hull, which retained the
pronounce d tumble home that
dis tinguis he d F rench w ar s hip
design.
armaments were very simrlar and, like
the Brltish ships, the class represented
an intermedrate step to the Dread-
nought type then just beinq intro-
duced. Where the 'Lord Nelsons'were
wrsely lermlnated al only one Patr
however, the French stuck stubbornly
to their programme for sx hulis, all of
which were completed rn 1911, when l
other fleets were building Dread-
noughts The ships were the Condor'
cet, Danton, Diderot, Mirabeau, Ver-
guiaud andVoltaire.
The 'Dantons' were, however, the
first French turbine driven class, wtth
Seen here atToulon, Voltaire
demonstrated the soundness of the
'D antons" extensive subdivision
when she took and survived two
torpedoes from the German
su bm ar ine W-48. Danton ft erse/f was
notsolucky, succumbing to a single
hitfromU-64in j,917.
'Danton' class (continued)

:T-r-"--
ii
I

French naval poliq in the 1900s was

muddled, wasteful and short-
sighted. The' D anton' class was
rendered obsolete by HMS
Dreadnought. W here as th e B ritis h
only built two'LordNelsons', the
French obstinately built six
'Dantons'.
Parsons-built units turning four shafts
wilh a near 30 per cent rncrease in
power compared with the 'Verrt6'
class that preceded them. Their 26
coal-fired borlers exhausted by an im-
pressive flve funnels batched, 1n typr-
cally French fashron, rn two groups,
While not as extreme in design as
earlier French battleships, the 'Dan-
tons perpetuated the shallow main
belt, backed by a larqe degree ofsub-
divrsion. This stood the Danlon herself
in grood stead when, in 1917, she was
heavily damaqed by two well-spaced
torpedoes from lhe U-64. She eventual-
ly succumbed to progrressive floodinqt
but gave her crew plenty of time for
evacuatron. The Condorcet, Diderot
and Voltaire enjoyed long lives, the
two latter betng scrapped in the late
1930s and Ihe Condorcel actually
beinq scuttled in Toulon by the retreat-
inq Germans in 1944.
Specification
'Danton'class
Displacement: lB, 320 tons standard
and 19,760 tons fult load
Dimensions:ienqlh 146.6 m (481,0 ft);
beam25.B m (84.6 ft); draughtB,T m
(28 5 ft)
Propulsion: four sets of duec:-ir-;:
steamturbines delivenng l6l:a k-,',-
(22,500 shp) to four shafts
Speed:19kts
Armament: two twin 305-mr:: i- 2-:-
sxtwin 240-mm (9.4-in) ani -3 l:-::*_
(2 95-tn) quns and two 450-rrr- . - - -
in) torpedo tubes
Protection: belt 255-200 mr:, . - - -: _-.
decks 75 mm (2.95 in): barbe::=s
280 mm ( 1 I in); secondary tuze=
225 mm (8.85 in)
Complement: 920

.'tiittorio Emanuele lll' class

The 'speed is protection' concept has
always been a major influence in lta-
lian desiqn, resulting in many highly
origrinal warships. In addition the lta-
lians possessed, in Vittorio Cuntberti,
the single most influential figmre in the
movement toward the all-big gun
capital ship,
At the turn of the century the ltalians'
chief designer, Benedetto Brin, pro-
duced the two 'Regina Margheritas'
which, on a 13,200-ton displacement,
shipped a conventional armament mtx
of four 305-mm (12-rn), four 203-mm (B-
in) and 12 152-mm (6-in) quns, roughly
comparable to the contemporary Brit-
ish 'King Edward VIIs', What made
them different was their high speed,
the nameship achreving a trial speed
of 20 2 kts. This comoinatron was ln-
evitably reflected rn poor protection,
the main belt beinq only a widely-cntr
cized 150 mm (6 in) thick. Interestinqly
enougrh, the Britrsh 'Triumph' class was
similarly afflicted, and for much the
same reason
Cumberti produced the next class,
the four 'Vittorio Emanuele III' class
battleships, creating a small transition-
al masterpiece in the process. On a
marginally smaller displacement than
Brin's ships, they were some 3 m (9,8 ft)
longer but 1.5 m (4.9 ft) narrower, the
resulting fine hull achieving 22 kts on
the same power. A two{ier main and
secondary battery was favoured, anti-
cipating the Bdtish 'l,ord Nelsons' Its
qreat drawback lay in having to accept
only hvo 305-mm (12-in) gmns, in singrle
mountings forward and aft; such weak
main battery was rnsu{hcient for de-
veloprng a sustained and accurate fire
at any ranqe, This penalty was the re-
sult of Cunibertr's success in workingr-
in a full-Iength belt, with 250 mm
(9.84 in) of steel over the parts that mat-
t
€t
j!!
td
'l:1
.--*
tered. Launched beteen 1904 and
1907, the ships were Ihe Napoli, Reg-
ina Elena, Roma and Vittorio Ema-
nuele III
The ]talians, in efiect, had built
something like a small battle-cruiser
ahead of its time. Its immedrate influ-
ence was with the Japanese, whose
recent battle experience had demons-
trated the uses of a fast armoured
cruiser. As a result they produced the
two 'Ibukis' of 1907, slightly longTer than
the ltalian ships and wtth protection
reduced to accommodate a four-gmn
main battery,
M a ny I t a li an w arsft ,rp desrlras /rad
emphasized speed attheexpnse o!
protection, and tfte Regina Elena ano'
her sisters were no exception.
Designed by Vittorio Cuni.furti. one
of the most important naval
architects of the period, they were
able to reach 22 kts. During the war
with Tur key they bombar dd Tlipl:
and he lpe d c apture Rft odes.

'Kniaz Suvorov' class

The flve 'Kniaz Suvorov' class bat-
tleships represented a great advance
over the rather larger trio of 'Osliabyas'
that had only recently stemmed from
Russian yards, They owed their im-
provemenI primarily to rhe acquisuion
of the one-off French-built Tsesare-
uitch, Ihe first real Russian pre-Dread-
nought, which provided the model,
Armament was sensibly lard out, the
twin 305-mm (12-in) turrets well
spread and the 12 152-mm (6-in) guns
twinned in three turrets per stde, Com-
pared with earlier Russian designs, the
ships were shorter, beamter and far
better subdivided though in keepingt
with the usual French practice, they
had a full-length belt that was very
shallow and backed wrth a cellular
Ievel, The amidships 152-mm (6-rn)
tufiets were sponsoned to allow erght
152-mm (6-in) gmns to fire axially either
forwards or astern, Launched be-
tween l90l and 1903, the ships were
lhe Borodino, Imperator Alexander
III, Kniaz Suvorov, Orel and S/ava.
They had the mosi disastrous hrstory

t: _:

'Kniaz Suvorov' class (continued)
seives was due to several reasons.
Long out ofdock, they were slowed on
the fatefui day not only by their own
condition but by slower ships in the
combined fleet, thus easrly being out-
manoeuvred. At the battle they were
still qrossly overloaded with coal
problems wrth bunkerinq supp[es en-
forcing the stowage of vast quantities
on the upper deckst not only dtd thts
reduce melacentric hergnt to a polnt
where they rolled heavily and with an
ominous deliberation, but also in-
creased draught to the point where the
main beltwas all but rmmersed andthe
casemated 76-mm (3-in) battery was
too close to the sea to be worked prop-
erly The Kniaz Suvorov sank after five
hours, havrng taken four torpedoes;
'whrle her belt was not pierced, severe
lmpacts caused heavy leaks in the
belt's supporting structure Both the
Imperator Alexander III and the Boro
Crno surived a similar period, suc-
:umbing finally to both fire and explo-
sion. The Ore,/, damaqed only top-
--=
# ] JAPAN
'Mikasa' class
lapan s main battle hne during the
,304-5 war with Russia was British-
burlt and Tsushima was the only major
British-orlgln pre-
=nQaQemenl when
Dreadnoughts were fully battle-tested
lough completed with Japanese fea-
---res, these capital shrps were heavily
l:ased on contemporary Royal Naval
.^ L
:
{
ft,
Tsesarevitchprovided the model for
the'Suvorov' class, but whereas the
'Suvorovs' had an unfortunate
history shewas a born survivor,
escaping in 1 904 by internment in
China and evading two German
Dreadnoughtsin l,917.
sides, surrendered and was taken tnto
the Japanese fleet as the lurami, being
expended as an aircraft target in 1924,
The Siava was sunk in 1917.
Specification
'Kniaz Suvorov' class
Displacement: 13, 520 tons standard
Dimensions: lenqth 112.0 m (367,5 ft);
beam 23, 15 m (76 0 ft); draught 8,0 m
(26.2 fr)
Propulsion: lwo seIS of trlple
expansion steam enqtines deliveringt
i 1930 kW (16,000 ihp) to two shafts
Speed: 18 kts
Armament: two twin 305-mm (12-in), 12
I52-mm (6-in) and 20 76-mm (3-1n)
Erns, and sx 457-mm (18-in) torPedo
tubes
Protection: belt 229-102 mm (9-4 in);
transverse bulkheads 229 mm (9 in);
protective decks 64-38 mm (2,5-1 5 in); Slava uzas comp leted too late for the debacle atTsushima, and served with the
barbetres254 mm ( l0 in) maxtmum; Balticfleet inWorldWar L Here shelies after encounteringtheGerman
casemates 152 mm (6 in) DreadnoughtKonig in the Gulf of Riga;toobadly damaged to make port, she
Complement:775 was scuttled in the Moon Sound, blocking one entrance.
t\
Shikishima was the first battleship of
the 1896 programme, designed and
Shikishima (1904) cutaway drawing key
I Sternwalk 14 Capstan 26 Lower edge of g-in Harvey
built in Britain with the 'Majestics' 2 Waterllne 15 Maln slghting hood nickel stee armoured belt
firmly in mind. A goodly amount of 3 3-in '12-pdr OF 6 Gun ayer's sighting hood 27 6-ln gun magazine
1
watertight subdivision was included 4 Cutter 17 Tutret 28 Officers'quarters
5 Balanced rudder 1 8 Breech 29 B ast screen
in the class, but this did not prevent 6 Screw 1 I 1 2-ln 40-caL gun 30 Aftbrldge
tfte /oss of Hatsuse toRussian mines 7 Shaft 20 Turntab e
8 Steerlng compartment 2T Ammunition hoistto l2 in
off Port Arthur in I 904. 9 Steerngengine gu ns
10 Captain'squarters 22 Working chamber
1 T Aft T8-intorpedotube 23 Access tube toworking
'12 Antl-torpedo netboom chamber
13 Antl-torpedo netfolded on 24 1 2 in shell room
shelf 25 1 2 ln gun powder room
'Mikasa' class (continued)
practice, beingr closely related to the
'Royal Sovereigns' (Fu7) and Yashima),
the'Formidables' (Shiktshima, Halsuse
and Mikasa, and also ,Asa,tri) and the
'Ktng Edward VIIs' (Kasiima and
Katori). The last pair still beinq under
construction, lhe Mikasa as the newest
took Admiral Togo's flag and became
associated with hrm.
As often happened, the desrgn
marked a qualified improvement on
the Royal Navyversion, The protection
was of the same order but differently
disposed, and the speed was a little
higher, The four main batiery guns
could be loaded while trarned on any
bearing and the secondary battery
was increased by hvo barrels to 14
152-mm (6-in) guns, each of them
occupying a separate space in the
central battery, separated from its
nerghbour by a substantial bulkhead;
whrle very secure, the arangement
did cause problems with fire control.
in 1900
The Mikasa was launched
Mikasa took considerable shell
damage at the Battles of Round Island
and of Tsushrma, but survled. More
questionable was the class's ability to
suwive mrne damage. The Bntish HMS
Formidable herself was an early victim
on the flrst day of 19i5, but had already
been preceded by the Yashima and
the Halsuse. In the case of the latter, a
first mine explosion disabled the ship
whtch drifted onto a second, whose
explosron delonated a magazine,
Having survived the thrck ofthe war,
the Mjkasa was sunk in Sasebo by an
internal explosion, Raised and re-
paired, she re-entered service in 1908,
though plans to uprate her armament
were not fulfrlled, probably due to the
imminent delivery of Japan's two first
home-built all-big-gun ships (Salsuma
andAkr). She escaped the Washington
Treaty axe by being re-rated a coast
Pre-Dreadnought Battleships
defence shrp and, in October
was opened as an official naval memo-
rial, Despite a second world war, she
remains as such to thIS day
Specification
Mikasa
Displacement: I2, 500 tons standard
Dimensions: Ienqth 128.3 m (421.0 ft);
beam 23,2 m (76.0 ft); draught 8.3 m
(27.25 fi)
Propulsion: two sels of trrple-
expanston steam engines deliverrng
1926, t I lBB kW (15,000 ihp) to two shatu
Speed: 18,5 ks
Armament: two twin 305-mm (12 In) -=
152-mm (6-in) and 20 76-mm (3-1n)
gmns, and four 457-mm ( l8-in) torpeci:
tubes
Protection: belt 229-104 mm (9-4 r_n)
transverse bulkheads 305 mm (12 .:)
protective deck 76 mm (3 in);
barbetres 356 mm (-4 rn) naxrmur:.
casemates 152 mm (6 in)
Complement:935
Mikasa r,rras tfie last of four
battleships built under the I896
progr amme, and w as be tter
pr ote cted than ler predecessors as
s he carried KC armou rplate. A
different machinery layout left her
with only two funnels, but otherwise
she was similar fo Asahi.

i. '.-,,4-

31 Compass platform 52 Funnel uptakes 72 End of armof,-€: c: -- : -

32 Lowered ant -torpedo net 53 Topofarmoureddeck thick)
33 Ma nmast 54 14 inarmouredbarbette 73 Sloping 4 rr a--:--:: :=:,
34 Search ight platform 55 Bridge 74 Watenlghr cc-c:a-:-::
35 Searchlight 56 Chart house 75 Rig forarvn -c
36 Fightlng top 57 Nav gatron bridge 76 Symbol
3l 3-pdt 41 mm (1.8 in) OF 58 Compass/binnac e 77 18-ln bowic'oe:: t-::
gun 59 Foretopmast 78 Castsolid ra-::.,
38 Ventllator 60 Foremast 79 6-ln ammunl: :^ -: ::
39 6-in 40 cal oun 61 Boatdeck B0 l2pdramru^::--:::
40 Funnel 62 Boat handllng derrlck B1 Ventllation s^:':
4'1 Steam pipes 63 Foredeck 82 6 inarmouror:-::,.,
42 Gtg 64 Coal bunkers 83 S'tores
43 Steampicketboat 65 6-ln Harvey nickei armour 84 Doubeboiic-
44 Crewquarters over casements 85 10 ln Harver- ^ .<. '-.- -:
45 Waist/ash chute 66 T 4-in armoured conning IUrrel
46 Ammun tlon passaqe tower 86 B-lnHarvev.a<:
47 Engineroom 67 Armouredaccesstubeto sides
48 2 sets trlpleexpansion lowercommand centre
eng rnes 68 Lowercommandcentre
49 Upperedgeofmainbet 69 Anchordavlt
50 Boilerroom 70 Anchorbeds
51 Bellevllle 14,500 HP 71 ForebroadsidelB n
boilers firted with torpedo tube
economlsers

);-:
'[eteverg mcrn do his utmost'
The battle of Tsushima was the most overwhelming naval victory since Trafalgar
and it set the seal on theJapanese triumph over Russiain the war of 1904-5.Having
defeated the Russian P acific fleet based at Port Arthur, the J apanese navy
annihilated asecondRussianforcewhichhad steamed allthewayfrom theBaltic,
Japanestablishedherself as aworld power, and thescale of the defeatplunged the
Tsarist Empire into crisis.
In the early years of the 20th century Tsarist
Russia was expanding her Far Eastern in-
terests in total drsregard of a Japan that was still
struggling with the internal problems associ-
ated wrth her rapid change from a medieval to
a modern soclety. Her protests and efforts at
compromise having utterly farled, Japan sud-
denly broke off dlplomatic relations in Febru-
a-ry 1904 and, wilhout formal declaration, fell
two days later on the Russran Port Arthur
squadron as it slumbered at its moorings, The
Russo-Japanese War had begmn,
At the outbreak of war the Russians' full
Pacrfic Fleet was comparable in slze to that of
the lapanese but, where the latter had the
edge in efficiency and organization they could
r11 allord to lose any ships, for, whereas the
Russlans could replace losses from elsewhere,
-tre
Japanese could not,
The opening attack on Port Arthur was not
decisive and a period of attrttion began,
:narked partrcularly by the effective use of
:mnes by both sides, Where the Japanese suf-
iered the loss of two battleships, the Russians
icst their admiral, Makarov, rn the sinking of the
Petropavlousk. The loss of this able leader and
-jre rncreasing aggressiveness of the Japanese
ai sea gradualiy demoraiized the Russian
squadron, which was vrrtually trapped ln Port
Arthur, ltself now under siege by land.
In Augnrst 1904 by the decree of the Tsar
himself, the force broke out for the safety of
lfladivostok, where a second squadron was
based, The Japanese admiral, Togo, inter-
cepted them soon after their departure but, in
re battleship duel of modern
first serious
--imes,
was surprised to find himself under
accuate opening Russian salvoes at 18000 m
i19685 yards), some 4000m (4375 yards)
ceyond the extreme range of his flagship,
A.bove: TheJapanese placed great importance on
the work of their destroyers, opening the war with
a surprise torpedo attack on the Russian fleet in
Port Arthur just as they were to attack the USA
without declaring w ar in I 9 4 I . ?ft rs rs Asashio, a
Thornycroft baat of 365 tons which carried two
450-mm ( I f-in) torpedoes.
ilgh f; Osliabya /ed tft e,Secon d
D ivi s io n a t T susfi lma, fi er srlers
Pobieda and Peresviethaving been
destroyed at Port Arthur. She cost
nearly t),000.000 when built in I898;
battleships represented a very
cons ider able inves tm en t. H er
tactical diameter was some 600 m
and she was capable of 19 kts.
::nA
Mtkasa. After several hours of indecisive man-
oeuvring, durlng which Mrkasa suffered 305-
mm (12-in) hits from 13000 m (14,215 yards), the
Russian flagship Tsesarevitch was hit twice.
Though not particularly damaging to the ship,
these hits killed the admiral, Vitgeft, and jam-
med the helm. Temporarily lacking both brain
and rudder, the ship circled out of control With
no information as to what was happening, the
remainder of the squadron also broke line,
Togo seized his chance and succeeded in vir-
tually surrounding his demorallzed enemy but
then, instead of pressing home the attack he
allowed the majority to escape back to the false
secunty of Port Arthur. Cruisers had played no
part in the action proper, whlle the Japanese
preponderance in medium-calibre guns had
been of no use whatsoever, This, the Battle of
the Yellow Sea, had proved the supremacy of
the big gnrn, The failure of the Japanese to
exploit therr victory was repeated a few days Admiral Togo had been described by brother
officers as 'a silly old fool' before the war, but he
Iater when the Russlan Vladivostok squadron had the measure of his enemies both in Port Arthut
was intercepted off Ulsan, and atTsushima. Steady and professional rather
It was now Augnrst 1904 and the two Russian than brilliant, Togo kept the Russjans b/ockaded in
Pacific squadrons had been separately chas- Port Arthur as much hy moral superiority as by
tened. As early as June, their government had physicalpower.
announced that the bulk of the Baltic Fleet
would be despatched to their assistance, but it were of variable quality and their crews poor-_;
was not until the October that they finally sailed trained. Ahead lay a voyage of 29000 h"
under the ruthless and abusive Vice-Admiral (18 000 miles): at its end waited an eaqe:
Rozhdestvensky, On paper the eight bat- enemy of proven competence.
tleshlps, seven crulsers, nine destroyers and a On the 99th anniversary of the Battle of TYa-
mass of ar-rxlliarles looked formidable, but they falgar, the armada nearly went to war with the
British in the North Sea, SeeingJapanese torpe-
do boats in every shift of mist they fired heavi-;
ru? on flshing craft off Hull, sinking one, With th=
Brrtrsh government deliberating direct acticr
the humihated Rozhdestvensky was escortej
by the Royal Navy as far as Gibraltar, The
incident was to have far-reaching conseq:-
ences in giving the Russians bunkering prot-
lems throughout their voyage, By the new year
1905, they had rounded Afrrca and reachei
Madagascar, where they received the
crushing news of the fall of Port Arthur and the
loss of its squadron, it would now have to be
Vladrvostok or nothinq.
 For weeks the Baltic Fleet swung at its moor-
rngswhile its governmnt ditheredonwhat to do
next. The enervating climate took its toll of
fitness, and mutinous behaviour became rife.
Told to await reinforcements (in truth the dregs
of the reserve list), the Russian admiral ignored
the instruction, sailing on 16 March 1905. He
was, however, finally obhged to stay in French
Indo-Chrna untrl they arrlved, flnally leaving on
the last lap on 14 May.
Vladivostok lies withln the Sea of Japan, the
access to which is by several narrow passages,
For Togo, geography was favourable: all he
needed was patlence. Rozhdestvensksy de-
cided on the direct southern route through the
Tsushima Strait, His fleet was in dreadful
shape, hulls weedgrown, machinery and arma-
ment defective, and crews in need of recrea-
tion, What he needed was a spell in the dock-
yard, followed by a work-up, What he got was a
pitched battie,
At 02 45 on 27 May, the Japanese auxiliary
cruiser Silnano Maru siqhted an oddlyJit ship
in the misty moonlight, She kept in contact and,
Osliabya ree/s un der a hail of shellfire, her main
armoured belt submerged beneath the waterltne
because ofthe weight of extra coal she was
carrying. To starboard,lkttaz Suvorov, the flagnlt'p.
is onfire and theAdmiralwounded.
Tsesarevitchrnterned at Kiao Chau alter the defeat
of the Russian Pacific fleet off Round Island, Augpst
1904. Steering by her screws after her rudder was
destroyed in an earlier encounter, she flew the flag
of Admiral Vitgeft, who was killed when the
conning tower was struck by a I 2-in shell. The rest
of the fleet escaped back to Port Arthur, never to
comeoutagain.
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.:'fr,i:'l

jLrst before 05 00 in shtfting vlstbility, was re-
-warded with the sight of Rozhdestvenskys fulI
iorce, steaming north east in two columns, Her
radio summoned cruiser ard and Togo's main
fleet sailed from its waiting area on the Korean
side of the strait, the openrng moves in what
-ffas to be the greatest fleet encounter between
T?afalgar and Jutland.
Wrth 12 armoured ships apiece, the two
fleets were evenly matched on paper, Indeed
Rozhdestvensky's Ist Division consisted of four
brand-new battleships, his flag tn Ihe Kniaz
Suvorov.
Togo sighted the Russian ships, already dis-
crganued in reformrng, at 13.45 Wlth a speed
advaniage of at least 4 (possibly as much as 7)
kts, he crossed the Russians' bows from right to
-eft and, daringly, turned 12 points in succes-
sion towards the Russians, endrng on a parallel
.ourse, This manoeuvre caused Togo's ships to
nask each other's fire whilst turning and the
Russians, who opened flre at 7000 m (7 655
yards), infllcted some damaqe, The Japanese
let the range decrease for another 1000 m
(1,095 yards) before unleashing a crushing fire
on the Russian van, concentrating on the lead-
ers of the lst and 2nd Divisions: the latter,
Osliabya,wore the flag of Rear Admiral Folker-
sam, whose death by nahrral causes a few days
before had been kept secret for morale purr
poses,
Russian line deflected
Unable to face the bombardment, the Rus-
sian iine was deflected from a north east head-
ing to south of east. Though moving in a Ionger
arc, Togo had the speed both to keep up and to
dictate range; disciplined and accurate gun-
nery did the rest,
The three'Poltava' class battleships wete all in the
RussianPacific fleetbased at Port Arthur in 1904.
Petropavlovsk, seen here, was mined and sunk,
drowning Admiral M akarov, the only senior officer
whowas nota complete incompetent'
A Japanese view of their torpedo-boats in action oft
Vladivostok, where a small Russian force under
Skydlov lurked in harbour, occasionally launching
sneak attacks on fishing boats. Defeating a
'European' Great Power had a lasting etfect on
J apane se for eign policy.
Kniaz Suvorov, less funnels, a mast and the
after turret, staggered blazing out of line anc
lost way, to become a target for everythrng tha:
passed, The severely wounded Rozhdetvens-
ky was taken off by destroyer and, later, trans-
ferred to another, from which the Japanese
eventually captured him, As the OsJtabya s
main belt was effectively submerged by the
weight of extra coal that she was carrying, she
fell prey to 203-mm (8-in) gunfire from Toqto s
armoured cruisers.
Admiral Rozhdestvensky sailed the Baltic fleet
across the world only to be defeated at Tsushima.
He gained notoriety in Brilain by opening fire on
British trawlers in theNorth Sea, thinking them to
be J apane s e torpe do boats.

l"likasa Jeads Shikishima, Fuji and Asahi and /wo
zr:noured cruisers as tl-re/apanese lTeef sfeams
:o:;ra.i'ds Tsusir ima strait" Qnce batUe was joined'
.' e s u. pe r ia r effi ciency o f the J apanese fl eef soon
'.+qai to teil and Togo's ships began a methodical
ies'tructian of thetr opPonenfs.
Ihe two nev'/ divisional leaders, Imperator
. during the long nrght, lhe Navann and Sessoi
=xander III and Sessol Veliky, were equally
-.:rshly handled despite a dogged Russian de-
.=:ce This criticai phase had lasted only half
:. :rcrlr frorn 14. 15 to 14.45, but the day was
.-r:ady ciecided Nevertheless, at about 15 00
:-: Russians again pulled onto a northerly
-: rrse for Vladivostok, oniy to be paralleled
-: :e again by Togo who used the superlor
::::ed of his armoured cruisers to pull ahead
.:.r again deflect the battered Russian van to
,-.: southward
.i f,nal attempt to break through to their goal
':s made by ihe Russians at about 17.00, but
:;laz Suvorov was subjecf fo a seiles of accurate
:roadsides from theJapanese battleships and
s:aggered out of line, severely disabled" The
',', cunded Aamiral Rozhdestvensky was taken otf
.:;s slricken flagsh ip by a destroyer, and the
S ::vorov fel/ beft ind, hav ing los t a funne I an d her
:it-or mast. At l7A0 hrs she was attacked by the 4th
'apanese Torpedo Boat Division and, unable to put
;c a successfu/ defence, was torpedoed and sunk
$; --i.
.
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'x
; -' -. r;.,r#r,r. ll,,li. j!t!i]#3]w
by now many of thelr major ships were in a very decision for whtch he w-as dtsgracec L:
poor state. As the dreadful day eased into dusk, land. -.:::
Togo pulled his heavy ships back and let loose Only mopping up was ieit tc -h:
his cruisers and torpedo craft TheKnja z Suvor- and finally,onlyonol-gh' I." t' :
orl succumbed to three torpedoes, Imperator troyers arrived at Vladivcstok ''',:r .- ..'=
Alexander 11l foundered, blazrng, while the annihilation off Tsushima.
Borodtno blew up, Four more were torpedoed For the loss of three destrol/ers -:,: - : -: l
had sur.k ergh' c.pr'a1 sh ps "-. ) .:
Of eight cruisers, the Russrals .i: l : -
I/elky sinking.
three sunk one wrecked anC :ire..' :' -
Five ships left Of nine destroyers, three t,'rete ::
terned and one caPtured. Cf et.::
The hopeless dawn of 28 May found just live
major Russian shrps left led by Nebogatov in flve were sunk and two caplure j
the lmperator Ntcholas 1, They were still wal l17 Japanese deaths and'1 33i :...:.---
The scale oi the . .c-ory pre I r' . -. .
'
lowing northward, but their goal was yet
480 km (300 miles) distant Wtth the streng olthe war inJapan's favour and lr: -.::-
thening light, one Japanese squadron after the Russian revolution It signallei .-= :.
another came into view and at 1O 30, after a Japanese sea power and caused Jl:: : r'
desultory exchanqle of lire Nebogatov surren- tion in the UK which had 'iir:..:,-" : ---
dered rather than chance lurther bloodshed a trained the Japanese navy
.:.
w"
e],!
:"l.1'+i:::ii
ffi 'fr,oyat Sovereigrn' class
At a time when Royal Dockyards Lef t: HMS Royal Sovereigm was built a
generally took over flve years to build deck higher than contemporary
a battleship, HMS Royal Sovereign, battleships, and the increase in
Iead ship ofthe 'Royal Sovereigm' class, freeboard greatly improved her
was built at Portsmouth in only 32 seakeeping. The last ship of the
months. The reason was simply that c/ass, f/MS Hoodwas completed in
Jackie' Fisher, a newly promoted rear the old style to accommodate a
admiral, had been appointed Admiral turreted main armament, butwas
Superintendent lust after her launch in notably inferior.
February 1891 and took a personal in-
terest. The other six ships (HMS
Empress of India, Ramillies, Repulse,
Resolution, Revenge and Royal Oak)
were launched in IB9I-2.
In truth, the 'Royal Sovereigns'were
a class transitional between the low-
freeboard battleship and the true pre-
Dreadnought, Since the abandonment
of full saihng rig in the Royal Navy,
freeboards had been kept low to re-
duce vulnerability to close-range
gmnfire and to reduce the necessary
area of protection. This lack of
freeboard was a great limrtatron in any
sea, and the 'Royal Sovereigns'were
built a full deck higher, While this
placed the armament of four 343-mm
(13,5-in) gn-rns (no satisfactory 305-mm/
l2-in weapon was available) at a more Specification Armament: two twin 343-mm ( 13. S-in),
commanding height, their weight 'Royal Sovereigm' class 10 152-mm (6-in) and 16 6-pdr gnrns,
could be accommodated only in open- Displacement: 14, 150 tons standard and seven 45Z-mm (IB-in) torpedo
topped barbettes where the paired and lS,SB0tonsfullload tubes
guns were mounted on turntables that Dimensions:length 115,8 m (380,0 ft); Protec'tion: belt 457 mm (18 in)
revolved within a low, armoured re- beam 22.9 m (75,0 ft); draught 8.4 m taperingto 356 mm (14 in); transverse
bulkheads 406 mm ( 16 in); splinter --,___=-___
doubt. The two barbettes were sepa- (27.s ft)
rated as widely as possible to allow the Propulsion: two sets of triple- deck 76 mm (3 in); barbette 432 mm
imtailation of a substantial and fully- expansion steam engines delivertng (17 in) maximum; casemates 152 mm
(6 in)
\\'i\::i.
enclosed secondary armament: these 8200 kW ( 1 1,000 ihp) to two sha.fts
10 152-mm (6-in) weapons had to be Speed: 16,5 kts Complement:712 \.\
slted on two levels but were of the new
qurck-firing (QF) type designed to be
effectrve against the growrnq threat
foom torpedo craft.
Extra freeboard of course meant ex-
tra area needing protection and, while
the'Royal Sovereigns' were not essen-
rally superior 1o lheir lorelgn peers in
ihis respect they achieved it at
reasonable penalty by adopting the
new compound steel armour. Seven of
-he class were built, the eighth (HMS -1-
Hood) being completed rn a modrfied
--
:ashion as the last low-freeboard bat-
leship in order to accommodate the
:xtra weight oi lurreled main arma-
ment.
All had been discarded by 1914 ex-
cept the Revenge which, renamed
i{MS Redoubtab/e to release the
lame for a new battleship, was
aitached to the Dover Command. With
1er guns relined to reduce the bore to
3C5mm (12in) and her hull heavily
crlged both to resist torpedoes and to
allcw the ship to be heeled by ballast-
:g to increase elevation and ranqe,
see was used before the availability of
sr]-ltable monitors for bombardment of
e:remy posrtions in Belgium at up to
-4630 m (16,000 yards).

HMS Royal Sovereigm rn fft e

magnificent Victorian livery of the
1890s. Thanks to a superlative effort
by Portsmouth Doclqard she was
completedin just42 months, a
record{or the period. HM^SRoyal Oak
could be distinguished from her six
sisfers asfiersteam pipes were
forward of the funnels, but the others
were practically identical. By the
outbreak of war in I 9 I 4 all had been
dispo s e d of e xcepf I/MS Revenge,
which bombarded German positions
on the Belgian coast.

,:-i
'Roya-l Sovereign' class (continued) Pre-Dreadnought Battleships
Left: HMS Royal Sovereigm and fter
sisters were built according to the
dictates of the I 8 89 N aval D efence
' ,,t.
r+nll
Act, which decreed that the strength
.::.1..:.:: of the R oy al N avy should m atch that
of the combined fleets of the second
s and third largest navies. Her
increased size meant increased
]t, expense,butthiswasacceptedas
the price of Empire.
l

_---J -.-

.\.
rl:. \'. \. -'-\
..\ li
,/\.i
,"-'
Nrfrz :: -
'Majestic'class
=l€
Where the 'Royal Sovereigns' were Withsomuchweightsaved thepre-
offsprrng of tho 1BB9 Naval Defence viously open barbettes could be given
act, tir6 nine 'Majestic' class ships an armoured hood bunkers and
were begat by the'i893 'Naval Scaie' ammunition capacity could be^ in-
where thle coinbined strength of the creased, andtheoutputrequiredofthe
French and Russtan fleets (in hypothe- main machinery could be lo-wered'
tical alliance) were held to pose a Themajorrtyof theclasswerefrttedfor
threat whtch the Royal Navy would find oil to be sprayed over the coal burning
difficult io contain, They were fine in the furnaces, for a raprd boost of
ships. seven coming lrom Royal Dock- oulput
yards, and combin-ed all the features Most of the class saw war duty in
ihat set a new standard sufficiently home commands and the eastern
frigh to qive them the pdm as the firsi Mediterranean, where four were in-
tnie pr5-Dreadnoughis, Launched in volvedwlththeDardanellesoperation.
tggSl6 the class tomprised HMS Of these, lhe -M-ajestic was s-unk
C'esa' Hannibal,lllustiious,Jupiter, (together wrth HMS Triump'h) by Hers-
tutagniicent, Maiestic, Marsi Prince ing's U-21,inMay 1915 Tbrotorpedo-es
George and Victorious. pierced her protective nets without
Superficially they looked rather like hindrance and she capsized in seven
enlarqed 'Royal Sovereiqns', but they mlnutes
benefited greatly from new features.
fLrst was th-e protective deck sloped at Specification
the sides
sides to meet edgeof
meet the lower edqe the
of the 'Malestic'class
'Majestic'class
belt. lrtile HMS
Previously tried rn the little
belt, Previouslv HMS Displacement: 14,900 tons standard
I4,9UU tc
Renown, this fbature was backed by and 15,900tonsfullload
coaff"nters to give improved protecl
-as Dimensio-ns: lenglh 128 3 m(421 0 ft);
tron to the macLrttery spaces any beam 22 9 m (75 0 ft); draught B 2 m
armour-piercing projectile hitting the (27 0 fD five 457-mm ( 18-in) torpedo tubes IIMS Majestic went into reserve at the
belt at an anqle th-at would permit Propulsion:twosetsoftiple- Protection: belt 229 mm (9 in); Nore in I 906, but was commrssrbned
penetration woirld be deflected-by the gxpqlqlgn s-t:oqm engdnes delivering transverse bulkheads 356-305 mm atDevonport in 19 14 and escorted
glacis behind. Secondly, the armour 8945 kwll2 000 ihp) to two shafts (14-12 in); splinterdeck 102-706 mm the C anadia n troop s hip s. S he w as
iras of 'Harveyized'steel with a face- Speed:]7lcts (4-3 in); barbettes 356 mm ( 14 in) Admiral Nicolson's flagship during
hardcnina so
hardening effpeti\/e
sn effective lo
as to the
enable two hvm
Armament:two
Armament: (12-in), ll
hvin 305-mm (12-m), 12 maximum; casemates 152 mm (6 in) the Dardanelles operations and took
4sz--- it8-in)
457-mm belts of the 'Royal
(]B-in) felts 'RoYal 152-mm(6-in)and 16 12-pdrgnrns, and Complement:670 part in the bombardment of I I
Quds'to be reduced to a combination M arch I 9 I 5, but was sunk by U -2L the
ci223-mm (9-in) belt and 102-mm (4-in) nextday.
i
Ceck.
The thlrd important feature also :rr

weight, this berng the adoption

=ved
:i a new-model 305-mm (12-in) wn.
,i

.i:
Iils 3S-calibre weapon was far lighter
-:an the ear[er short 343-mm (13.5-in) The' M aj estic' class was construcfed
arid the smaller werqht of the pro- as partof theAdmiralty's reaction to
1;r the growing naval power of France
_=ctile was offset by 25 per cent grea-
:3r penetrative power. This was due to andRussja. Pro tected by Haweyized
:,e gmri being a high-velocity weapon, plate, their main armour beltwas
:-'mbining new slow-burning ProP- only half the thickness of that of the
to Yield a 'Royal S overeigns' but was j ust as
=:.arts with a lonq barrel effec tive. uch weight- s av ing
::-':zzle veloctty of 732m (2,400ft) per S

::cond compared with the 615m allowed the main armament to be

2 ,116 fD per second quoted for the
given an armoured turret.
::rlier battleships' 343-mm (13.5-in)

NIZ
Z'IIN 'King Edward VII' class
King hrmself, who had launched lhe
Iead ship and who had directed that
slJsirorito always be a flaqship. The i

flnal lhree ol the class were burlt afler L

the plans for the much improved'Lord

Nelsons' had been drafted and were
obsolescent on completion. The ships,
Iaunched between 1903 and 1905,
were HMS Africa, Britannia, Com-
monwealth, Dominion, Hibernia'
Hindustan, King Edward VI I and JVew
Zealand.

Edward VI I had decreed that HMS

King Edward Vll should always be a
flagship and she j oined the Grand
Fleetin 1914,Ieading the 3rd Battle
Squadron. Here she settles slowly in
thewater after hitting a mine off
CapeWrath. She capsized after l2
hours.
 Eing Edward VII' class (continued)
Tery m anoeuvrable, the' E dwar d
"/IIs' were dubbed the 'Wobbly
Eight' as their quirlq rudders made
steaming in an orderly line a
considerable challenge. Their mixed
arm ament was the resu It of m u d dled
ttltinking and wasnot a.success.
t"{*
The innovation of the class was in the
ixed secondary armament, At this
:.me the armoured cruiser was
:eaching the final phase of its design
-rd its 190,5-mm (7.S-in) main battery
:albre was giving way to the new 234-
:m (9,2-in) type. This latter was an
:xcellent weapon, well capable of
:iercing the averaqe battleship belt at
:ange then considered normal. Four
s-nqle weaponswere shipped by each
:ithe'King Edward VIIs'but, in a case
:: addled thinking, were mtxed with
-re customary 10 152-in (6-in) Wns,
>K iiora Nekon' class
:oqether with her srster HMS
Agamemnon, HMS .Lord JVeIson was
:re last of the British pre-Dread-
:-cughts. Having been preceded by
ftigate.Melson of 1876 and followed
=e the battleship ly'elson of 1925, it is
:y
:ct clear why the 'Lord' was added,
-ne 'Lord Nelson'class was the logical
:xtension of the 'King Edward Vils',
iut the ships' construction was com-
renced only just before that of HMS
-readnought, their gn-rns were pur-
-:hed for the latter's swrft completron
Id, finally, the two were not com-
:leted until nearly two years after,
.-Jready obsolete.
An rnteresting point ls that these, the
-ast of the old school, cost little more
-:an contemporary armoured crursers
a: about t1.54 million each, while the
:evolutionary newcomer seemed
:rmparatrvely at S1,78
:::Ilion,
The main lessons of the Russo-
_:oanese engagements, still in prog-
:ess in 1905, was that the big-calibre
l'-jn looked set to dominate and dictate
-:e course of an action before secon-
::ry armaments were even in range.
-::e decision to uprate the whole
s:condary battery to 234-mm (9,2-in)
:alibre was, therefore, vrndicated,
::ugh an apparent suggestion to re-
::3 the
-=-..cut ships to an all 305-mm
(12-in)
fell on deal ears, Ten 234-mm
:2-tn) gmns were carried, an unLtsual
-',nber due to the centre turrets hav-
Thus not enough of the heavier guns
were carried to make their inclusion
worthwhile and the smaller-calibre
weapons were squeezed into a box
battery, behind the side armour but
separated from each other by only a
thin splinter screen, Their protection,
redistributed because of the revised
secondary and tertiary battery
arangements, was also downgraded
almost immediately by the rntroduc-
tion of the APC pro.1ectile, an armow-
piercing shell with a soft cap that pre-
vented it shattering on hitting the hard
ing to be singles, Thrs was in order to
restrict the beam, comparatively arbit-
rarily, to fit certain drydocks. One
strenglh of German equrvalents was, of
course, their excellently subdivided
hulls and large beams, so that this res-
triction was certainly inhibiting, As it
was, the two 'lrord Nelsons'were shor-
ter than their predecessors and, being
designed to the maximum beam,
proved remarkably handy,
By tiqht design, they achieved im-
proved protection at almost no weight
penalty, the area ofarmouJ being kept
to an absolute minimum, One{hird of
their bunker capacrty was for oil but
they were the last British battleships
equipped with steam reciprocating
engines. Externally, they could im-
mediately be recogmrzed by their high
superstructure topped-off by short fun-
nels of unequal section. The mainmast
also reintroduced the tripod bracing
that was to remain a featule in Britrsh
Pre-Dreadnought Battleships
sMace of cemented armour, The ly'er,y
Zealand was later renamed Ze alandia
to free the original name for a battle-
crurser, and the Britannia andKing Ed-
ward VII were lost in World War L
Specification
'KingEdwardVII'class
Displacement: 16, 350 tons standard
and 17, l0O tons full load
Dimensions:length 138.3 m (453,75 ft);
beam 23,8 m (78.0 ft); draught 7,8 m
(25,5 ft)
warships for many years to come, Both
ships performed valuable semce in
the eastern Mediterranean, particular-
ly the Dardanelles, but were always
overshadowed by their successors.
Specification
'[ord Nelson'class
Displacement: 16, 500 tons standard
and l7,75Otonsfullload
Dimensions:lenqth 135.2 ft (443.5 ft);
beam24.2 m (79,5 ft); draught 7.9 m
(26 0 ft)
Propulsion: two sets of triple-
'\.
l;,,.
'a'
Propulsion: two sets of Erple-
expansions steam engLrres deL'.'+-_ ;:
13420-kW ( 18,000 ihp; to hvo sr---.-
Speed: IB,5 kts
Armament: rwo hruin305-mm (.2 :.
four 234-mm (9,2-rn). l0 I 52-mr---': --.
and 14 12-pdr qnrns, and four 45T-i:::-
( 1B-in) torpedo tubes
Protection:belt 229-192 mm(9-1 :.
transverse bulkheads 305-203 nr:- :-
B in): decksSl,5l and64 mm 12 2::-:
2,5 in); barbettes 305 mm ( t2 i::l
maxrmum; battery 178 mm(7.:l.
Complement:780
expanslon steam engiles dellel:-;
12490 kW (16.750 ihp) to rwo s:-a:s
Speed: lBkts
Armament:two twin 305-mm (-2-:_'
four twin and two single 234-n:n '? z-
in), and 24 12-pdr grms, and five {: - -
mm (18-in) torpedo tubes
Protection: belt 305- 102 mm ( l2-+ :-.
transverse bulkheads 203 mr:. 't :..
decks 38, 102 and 76 mm ( I 5 { =:-:
3 rn): barbettes305 mm (12 m.
maximum; secondary h:rrers . . : ::-:-
(7 in)
Complement:810
Agamemnon adopted this unusual
colour scheme while in the East
Mediterranean in I I I 5. Uprating the
secondary battery to 9.2-n calibre
was a logicalstepinview of the
lessons of flre R usso-J apanese war.
but arguably the vessels were over-
armed for their displacement. The
real answer was the all- big gun ship.
The'Dunccns inAction
From their lonely anchorage at Scapa Flow the mighty Dreadnoughts of the Grand
F leet dominated the naval war, bottling up the German High S eas F leet and slowly
strangling the German economy. But Dreadnoughts were too precious to be risked
elsewhere, and somanytasksfell to thenow obsoletepte-Dreadnoughts.TheRoyal
Navy's'Duncan' class served from the North Atlantic tO the Mediterranean, and
were viewed as expendable.
It is something of a paradox that whiie for most
of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe's magnificent
squadrons of Dreadnougthts the naval war of
1914-8 was one of much boredom, the older
and obsolete battleships enjoyed for the most
part a iar more varied programme. The reason
was simple, in that lt was the principal role of
the Grand Fleet to contain the German High
Seas Fleet, The Grand Fleet's task was compli-
cated by the fact that the Germans, while not so
inferior in strength, adopted a 'fleet-in-being'
stance, rarely challenging, seldom taking risks
but, because ofthe short distance oftheir bases
from British shores, always threatening. Mount-
ing what was in reality a distant blockade, the
Grand Fleet could never move far from home
waters and occupied itself with interminable
sweeps and exercises, punctuated by brief
periods in bleak northern anchorages,
At the outbreak of World War I the High Seas
Fleet could muster 34 capital ships by includ-
ing in its number 16 pre-Dreadnoughts and the
hybrid SMSBJrjcher To match this Ilne-up, the
Grand Fleet too had initially to include pre-
Dreadnouqhts, the third of lts four battle squad-
rons compristng the 'King Edward VIIs'. While
the newest of these was only seven years old,
the class was 3 kts slower than the Dread-
noughts and each shrp carried only four main
battery grums compared with 10, disparittes so
marked that the squadron was always
banished to the taii of the hne to avoid slowing
deployments. Even when relieved by new
shrps in 1915, the eight were retained as a
coherent force in the Channel Fleet, being
based particularly in Nore Command to coun-
:er any enemy thrust in strength toward the
Thames on the vital cross-channel routes.
The next oldest pre-Dreadnought class
-,.rere the 'Duncans', and these were viewed as
a more expendable asset. They were initially
tnouped ln the 6th Battle Squadron, but this
arranQlement was soon broken down as the
::eeds of a world war indicated that such ships
s'rll had a useful (indeed vital) role to play in
ower-nsk theatres elsewhere.
Six'Duncans' had been completed in 1903-4,
the numbers soon being reduced by HMS
Montagu's wreck off Lundy in 1906, Three of
the remainder (HMS lJbem arle, Exmouth and
ftusse11) were available at the outbreak of war
and immediately joined the Grand Fleet at Sca-
pa, Any thought of instant glory were soon
queiled by their attachment to the Northern
Patrol, where the weary winter months were
spent reinforcing the totally unsuitable old
'Edgars' of the lOth Cruiser Squadron, Working
the wild waters of the UK-Faroes-lceland gap
and its eastern approaches, the l0th CS had the
unenviable task of detecting every merchant-
man in transit to and from the northern North
Sea and, if not rmmedtately satisfled as to its
content and movement, sending lt into Kirkwall
or Lerwrck for examinatton
The work was onerous but of vital import-
ance as one Iine ofthe blockade that denied to
the enemy his raw materials and many staples.
ffMS Dnncanrlres a broadside from her I Z-in Mk IX
(305-mm) guns, whichfired a385-kg (850-1b) sheil
capable of piercing 406 mm ( I 6 in) of armour plate
at a range of 4500 m (5,000 yards). When firing at a
target at a range of 9000 m the shell reached a
heightof 370 m(1,200 f0.
Gradually, the regular warships were replaced
by the better-suited armed merchant cruisers,
of longer endurance and inflnitely more com-
fortable in a northern seaway. It is recorded
that the Albemarle, runntng through the Pent-
land Firth in the teeth of a winter gale, hit a sea
so fierce as to smash the charthouse and carry
away the bridge, Havrng spent a spell in dock-
yard hands as a result, she was rewarded by
being packed off to northern Russia to cover
growing Allied interests in the area, Her pre-
decessor, the crutser HMS lphigenia (later to
win fame as a blockship at Zeebrugge) was
inconvemently small, particularly when it came
to being required to act as an icebreaker to
keep open the port of Archangell
Zeebruggebombardment
Exmouth and Russell, meanwhile, had pre-
ceded the 'King Edward VIis' to join the Chan-
nel Fleet. In November 1914, screened by des-
troyers, led at a stately pace by minesweeping
trawlers and hoprng (in varn) for the spotting
services of two airships, the two conducted the
first of many bombardments of the Belgian port
of Zeebrugge, which was targeted as already
housing both UB- and UC{ype German sub-
marines, well-placed to drsrupt cross-channel
trafflc. With their 7.85-m (25.75-ft) draughts, the
battleships were obliged to remain well
offshore, firing at ranges from 5000 m (5,475
yards) up to as much as I 1000 m (12,030 yards).
In an hour they put down about 400 rounds of
305- and 152-mm (12- and 6-in) fire, concentrat-
ing on the harbour installations, the railway and
the lockgates to the Bruges canal. Later bom-
bardments were conducted mainly by special-
ist shallow-draught monitors, but the severity of
The six 'Duncan' class battleships were produced
in response to the three 'Peresviet' class 'fast
b atueship s' I aid d own by Russ ia in I B9 5. I n fact the
Russian lhrpslr ad nothing like the performance
they were credited with. Pobieda, seen h er e' was
suik in Port Arthur together with Peresviet.
 Pre-Dreadnought Battleship s

-:.-s cpening round was probably the reason for

:.e Germans shifting their submarine base in-
.r:.d to Bruges,
With the start of the Dardanelles campaign
:arly in 1915, two 'Duncans' went out to the
l.lediterranean, among the first of many. In the
::nse of a great opportunity lost, the Dar-
:anelles couid be termed the pre-Dread-
:.:'irghts' Jutland for, despite the outright hostrl-
,._; of Fisher, leadership of the calibre of Admrr-
= Keyes would have seen the Strait forced,
.'beit with losses, A strong force appearing at
:s time off Constantrnople would have put
--:rkey out of the war before she could be
:lganrzed or buttressed by the Germans,
HMS Comwallis was, lrterally, the flrst rn
=.tlon rn the campaign proper, On 19 February I/MS Duncan wa s serving with the Channel Fleet in Althoughunable to stand in lineof battle aga::s:
--115, as one of a l2-strong Anglo-French bom- 1906when her srslerHMS Montag:uewent hard Dreadnoughts, earlier battleships like the
:ardment group, she was first to fire on the aground on Lundy I sland in lhi'ckfog. Duncan 'Duncans' were still a potent force and, had Je-,-
lardanelles' outer fortifications, a i0000-m endeavoured to assist but grounded herself. She been handled with a moreNelsonic touch ar :!.e
.-0 was eventually floated ofI, but Montaguewas Dardanelles, Turkey might have been knockec c.::
935-yard) ranging shot at Orkanie battery
wrecked and had to be brokenupwhere she lay. thewarin
:r the south srde of the Strart. The Duncan of 1914.
-:volved in almost every other actrvity of note cruisers and monrtors, the oid battleshrp's big
:uring the year of the campaign, being also gmns enfiladed the enemy trenches, the awful
:nong the last to leave in the following Decem- effect of the Lyddiie beating the fight out of the
:er, joining a force tasked with protecting the Turks belbre they even advanced, Attached to
S:ez Canal from Turkish land attack. the group was the destroyer HMS Scorpion
Armyfire support commanded by one Andrew Cunningham
who, a quarter century later, would make his
An almost endless chore following the incep- name in Mediterranean waters as the great
..cn of the great Gallipoli stalemate was fire ,ABC
:rpport for the army. There was initrally little to A few months later the i?usse1/ was mined
-:ar from the sea and, despite German sub- and sunkoff Maltawith considerable loss oilife.
:arine successes in the North Sea, there ex- While the old battleshrps could absorb qunfire
-s:ed a measure of complacency. This com- and the odd torpedo, they seemed yulnerable
:-acency was rudely shaken in mrd-May when to mines, The Comwallis was hit by three tor-
-:-e Comwallis accompanied the older HMS pedoes from a U-boat in January iglT but
-:cltath ('Canopus' class) into Morto Bay just stayed afloat for a considerable time before
-::srde Cape Heiles, for the latest in a series of foundering.
:.:cturnal bombardments in support of the The Exmouth's experiences were much the
: lench right wing, Antrcipating their coming, a same as those of the Russell in beinq used to
---:rkish destroyer under temporary German smash the Turkish defences before one more
::mmand had slipped down the Strait, un- weary assault on the seemingly impregnable
--rticed by Brltish standing patrols through peak of Achi Baba. Supportrng her were two
<eeping close aboard the steep-to coastline on cruisers, one French and the other HMS 7a1-
:e European (north) side, This boidness pard bot, late of the 10th CS, the 'Edgars' which had
:J for the destroyer managed to approach to been fltted with bulges to improve their resist-
.,'.-:thin
1000 m (l 095 yards) beiore being chal- ance to torpedo hrts and to allow them to be
.=rged by lhe Goliath, It was too late, for three listed as a means of increasing gun elevation
'',:lpedoes were in the water and all hrt her, and range.
rile the Comwallis was unscathed, her com- Wrth German submarines arriving, bom-
: r:riot foundered with great loss of hfe and her barding shrps now were obliged to keep on the
..sailant escaped in the confusion, The affair move, reducing their effectiveness. Shallow-
-=';ed such aiarm at the Admrralty that the
-:.'. battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth was cal-
.:r rome and her place taken by two iurther
.,:-trans,
andAlbemarle
-:e Russell atLJ tupctttat tg were
vvvlg withdrawn
vvllllulqvvIt
r -:-:he Grand Fleet's 3rd Battle Squadron and
:,= -: rmer was involved in one of the very last
:-.":- support tasks off Gallipol1, In the early
:. :i 1916, the Helles withdrawai was well
's
j-r=: 'riay when suddenly the Turks came
r,. .= :: :he fact that only 19,000 men remained,
. :-.:;ruard that included a Royal Naval Divr
:. -:- terrible barrage was laid from both
. -:=: :i ihe strait onto the little perrmeter.
- -:,-:lf
.'':.id:hemselves to meet the mass assault
- inevitably come when the flre irfted,
=
. .-:-i-ers were suddenly heartened by the
-,=: r.ar ol naval gunflre, Supported by

-
= - a.:cpus','Formidable','London' and
-

i - -- --r: c./asse s of battleship were all strikingly

i-- .. :.-- :r: a p p e a r a nc e ; thls is IIMS Duncan a I
- :: : s ',',,ith the armoured crutserHMS Drake
:r:-- =s::in. .lfaval gunfire was invaluable to the
-* . :::::ghout the Dardanelles campaign.
f iwiftsure'class
From time to time in emerqency the
British Admiralty approPriated
warships building to foreign account,
but the compulsory purchase of two
Chilean battleships in 1903 could only
have been because of a suspicion that
the customer might default and ofler
the ships to a rival fleet (that of Russia)
Certainly they were of little use to the
Royal Nalry as they were underarmed
and too lightly built to take their place
in the main line TheY had been
ordered as a counter to the Chilean's
usual rivals, the neiqhbouring Arqen-
tines, which were building the flnal
parr oI a qroup of fast shrps carrylng
both 254- and 203-mm (10- and B-in)
gir-:ris As these were rated armoured
Cruisers, the Chileans opted for a pair
of battleships, whose scantltnqs and
armament would be scaled for local,
rather than European, disPutes.
The Royal Navy alreadY had three
small 254-mm (10-in) gunned bat-
tleships, but these were sized espe-
craily for foreign flag duties, particular-
iy inChina. In the case of the'Swiftswe'
class, the hulls were about 30,5m
(100 ft) longer but of the same beam to
achieve the required 20 kts. Interes-
tingly, the small battleships in the Far
East had seen both Jellicoe and Beatty
make their mark in more iuntor ranks,
GERIVANY
'Kaiser' class
The immediate result of the accesslon
of the naval-minded Kaiser Wilhelm II
Ln 1BBB was the laying down of the first
group offour seagoing battleships, the
'Brandenburg' class. Thougth these
were exactly contemporary with the
British 'Royal Soveretgns', they were
remarkably dtfferent in layout Of the
same length, they were of less beam
and, though of less power, were
reasonably fast. Their major feature
-,'/as a srx-gun main battery of 280-mm
i1l-in) quns in a twtn mountlng at each
end and a thrrd in a gap in the super-
siructure, the last with barrels of re-
iuced length. Despite this the ships
::ad a unique srx-gmn broadside at a
-*me when four was the norm, an exam-
at the cost
cle ofadvanced thinkinQl but
:: rnadequate protection.
To a certain extent, therefore, the
::llowing five-ship'Kaiser' class laun-
:red between 1896 and 1900 was
i:r:rethlng of a dLsapporntment as, In
::deavourinqt to rectify the earlier
s-rips' deficiencies, their desiqners
pr5duced something little different
l3m contemporartes abroad The in-
::restrng decision was not Io lncrease
:e calibre of guns to match the 305-
:::n (12-rn) usual in foreign battleships,
.';i
to reduce it to 240-mm (9.4-in) and
-:3ut the number to four, set in the
-:al manner, with a twin mountingr
::: foruua-rd and aft. The Penelrative
:,:-rrer of these guns was the equal of
r:,:st verticai belts onlY at close
:.rges, and the anticrpated com-
p=:sation of a high rate ol fire evident-
-'.- iid not materialize, Again, protec-
::: -ras below par, wtth a verY shallow
::l: ihat extended over onlY the for-
-;,'::i 80 per cent of the length, and
_.:. -:- :
=:;:
whrle Fisher preferred HMS i?enown
in the Mediterranean, Indeed, with the
high speed of the 'Swiftsures' (the first
in the Royal Narry to exceed 20 kts) and
their mxture of 254- and 190,5-mm (10-
and 7.5-rn) quns they very much fol-
lowed the Fisher ideal of the 'smallest
ellectlve big gun and the largesl possi-
ble secondary qn-rn', On such narrow-
gutted ships, the large casemates de-
manded by the 190,S-mm (7.5-in) gnrns
dominated the amidships layout Cor-
ners were cut in overall p-rotection
which, while permissible with Argen-
tine 254-mm (10-in) shells in mind,
would have proved vulnerable to an
unlucky hit by a 305-mm (12-in) round
This was particularly true of those
parts of the barbette structure behind
ihe maln armoured bulkheads The
ships' two tall, symmetrical funneis and
gooseneck boatcranes gave them a
verv distinctive sllhouette.
Bbth ships were active m lhe Dar-
danelles campaign, HMS SwrTtsure
havtng already seen service in the
Suez area and the Red Sea and HMS
Triumph commtssioning from resele
in Hong Kong. The latter was torpe-
doed and sunk whrle assisting with hre
suppofi, Her loss, toqtether with that of
HMS Majestic, siqnalled the end of the
Royal NaW's traditional close invest-
linked across top and bottom by pro-
tective and splinter decks The reason
for this economy was the shipping of a
hear,ry secondary armament of 16 150-
mm (5.9-in) guns. Only four of these
were mounted in casemates the re-
marnder beinq qrouped at main deck
level tn a superstructure protected
only at each end but so shaPed as to
permit a maximum of axial fire, Recon-
structed in 1906 the ships lost their four
casemated weapons, which were of
little use in a seaway but, in doing so
increased freeboard to the extent that
the belt was virtually clear of the sur-
face. Of low fighting value bY 1914,
SMS Kaiser Barbarossa, Kaiser
Friedrich III, Kaiser Karl der Grosse,
Kaiser Wilhelnt ll and Kaiser Wilhebn
der Grosse were used for traininQl and
accommodation durrng World War I
ment policy,
Specification
'Swiftsure' class
Displacement: I 1 800 tons standard
and l3,BS0tonsfullload
Dimensions:lenqth 146.2 m (479.75 ft);
beam2l 6 m(71.0 ft); drauqhtT,T m
(25,33 ft)
Propulsion: two sels of iriple-
expansion steam engines delivering
9230 kW ( 12,500 ihp) to two shafts
Speed: 19 kts
Armament:two twin 254-mm (10-in),
190, S-mm (7, S-in), L4 14-pdr and two
12-pdr gn-rns, and two 457-mm ( l8-in)
Specification
'Kaiser'class
Displacementl lO, 970 tons standard
Dimensions: Ienqth 125.0 m (410, L ft);
beam 20,2 m (66.3 ft)i drausht 7.8 m
(25 6 ft)
Propulsion: three sets oftriple-
expansron steam engines deltvering
9BB0 kW (13,250 ihp) to three shafts
Speed: 18 kts
Armament: two twin 240-mm (9,4-in)
19 l5O-mm (5.9-in) and 12 BB-mm (3 46-
in) gmns, and srx 457-mm (18-in)
torpedo tubes
Protection: belt 300 m (1 LB in);
transverse bulkheads 200 mm (7,9 in);
decks 75 and 60 mm (2,95 and 2,36 1n);
barbettes 250 mm (9.8 Ln) maximum
casemates and secondary tufiets
150 mm (5,9 in)
Complement: 670
Easily distinguished from other
British battleships by her gooseneck
cranes, HMS Triumph and ft er slsler
were being built for Chile bY
Armstrong, but the Admiralty issued
a compulsory purchase order after it
seemed theywere tobe sold to
RussiabyChile.
torpedo tubes
Protection: belt 178-76 mm (7-3 in);
transverse bulkheads 152 mm (6 in);
decks 76,25 mm (3-1 in); barbettes
14 254-mm (10 rn) maximum; casemates
178 mm (7 in)
Complement:800
Seen ft ere in J 902, SMS Kaiser
Friedrich III represented a step
backwards for German naval
architecture after the bold and
innovative' Brandenburg' clas s. The
heavy secondary armamentof 16
150-mm (5.9-in) guns could not
compensate for the weak choice of
four 240-mm (9.4-in)weapons as the
mainarmament.
When commis s io ned, the' K ais er'
class formed the I st Squadron of the
Heimatflotte (HomeF\eet), as the
G erman navy was then called. By
1914 they hadbeenplaced in
reserv e, but w er e mobilize d on the
outbreakofwar toform the Sth
Squadron of the HighSeas Fleet.
They were withdrawn from the active
list for the second and final time in
1915.
 'Wittelsbach' class
---<e the precedtng 'Karsers, there
r:re five 'Wittelsbach' class bat-
-:shrps which though of the same
::rament, had a very different layout.
-he ships were
-=:nched in 1900-1
il. S MeckJenburg, Schwaben, Wet-
'in, Wittelsbach and Zahringen. They
::.ained the smail 240-mm (9.4,rn)
:-arn battery gnrn patred fore and aft,
::i differed in having a flush marn
::ck which effectively raised the after
::ret by one level. The forward turret
::nained elevated a further level on a
: ;h barbette, The hull was some 5 m
-3 4ft) Ionger and commensurately
::amier but, in adopting the more
=::clrve Krupp cemented armour rn
-:-ace of the earlier shrps' Harvey nick
:- steel, a greater area of thinner plate
-:;- incorporated for the same degree
,- protection, Where the earlier ships
:aC a narow belt over about 80 per
::irt of the length with only armouted
:-nks to the turrets above, the 'Wit-
:.sbachs' could accommodate full-
-::rgrth protection and surprisingly, re-
.'-rrect the old central battery con-
--:-ot, Its weight precluded extendingr
----s battery to any height, so that the
=-;ht 150-mm (5.9-in) guns that it con-
.,:.ied were carried at a low level TVro
--:tner weapons were sited in pro-
-::red casemates at the same ievel
-.:.her aft, the height of the forward
-=l-mm (9 4-in) quns, which must have
::en greatly afiectedby blast Thus, to
,::ain the exceptionally heavy chase
-i: of two main and erght secondary
:::rels the layout left much to be de-
.::d in a seaway and blast interfer-
-::e.
GERMANY
'Braunschweigr' class
Pre-Dreadnought Battleship s
'Wittelsbach' class battleships in line
ahead, seen from the ZeppelinL.1{.
They were mobilized in l914 ta form
the 4th Battle Squadron but soon left
the fleet as they were too vulnerable
to stand in the line of battle. After the
war, allwere scraped save
Zahringen which survived until I 944.
German battleships of thrs period
were sttll aimed primarily at North Sea
and Baltrc operations, their dimensions
and draught being limited to suit tidal
restrictions and sizes of locks to basins
and the Kiel Canal. The class was too
old to play any srgniflcant role rn World
War I and all survived it For a penod
betu'een the lt ars 'he Zah.rngen aper beam 22.8 m (74,8 ft); draught 8.0 m
ated as a radio-controlled target ship. (26,2 ft)
Propulsion: three sets oftriple-
Specification expansion steam enqines deliveringr
'Wittelsbach'class I 1 185 kW (15,000 ihp) to three shafts
Displacement: I 1, 775 tons standard Speed: lB kts
and 12 790tonsfullload Armament: two twin 240-mm (9. 4-tn),
Dimensions: lenqrth 126.8 m (416 0 ft); 1B 150-mm (5,9-rn) and 12 BB-mm (3.46-
T he I mperial G erman N avy's thi: c
class of battleships, the
'Wittelsbachs' were armed like tne
'Kaisers' but adopted a very ciilfere:'-
layout, featuring a flush main deck
and larger hull. Krupp-cemente=
(KC) armour was usedin p/ace o.'::=
Hawey nickel steel, allowing fu---
length protection.
:\
Preussen, seen here in I I I 0, was the
fourth of the 'Braunschweig' class,
which began construction after
Tirpitz's SecondNavy Bill (1900) and
the be ginning of th e Anglo-G e r m a n
navalracewhichwas todo so much
to bring aboutWorldWar I.
Krel (Nordsee-Ostsee) Canal. The
ships launched between 1902 and
1904, were SMS Eraunschweig,
E,lsass, I/essen, Lothringen and
Preussen.
Secondary armament was aiso up-
graded from the preferred 150-mm
(5.9-in) qmn to an unusual 170-mm (6,7-
in) type, with a loss of four barrels. As
the hull was able to accept a qreater
area of armour, the secondary was only a marginal improvement. Propulsion: : '+: j:-: j
weapons were better grouped Boilers were divided between six expansro,-. i-:-:* :' . - i. -_ . ,.
amidships, though the malority were in cylindrical and eight Thornycroft- 1252 k\1- '. : . . .:., .-
a main deck battery that was still too Schulz water tube types, a combina, Speed: 18 - is
low to be fougtht properiy in a seaway tron that required three funnels Up to Armament: .',-: -'.-:, ::
The primary reason for this upgrading I 600 tons ol coal and 200 tons of oil fuel 170-mn.i ---:-
was the growing need to stop torpedo could be carrred. -: --
9U115 c--U:-'--
craft at rangtes that were rapidly in- tubes
creasing with the improved technolo- Specification
gry of the torpedo, To achieve the same 'Braunschweig' class
l8-kt speed as the earlier class instal- Displacement: I 2, 990 tons standard
led power had to be increased by ab- Dimensions: length 127,6 m (486 ft);
out 15 per cent, though the endurance beam 22,5 m (73,8 ft); draught 7.45 m
ofabout 6300 km (3,915 miles) at 16 kts (24.4 ft)
Guns qnd Arnnour
From the launch of the first ironclad to the eclipse'af the
b attleship ars the final arbiter of war,at sea, warship design
was dominated by the strugglebetweenguns andarmour'
Guns steadily grew in'range and power; but engineers
continued to devisenew tSrpes of arrnour plate to defeatthem.

As a term, 'pre-Dreadnought' dates of qourse Jrom'the completion of 'HMS

Dreadnoughi herself and 1-hus invariably bears overtones of obsolescence ln
iheir day, Fowever., such vessels Were the blest capital ships. afloat, bu.t,what ls
cften uncefialn ls the piecise definition oJ that day.
From the transitionai types of capilal ship in the 1860s, Where'steam-driven
nuils still retained a'broa<iiide armarnen! and full rrg, development'took off in a
vafiety of direc,tions, with a literal triai of .strength emerging between the gun
and aimoui plate. As massive $rotection kept out hqavli prolectiles, larger guns
rad to be carried but thele had to be fewer of thern Properly arranged, these
occupied less space and,,therefore, dema.nded a Smaller area of pro-tection
whrch. in turn. cduld be thicker. Slrih arrangements r6pidiy took the gun f rom its
iraditional carriage.to piVot mountings, which.could be trained through one ot
several embrasu-res, and.then to the.powered barbette, where the weapons
,,r'ere sited on a ievolving lurntable, firing over and protected by;,a fixed and
reavy circular redoubt. While the lattei-ailowed guns to be trained rapidly
in,ough wide arcs, they were of little uge if obstructed by a full-set of.tigging. So
.-rntil frachinery was r6liable enought to make the 'maslless' wilrship accept-
able, central baitery ships were pop-ular, built around'armoured boies extgnQlng
iiten through two ilecks and proiecting beyond the sides to maximize axial fire.
inis latter f"eature was impoitant as powered opponenis could either flee or
ccssibly r.nrork themseives into a decisive taking position.
Adequate protection was so'heavy that when 1he 'mastless' turret ship
:ecamir a reality, its f reeboard,waS exceedingly low While this keptthe belt
afea to a minim'um, it gavd a poor stabillty range and seakeeping was.rapidly
:egraded byadeteriordting sea state. Attemptstq increasefreeboard resulted
.:ilediately in greater areis of thinner armour and the heavy guns sited so high
:.rat thev naO to Oe mounted ih barbettea rather than turrets Thus mounted,
:clh guns and crews were vulnerable to f ragments, though heavy projectlles
.:'ere itill f ired at such close ranges that their ttaiectories were f lat, armour being
rrrcentrated lnto heaw vertical belts to defeat them.
Earlv armourwas of wrought.iron, usually sandwiched with teak and proprie-
I{MS Conqueror,Iaunched in 1881 , was a product of a misinterpretation of the
battle'of Lista in I866 which seemed to demonstrate thal the tam was an
effective means ol sinking ironclad battleships. Conqueror s a rmament was
coacentrated {arward ta support the nmminE attack.
tory compounds to improve resrlience and to resist fragmentation. This phase
lasted approximately from, 1860 to,1880, by which time it was possible to find
two'305-mm (.1 2-in) layers of wrouqht iron, secured backto-back. With neiv
gu,ns soon abl.e lo pierce even this,. however, the next move was to steel armoui
which, while showing greater resistance to penetrat on, was liable tc shatter
under'the smashing effect of ldrge shot.
From 1BB0 to 1890, therefo.re, compound armour evolved, This was iron,
faced wlth hardersteel, whlch was either poured mollen or hot-rolled to produce
a composite slab which, itself, could bre rofled:further. While this combined the
projectile-shattefing quality of steel with the toughness of iron, the hard face did
A cJos e:up of the op e n b arbette moun ting af the I 3. 5 - in gu ns oIHMS Royal
Sovereigm. Abi e to fire one round everlt 2 l/e minutes , which could penetrate
nine inches af KC plate at 5 ,000 yards , they were thri most effective guns ot
their day. Later British battleships reverted to higher-velocity I Z-in guns.

'|
I
r

jd -,r,t
l
:
 Fre-Sreadnought Battleshlp s

- -aoped drmour.c - . -
ine decade fr"on 'l
E9C .:'-:-,', ..: .-:
.-bo^iser [.e 'a.e
-:ducearreryhard suiia:E ..- .
^e'cy iu SPo i o^ ,rc .

---er the same level c' t'_..=,- :'

eOOo OS (OLlrO Oe , C' '
-re brg gJn. -eai \'. '
: -. : :-e 1E80s, large calibres were
- :oed -or l^o r 'i-ar -: ':.-:: :iai suoerior ranqe. Belts and
-.rpcrtrng slructuies n,e 3 :: :- :-: ..:-:: :: . oSe quariers, W'ih mediUrn
5-e qu^s S Ilr-r'o^-c -l .r'.:. s-Lre:struiture, startinq fires and
'- -'-e'- Q(a'ew.
--tai .i^ga ao'.-ae.-
I e^!lneetS. hO\\e . ::a:.-.-i inat, wnrle the energy of a
..crie -dr.ctlVp._,. '
'..a-ed. ln sl'o...^c . ,- r -
'' i : : - l'OOOr1 O.a :O itS ve OC V
'lreases in calibre, whrci r:: . ---
,l:\. '.\i3re ci far greaier irnport than
=-:j:i
::::: . Deira l es ct Ireater weight and
:,..ver rates of fire.
3everal factors combti:sc i. :::..::::r:lls relattonship. 1n aboL;t 1Bg0 Fuji_was f,hertrsl.baffiesftJp ordered {romBritain by theyoungJapar:e := :.:.-
,::C le replaced black pov!/oei :,i : :ftpe a-t. ii piace of a near explostve ,4n i'rnproved'Foyal,Sove:'e:En'desigrn, sAe slr ipped I Z-in 4A-iaitbre :,:.:
-t:,onatlcn on firing, wntcn i',r. -=-' :-, _..J !,.1t enormous StresSes into the wftici:, "because of lleirfirg,herm uzzle velacity-, were mere effec:i.:: ::: ::.
.,1,

- - r chamber, ihe slowei-1,.; r : t': c t -, =

.: ;.s= i r-ap o y-erpandtng gases that f,han dhe J3.o-rn guns of l"heBrif:sJr yessels.
. --:crhiy accelerated a crr,ect:ii 3 sng iie barrel Far hiqner muzzie-telocities
. c.lossbe.b..o-ir,,. ' to !- 1i- ..:,.- :- odnot orooo.Castw.'apons A sequence oi fundamental imprcvements ihus carre i....--- - = -.
qave way ro a construciion v!, tn oorcentrically shrunk tubes, and this in turn
..rs lB90s 'o proouce a new slra n o'capita sn.p se
- ine greatly superior wire-,,r,,ornd r,,ariei'y'. The'length c{ the Laiter could be n cL ng ond le ,o y,r3 p'rnisl-rre^r. In a p". od - B. -- - .. . ,
. -lepted only because a reitable breech mechantsm was produced f nally to the Royal Navy led the waywith HMS Malestrcof 1895 ,::. . . '.' -. ' - .
.rlace muzzle-loading Hydraui.c po\^,/el-was applied to handling, loading bnci
-. ning to increase ftring rates. nextfieet,thatof theRussians,cornpleted tsfirst n 9a2.^=:,,- ::, .
further -17 and built four more for the clrent, Japan
-nus. in the early 1890s, ihe standai'd 305-mm {12-n) Briiish naval qun was T^e'o'c-D'eaonoJort,Jsalvpena.bJpe-e o ..-: ... -
:reaseil from 35 to 40 caitbres ;n length, muzzle velocity rising from 640 m ti:e i:a :^s -.:
that the Americans (1902), the Germans (.1 904), --
--geC0 'i' ro 792 r ,2,60A't ce ,eco^c-. BeLler oe^etrdl "g po*:e. dna tcnge.
,,

French(1906)followedsuit,theyv;erebarelyintimerc:-:,.-::_, . .
: were coupled with moi-e conststent ballistics and a mr)ih-reduced smdke anc J'eate r.r oi-, o-, 'u i-r''odue ',on o' r-e 1.. ,c -:
sance. Ralher than smash an ocponent in a risky ctose-range brawl, rt w,as
'
lossrSle +o desrro),h m sctentjfically from beyond the range of his secon- 'Iireforecasd/e aflfMsMajestic a t tke turnof thecentury. a per;ai.,'...-.=:.
, batrery. Tlr s possibil ty resulted immediateiy in the beginninq of frre con- naintwoyk andpoJ.isfi seemed rnore importanf fo sorne ftoya j X'a:;.. :..,: _-=.-:
, . the provision of heavierhonzontal and obiique armourtodefeatlhe plungrng than gunnery and manoeuvre. Her ) Z-in guns fired 85a-b's_-te.'.-. :i.., : :.- . .- _
, ': l. and an increase in secondarv armatfient caitbres.
:
penetu"dte i J t/z in af KC armour at 5,00A yards.

r,'rrl .ii|, lr)rll j:i*llilllf liriiliirrlf

,i
EE:] USA
= 'Kearsage' class
Early American battleships were
aimed primarily only at coastal de-
fence, but the 1B9B US war against
Spain was rapidly successful because
of naval power, By virtue of the war and
following annexations, the USA ac-
qurred the Philippine Islands, Hawait,
Wake Island, Puerto Rico and part of
Samoa, Anti-imperralist conscr€Iices
proved elastic enougth to accept these
new responsibilities and to expand the
fleet to a level that would not only safe-
giuard the new teritories but would
eventually, be second only io that of
the UK,
LLmited size and draught, coupled
with a hearry armament of 330- and
USS Kearsage r,rra toward the
s d step
all-bigWn ship as she,like the'Ring
Edwards' in Britain, carried an
intermediate battery. Fourteen 5 -in
guns were also shipped in long
broadside batteries, separated by
splinter screens, the calibre being
closen becauseitwas the largest
availableinfixedammunitioi. #N\ \:
#;$
\\
\\
,';|
class
='ivtississippi'
-:e
''eved
in
firmly
US Navy has always
the virtues of acquiring the
be-
-a:gest affordable ships; the curent
'-386) arguments regardrnq future air-
:la-ft-carriers and attack submarines
jemonstrate a continuinq conviction.
-:-e arqument is a powerful one as the
:=sigmer has freedom to make his ship
r:-trre battleworthy in terms of arma-
::ent. speed and protection, while the
--ger ship can better keep the seas.
Is the US Navy moved toward the
-:ception of the Dreadnougrht era it
:-ai a very healry building program-
:::e. Six 15,000-ton 'Virginras' and the
:i:: two of the enlarged but very simi-
-:r Connecticuts' were launched rn
.:-4 alone. Of these, the lormer again
::3d a trvo-storey tufiet arangement,
-,-;-i both 305-mm (12-in) twin turets
rr:-irned by a parred 203-mm (B-in)
:-:-lolrse. The layout was agaln un-
=-iactory but gnms
left the conviction that
rnounted on the
-=:pelmposed
-'=:.:relLne were the obvtous way
-:aci. With this in mind the plans for
:.r,,o all-big-gnrn 'South Carolinas'
-:-3
-;.':::: ahead. At thrs point, however,
J":::3rress put on the f,nancial brakes,
.-l:-,',rng the UK to steal the race and
:::::plete HMS Dreadnougil flrst
-l:other unsatisfactory result of
203-mm (13- and B-in) primary and
secondary batteries respectively, put
the three 'lndiana class ships (BB-1 to
BB-3) of 1893 ahead of European con-
temporaries on paper but, practically,
resulted in great limitations as a result
of low freeboard and blast effects, The
USS lowa (BB-4) of 1896 armed to rec-
tify this wrth a hrgher freeboard for
better seakeeping saving weiqht on
the more elevated turrets by accept-
ing a cut rn calibre to 305 mm (12 in),
the European norm, This back{rack-
ing was not at all in favour with the new
nalry, which hmited the class to one
ship and opted for the innovative but
extraordinary pair of 'Kearsage' class
ships (BB-5 and 88-6) as follow-ons.
these economies was the pair of 'Mis-
sissipi' class diminutives built in the
middle of the 'Connecticut' series,
which ran i?om the USS Connecticul
(BB-18) herself to the USSlr'ewHamp-
s,h.rre (BB-25), the standard 139, 1-m
(456.3-ft) hull permittinq a powerful
three-tier armament of four 305-mm
(12-in) quns, eisht 203-mm (B-in) euns
in paired turets and l2 178-mm (7-in)
gTuns in casemates In 1905, however,
Cramp of Philadelphia launched the
USS Mrsissippi (BB-23) and USS /da-
fro (BB-24) 'economy versions' cut
down to 1164m (382ft), By actuallY
increasing the beam very slightlY
however, they managed still to econo-
mize in armament to the extent of only
four casemated 178-mm (7-in) wns.
The major loss was in power,
12300 kW (16 500 kts being
ihp) for 18
reduced to only 7455 kW (10,000 ihp)
for 17 kts. Thus the frnal evocation of
the American pre-Dreadnought was
deemed Llnsatrsfactory lne palr serv-
Launched in lB9B, these were the USS
Kearsage and Kentucky,
Although lhe lowa had suffered a
reduction in marn battery calibre, she
had retained a healry secondary arma-
ment of eight 203-mm (B-in) quns set
sensibly but werghtily in twin turrets,
The 'Kearsages' reverted to the 330-
mm (13-in) giun at the cost of four of the
203-mm (B-in) weapons but, to save
weight further in the quest for
freeboard, the remainingr four 203-mm
(B-in) weapons were paired on the top
of the main turrets in houses rigidly
fixed to the lower element. Thus the
two batteries had to be trained
together on a common roller path.
Fourteen 127-mm (S-in) quns (the
rng only sx years before being sold to
the Greeks, Renamed Lemnos and
Kilkis, they must have strained the
facilities of the Greek navy to the
utmost, but K/,hs lasted to be sunk rn
1941 in a different war.
Specification
'Mississippi'class
Displacement: 13, 000 tons standard
Dimensions: length 116,4 m (382.0 ft);
beam 23,5 m (77,0 ft); draught 7,6 m
(25,0 ft)
Propulsion: two sers of tnple-
it,;:
'/|i;
largtest cahbre that could use 'fixed' QF
ammunition) were shipped in two long
broadside batteries, the guns sepa-
rated by splinter screens, Speed was
sacrificed for wide beam (for steadi-
ness) and healry protection, the coffer-
dams backing the belt (419 mm/16,5 in
thick amidships) being filled with
'compressed American corn pith cel-
lulose to limit flooding following dam-
age,
Specification
'Kearsagre'class
Displacement: I l, 540 tons standard
Dimensions:length I14.4 m (375,25 ft);
beam22.0 m(72,25 ft); draughtT.2 m
(23 5 ft)
Propulsion: two sets ol lr-ple-
expansion steam enqines delivertng
8950 kW ( 12,000 ihp) to hvo shafts
Speed: 16,5 kts
Armament:two twln 330-mm (13-in),
two twin 203-mm (B-in) and 14127-mm
(5-in) gmns and four 457-mm (l8-in)
torpedo tubes
Protection: belt 419-241 mm (16 5-
9,5 rn); protective decks 127-70 mm (5-
2,75 in); barbettes 432 mm (17 in)
maximum; secondary guns 229 mm
(9 in)
expansion steam engines delivering
7455 kW (10,000 ihp) to two shafts
Speed:17kts
Armament: two twin305-mm (12-in),
four twin 203-mm (B-in), eight l78-mm
(7-in) and 12 76-mm (3-in) guns, and
two 533-mm (21-in) torpedo tubes
Protection: belt 229- 102 mm (9-4 in);
transverse bulkheads l78 mm (7 in);
sphnter deck with 64-mm (2,5-in)
slopes; barbettes 305 mm (12 in);
casemates 152 mm (6 in)
Complement:800
USS Mississippi and fiersrster Idaho
were cut-down versions of the
'Vermont' class, and merely Proved
that a smaller huil contains less
space than a larger one. TheYwere
sold to Greece as soon as decentl7
possible, and the money was used to
buy another 'New Mexico' class
Dreadnought instead.
Armed Forces of the World

Norwag
\orway shares a common border with the USSR,
out in comparison with th s giant has a population of
cnly just over 4 million. Norway has been a member
cf the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for many
,,ears, but does not allow ine permanent basing of
\ATO forces, apart f rom cor:'mand staff, in its coun-
:ry in peace. The NATO Alliei Mobile Force trains in
\orway on a regular bas s ani 'n t rne of war would
Jeploy on the flank of NATO \rvneTe there was the
Jreaterthreat. Some NATO cc-.ii-es, including the
JSA. are now stockpiling ee- or-ent in Norway to
save tlme transporting it by a . cr sea n t:me of war.

The Army
The Norwegian army has a peacet,re strength of
19,500 officers and men, of wnorr abort 12,000 are
conscripts doing 15 montns nar.onal servrce. Re-
serves on f ull mobilization totaL 165.000 officers and
'nen who would form 12 brigades eacn with about
1,000 men, two armoured squadrons, supporr and
:ther units. There are also 72,000 officers and men
^ the home guard. which can be mobilized in just
':ur hours. Each man normally does 50 weekend
^curs or six consecutive training days per year. Nor-
.vay is divided into Northern and Southern Com-
-ands, the former having its HO n Bodo and the
:tter its HO in Oslo.
ln peacetime the Norwegian army is organized towed howitzers, with the FH-70, FH-778 and M48ASs makeup aquarter of the tanksteng:th o!
-to one light brigade group for northern Norway, French TR '1 55 now being consldered as possible the Royal Norwegian army. Obvious differences
::mprising three infantry battallons, one tank com- replacements. There are also about 40 M 1 09 series from theearlier models of M48 include the fr.ttjng a:
:any and a self-propelled artillery battalion, one anti- 155-mm self-propelled howitzers. ln addition to the a 1 05-mm (4. I 3-in) main gan, disfinEruishab/e frc.-::
'craft battery and two border garrison battalions. the 90-mm (3.54-in) weapon of lfte eaiirer veru*ies
= RBS-70 surface-to-air missile systems there are also
by the absence of a prominent muzzle brake-
ln southern Norway there is an all-arms group 20-mm and 40-mm (1.5-in) towed anti-aircraft guns.
-:rnprising one infantry battalion, one light tank There are large numbers of Swedish Bv 202 and Bv craft below manned only in time of war or'.^''--= --
-:Trpany, one self-propelled artillery battalion and 206 tracked all-terrain vehicles which have been ing.
:-e anti-aircraft battery. ln addition there are inde- designed specifically for operating in the snow. The The f leet includes 14'Type 207'class s-b-.'-==
::1dent armoured squadrons, infantry battaltons Nowegian army also operates about 35 Cessna built in West Germany and commiss onec ..'.,'.:-: -
.- : artillery regiments. O-1E and Cessna L-18 light aircraft in the air 1965 and 1967; these have eight 533--- -'--
'rfantry weapons in service include 9-mm (0.35- observation post role. torpedo tubes with Norweg an comra': a-: --.--
- ;Valther Pl and Brownrng M191'1 pistols, 9-mm trol system, Norwegian torpedo f ire-coni': = , = -=-
'r10 sub-machine guns left behind by the Ger- The Navy and West German sonars and torpedoes - -:!:
*.-s, the 7.62-mm (0.3-in)West German Heckler & The Norwegian navy has a total strength of about
Steggr's one of / 4'Hauk' class Fast Attack CraJt
::- G3 rifle built under lcence in Norway by 8,500 officers and men, of whom 5,500 are con-
commissrbned between I 9 7 7 and I 9 8 0. Dlspia cr:g
- -:sberg Vapenfabrikk, the 7.62-mm Rhelnmetall scnpts doing '1 5 months national service and about I55 tons at fuL[ load, they ate armed with six
,T,500
:: aid the Amerlcan 12.7-m-r.. (0.5-in) M2HB in coastal defences. The main naval bases are Penguin Mk 2 SSMs in single launchers, one 45-n:.n:
--::- 1e-guns, and the British 8i-mm (3.2-int L16 Bergen, Harstad and Tromso. Naval reserves total (1.57-in) and one 20-mm (0.78-in) gun, and carr.t
'-: --ercan 107-mm (4.2-int M30 n'ortars. Anti- about 25,000 off icers and men with a number of the two 533-mm (21-in) torpedo tubes.
: ---: - iveapons rnclude the SweO sn RBS-70 sur-
':----.-z: r ss le systerr ard rne 20-n n t0.7Bt FK
-,-- .'.- :^ s a \Atest Cerr:ar lre n,r etali 20-mn'
r \6r;.;Y.
:---- l^ =-1-^'. CgSg^:O;l:3-':
-^ a^ -^-
-- --.,', .-= a:a':'='a'>S." r'e €&--
- , - '.'-: --,'. a- . - \:-.,'
- '- , -r- - '"'- : ra-- - 2.?a- ' ','2a z',: - Ce-
-- :-- :::'-:S :_l--^::,',:::_
:* - -- : : - -'- l-=::. ..- '-':=-''+=.2':-.,:'

-'
Armed Forces of the World
3 s-c rs the nam eship of the five-strong class of
i:gates built in the mid-1960s wifft U,S assistance.
l:.e Cesign is based on that of the 'Dealey' class
:es'royer escorts of the US Navy, butis
: ::stantially modified for Norwegian service.
,=-. 3:rmany and Norway signed an agreement
,- ri- .^r n ch Thyssen Nordseewerke would build
:,,3e210'submarinesbetween 19B9and 1994
. . :- :- cpt on on a f urther two. The five 'Oslo' class
'" 1.::3 buit ln Norway were commissioned
'::i--. rnese are based on the American 'Dealey'
.-,. :' destroyer escorts but modified to suit
'.: -.,:9 an requrrements, and now have Norwegian
= =- I - . surface-to-surface missiles, Sea Sparrow
:-'.'s 'orr76 mm (3-in) guns, Mk32ASWtorpedo
-::: :nd the Norwegian Terne ASW system. Half
-:
-:sl oi construction of these ships was met by
'- 'Sleipner' class corvet-
= - S -. There are also two
-'i- )B helicopters land troops during a recent
=:tercise.
AlthoughNorway does not allow
.e::nanent stationing of NATO {orces in the
:rtry. the NATO Allied Mobile Force trains there
-'.
year. In a conflictwith the USSR, Norway
=';ery
t'o.,.ild be of great strategicimportance to both
'-* fi. j
- 't ru;,
: eight mine counterrneasures vessels.
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tes cornmissioned in 1965-7 and armed with a 76-
mm gun and a 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun as
well as ASW weapons.
The main bulk of the Norwegian navy is made up
of light forces which can be easily hidden and are
well suited to operations in the fjords around Nor-
way. All of these have been designed and built in
Norway, and many have the Norwegian Penguin
anti-ship surface-to-surface missile. There are 14
'Hauk' class fast attack craft (missile) commis-
in sioned between 191f and 1980 and armed with six
Penguin SSMs, one 40-mm Bofors gun and one
20-mm Oerlikon gun; 19 'Storm' class craft com
missioned between 1965 and 1968 which have six
launchers for Penguin SSMs, one 76-mm and one
40-mm Bofors gun; six 'Snogg' class fast attack
craft (mlssile) with four 533-mm (2.09-in) torpedo
tubes, four Penguin SSM launchers and one 40-mm
Bofors gun; and eight 'Tjeld' class fast attack craft
(torpedo) commissioned in the early '1 960s and
armed with one 40-mm Bofors, one 20-mm cannon
and four 533-mm torpedo tubes. These 'Tjeld'class
craft are held in reserve.
Other vessels include three coastal patrol craft,
two coastal minelayers (each of which can carry and
lay 300 to 400 mines), one controlled minelayer, and
10 coastal mrnesweepers, all commissioned in the
mid-1 950s and dueto be replaced by a new class of
Support craft include seven tank landing craft, one
depot ship for both submarines and fast attack craft,
seven coastal transports, two diving tenders, one
torpedo recovery vessel, and the usual research
ships and tugs.
Coastal Defences
These come under the control of the Noruvegian
navy and include 15 coastal defence fortresses
which are to be rebuilt with at least 50 artlllery, mine
and torpedo batteries. Guns used at present include
75-mm (2.95-in), 105-mm. 'l 20-mm (4.1-in), 121-
mm (5-in), and 150-mm (5.9-in) weapons, many of
which were emplaced by the Germans during World
War ll. Bofors of Sweden is now installing new
''l
20-mm Ersta guns in armoured cupolas, and these
can fire 25 rounds per minute.
The Goast Guard
This was founded in 1977 but operational control
is held by the Norwegian Defence Command. Ves-
sels include seven chartered vessels with a 40-mm
gun and a displacement of between 500 and 1,200
tons, and three specially built 'Nordkapp' class (out
of seve:, originally intended to be built) which each
have a Lynx helicopter, one 57-mm (2.24-in) Bofors
gun and four single 20-mm cannon. There are also
three other patrol craft each with a 40-mm Bofors
gun. The six Lynx Mk 86 helicopters are operated by
the Noruvegian air force's No. 337 squadron.
The Air Force
The Norwegian air force has been undergoing
extensive modernization in recent years with the
older Lockheed F-104G/CF-104 fighters being
phased out of service and replaced by 72 Generai
Dynamics F-1 6s (comprising F-164 single-seaters
and 1 2 F-1 6B two-seaters). Total personnel strength
of the Norwegian air force is about 9,500 officers
and men, of whom 5.000 are conscripts doinq 15
months national service. Air force reserves total
about 25,000 officers and men, and include many
airfield defence battalions armed with Bofors 40-
mm L/60 anti-aircraft guns. The Norwegian air force
is integrated lnto the NATO air defence system and
Royal Air Force fighters often land in Norway to
ref uel after shadowing Soviet aircraft over the North
Sea.
The front-line strength now consists of four
squadrons with a total of 72 General Dynamics F-
16s: Nos331 and 334Squadronsarebasedat Bodo,
and Nos 332 and 336 squadron are based at Rygge.
One operational conversion unit with 35 Northrop
F-SA fighters, one maritime patrol squadron (No.
333) with seven Lockheed P-38 Orion aircraft, one
transport squadron with six Lockheed C-130H trans-
port aircraft and three Dassault-Breguet Falcon 20s,
one transport squadron with four de Havilland Cana-
da DHC-6s and two Bell UH-1 B helicopters, one
search and rescue squadron (No. 330) with '1 0 West
land Sea King Mk 43 helicopters, two utility squad-
rons with 26 UH-1 Bs (Nos 719 and 120) and 21
Saab-Scania Safari training aircraft complete the in-
ventory. Missiles include the Sidewinder air-to-air
missile and the Bullpup surface-to-surface missile.
On order is an air-launched version of the Penguin
missile. which rs already used in the surface-to-
s.-rr'ace role by the Norwegian navy.
Air defence is provided by four batteries of Nike
Hercules surface-to-air missiles and four light anti-
aircraft battallons with 12.7-mm machine-guns and
Bofors 40-mm L/60 and L/70 anti-aircraft guns.
Norway is leasing 54 Raytheon HAWK surface-to-
air missile launchers, 162 missiles and their com-
mand and control system from the USA.