Steel and fire. The best battleships of World War II. American cruisers during the Second World War Ships of World War 2

On February 14, 1939, the German battleship Bismarck was launched at the Blom & Voss shipyard in Hamburg. This ship was named after the first Chancellor of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck, and is rightfully considered one of the most famous ships of the Second World War. Bismarck is famous for the fact that during its only appearance in battle in May 1941, it sank the strongest British cruiser HMS Hood. The British fleet took revenge on the Bismarck only after three days of pursuit. During her service, she was the largest battleship in the world, and the Bismarck class remains the third largest (after the Japanese Yamato and the American Iowa) class of battleships in history.

We decided to talk about other famous warships of the Second World War:

1.Battleship Hood.

HMS "Hood" is a battlecruiser of the British fleet. Named in honor of the English admiral Samuel Hood. During the construction of the battleship, it was planned to take into account the bitter experience gained after the Battle of Jutland, when the British lost three battlecruisers. However, despite all the improvements, the ship was lost on May 24, 1941 years in battle with the German battleship Bismarck.

2. Battleship North Carolina (USA)

Construction of this battleship began at the US Navy Yard in New York on October 27, 1937. The ship was launched on June 13, 1938, but entered service only in 1942 due to some technical malfunctions. When finally all the work was completed, the battleship was sent to the Pacific Ocean.

North Carolina was supposed to cover three aircraft carriers as part of an aircraft carrier group. On August 24, 1942, the battleship successfully defended the carrier group from attacks by the Japanese Air Force, but on September 15, North Carolina was attacked by the submarine I-15 and received a hole. The ship could not be repaired. In the spring of 1962, the battleship was purchased by the North Carolina state administration with donations from patriotic citizens and turned into a museum of military glory.

3. Battleship "Queen Elizabeth" (Great Britain)

Queen Elizabeth belongs to the Royal Navy class of super-dreadnoughts. The lead ship of a series of five battleships was named in honor of the English Queen Elizabeth I. The first and last battleship of the armored era, named after a representative of the Tudor dynasty, was noticeably superior to its contemporary German ships in firepower, armor protection and speed.

The battleship Queen Elizabeth distinguished herself in the battles of the First World War, from February to May 1915 she bombarded Turkish positions near the Dardanelles. In December 1941, the ship was heavily damaged by Italian combat swimmers (Operation Alexandria), and was repaired until 1943. However, even without participating in battles, the super-dreadnought Queen Elizabeth became a symbol of a bygone era, setting the main directions for the development of battleships.

4. Battleship Iowa (USA)

Iowa entered service with the US Navy in 1943. The lead battleship of the series, which also included the ships New Jersey, Missouri and Wisconsin, became a legend due to its exceptional successes in battles with the fleet of Imperial Japan. A thoughtful combination of speed characteristics, firepower and armor made these ships an example of a “floating fortress” that eclipsed the glory of previous dreadnoughts. It is not surprising that the Iowa series ships completed their combat watch only in 1990.

5. Cruiser "Tone" (Japan)

This ship is considered perhaps the best heavy cruiser of its time. Two Japanese Tone-class cruisers (Tone and Chikuma) entered service in 1937 and 1938. Critics of the project noted the severe overloading of these ships, and the unbearable working conditions for their crews: the cramped living quarters of the cruisers could rightfully be called “steel coffins.” Nevertheless, the armor protection, armament of the ship and its performance made the Tone the most advanced cruiser on the eve of World War II.

World War II was the golden age of battleships. The powers that claimed dominance at sea, in the pre-war years and the first few war years, laid down several dozen giant armored ships with powerful main-caliber guns on the slipways. As the practice of combat use of “steel monsters” has shown, battleships acted very effectively against formations of enemy warships, even being in the numerical minority, capable of terrifying convoys of cargo ships, but they can practically do nothing against aircraft, which with a few hits of torpedoes and bombs can even multi-ton giants to the bottom. During World War II, the Germans and Japanese preferred not to risk battleships, keeping them away from the main naval battles, throwing them into battle only at critical moments, using them very ineffectively. In turn, the Americans mainly used battleships to cover aircraft carrier groups and landing troops in the Pacific Ocean. Meet the ten largest battleships of World War II.

10. Richelieu, France

The battleship "Richelieu" of the same class, has a weight of 47,500 tons and a length of 247 meters, eight main caliber guns with a caliber of 380 millimeters located in two towers. Ships of this class were created by the French to counter the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. The ship was launched in 1939 and was adopted by the French Navy a year later. "Richelieu" actually did not take part in the Second World War, except for a collision with a British aircraft carrier group in 1941, during the American operation against Vichy forces in Africa. In the post-war period, the battleship was involved in the war in Indochina, covering naval convoys and supporting French troops with fire during landing operations. The battleship was withdrawn from the fleet and decommissioned in 1967.

9. Jean Bart, France

The French Richelieu-class battleship Jean Bart was launched in 1940, but was never commissioned into the fleet by the beginning of World War II. At the time of the German attack on France, the ship was 75% ready (only one turret of main caliber guns was installed); the battleship was able to travel under its own power from Europe to the Moroccan port of Casablanca. Despite the absence of some weapons, "Jean Bar" managed to take part in hostilities on the side of the Axis countries, repelling attacks by American-British forces during the Allied landing in Morocco. After several hits from the main caliber guns of American battleships and aircraft bombs, the ship sank to the bottom on November 10, 1942. In 1944, the Jean Bart was raised and sent to the shipyard for repairs and additional equipment. The ship became part of the French Navy only in 1949 and never took part in any military operation. In 1961, the battleship was withdrawn from the fleet and scrapped.

8. Tirpitz, Germany

The German Bismarck-class battleship Tirpitz, launched in 1939 and put into service in 1940, had a displacement of 40,153 tons and a length of 251 meters. Eight main guns with a caliber of 380 millimeters were placed in four turrets. Vessels of this class were intended for raider operations against enemy merchant fleets. During the Second World War, after the loss of the battleship Bismarck, the German command preferred not to use heavy ships in the naval theater of operations, in order to avoid their loss. The Tirpitz stood in the fortified Norwegian fjords for almost the entire war, taking part in only three operations to intercept convoys and support landings on the islands. The battleship sank on November 14, 1944, during a raid by British bombers, after being hit by three aerial bombs.

7. Bismarck, Germany

The battleship Bismarck, commissioned in 1940, is the only ship on this list that took part in a truly epic naval battle. For three days, the Bismarck, in the North Sea and the Atlantic, confronted almost the entire British fleet alone. The battleship was able to sink the pride of the British fleet, the cruiser Hood, in battle, and seriously damaged several ships. After numerous hits from shells and torpedoes, the battleship sank on May 27, 1941.

6. Wisconsin, USA

The American battleship "Wisconsin", Iowa class, with a displacement of 55,710 tons, has a length of 270 meters, on board which are three towers with nine 406 mm main caliber guns. The ship was launched in 1943 and entered service in 1944. The ship was retired from the fleet in 1991, but remained in the US Navy Reserve until 2006, becoming the last battleship in the US Navy Reserve. During World War II, the ship was used to escort aircraft carrier groups, support landing operations and bombard Japanese army coastal fortifications. In the post-war period, he participated in the Gulf War.

5. New Jersey, USA

The Iowa-class battleship New Jersey was launched in 1942 and entered service in 1943. The ship underwent several major upgrades and was eventually decommissioned from the fleet in 1991. During the Second World War, she was used to escort aircraft carrier groups, but did not really participate in any serious naval battles. Over the next 46 years, she served in the Korean, Vietnamese and Libyan wars as a support ship.

4. Missouri, USA

The Iowa-class battleship Missouri was launched in 1944, and in the same year became part of the Pacific Fleet. The ship was withdrawn from the fleet in 1992 and turned into a floating museum ship, which is now available for anyone to visit. During World War II, the battleship was used to escort carrier groups and support landings, and did not participate in any serious naval battles. It was on board the Missouri that the Japanese surrender pact was signed, ending World War II. In the post-war period, the battleship participated in only one major military operation, namely the Gulf War, during which the Missouri provided naval gunfire support to a multinational force.

3. Iowa, USA

The battleship Iowa, a class of the same name, was launched in 1942 and entered service a year later, fighting on all ocean fronts of World War II. Initially, he patrolled the northern latitudes of the Atlantic coast of the United States, after which he was transferred to the Pacific Ocean, where he covered aircraft carrier groups, supported landing forces, attacked enemy coastal fortifications, and participated in several naval operations to intercept strike groups of the Japanese fleet. During the Korean War, it provided artillery fire support for ground forces from the sea. In 1990, the Iowa was decommissioned and turned into a museum ship.

2. Yamato, Japan

The pride of the Japanese Imperial Navy, the battleship Yamato was 247 meters long, weighed 47,500 tons, and had on board three turrets with 9 main caliber 460 mm guns. The ship was launched in 1939, but was ready to go to sea on a combat mission only in 1942. During the entire war, the battleship took part in only three real battles, of which only in one was it able to fire at enemy ships from its main caliber guns. Yamato was sunk on April 7, 1945 by enemy aircraft, after being hit by 13 torpedoes and 13 bombs. Today, the Yamato class ships are considered the largest battleships in the world.

1. Musashi, Japan

"Musashi" is the younger brother of the battleship "Yamato", has similar technical characteristics and weapons. The ship was launched in 1940, was put into service in 1942, but was ready for combat only in 1943. The battleship participated in only one serious naval battle, trying to prevent the Allies from landing troops in the Philippines. On October 24, 1944, after a 16-hour battle, the Musashi sank in the Sibuyan Sea after being hit by several torpedoes and aircraft bombs. Musashi, together with her brother Yamato, is considered the largest battleship in the world.

Battleships

In the 1930s Japan, hatching plans for an inevitable clash with the United States, secretly planned to create three of the most powerful battleships that would instill fear in all maritime powers. The development of these superships was entrusted to the Imperial Naval Technical Committee "Kampon".

In just two and a half years of work, the tireless “Campon” presented for consideration 22 (!) design options for a new type of battleship.

In March 1937, the ship's project was approved, and already in November, the lead ship of a series of similar Japanese dreadnoughts, the Yamato, was laid down at the military shipyard in Kure.

Yamato was a real giant. With a length of 263 m, it had a displacement of 72,000 tons and a steam engine with 12 boilers, which allowed the battleship to reach speeds of up to 27 knots. The ship was dressed in powerful armor, the thickness of which in some places reached 406 mm. In addition, to ensure unsinkability, the hull was divided into 1147 (!) waterproof compartments. The ship's 460 mm caliber artillery fired 1,450 kg shells, each of which hit a target at a distance of up to 22.5 miles. In addition to various caliber guns, a total of 61 ships were armed with 6 aircraft.

The trio of Japanese battleships - Yamato, Musashi and Shinano - surpassed in displacement, speed and armament not only the ships available at the beginning of the 1940s. from the USA and other countries, but also everything that could be built by a potential enemy in the next decade. They seemed perfect. Yamato was the flagship of the Japanese fleet. In one of the battles, he sank an American aircraft carrier and three destroyers. It seemed that the Yamato was invincible, but it was still sunk on April 7, 1945: it took ten torpedoes and twenty-three bombs dropped from aircraft. The same fate befell Musashi. Having received numerous holes from eleven torpedoes and twenty bombs, the colossus sank to the bottom.

Nevertheless, the battleships that entered the sea roads of World War II under the flags of America and European powers were also not small ships. Their displacement reached 50-65,000 tons. The main artillery of the battleships, which “spitted out” more than 10 tons of shells in one salvo, consisted of 6-12 guns with a caliber of 356-406 mm, mounted two, three or four in armored turrets. The universal artillery of a battleship usually included from nine to twenty 127-152 mm guns and about a hundred anti-aircraft guns.

In 1940, the Americans laid down the first two ships of a new series of six battleships - Iowa and New Jersey. These powerful ships with a total displacement of 57,000 tons, which had seaplanes on board, were intended to operate as part of high-speed aircraft carrier formations. To increase the speed of the battleship to 33 knots, it was necessary to lighten the side armor, the thickness of which was only 307 mm. The Americans hid this fact for a long time, and the enemy was convinced that these battleships had 460 mm armor. Despite their large length of 270.4 m, American battleships were very maneuverable.
In December 1943, the Iowa delivered President Roosevelt to the shores of North Africa, from where he went to the famous Tehran Conference. After this, the battleship was assigned to the US Pacific Flotilla: she had to fight in the Marshall Islands and take part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and the battleship's powerful artillery supported the final assault on Okinawa.

Before the war, the USSR also began building its own battleships. In 1938-1940 At the largest shipyards, several warships of the "Soviet Union" type were laid down. The total displacement of these ships was 65,150 tons, and the speed was 28 knots.
It was planned to arm the “Soviet Union” with 9 main caliber 406 mm cannons. The remaining guns (31 units) had a caliber from 127 to 237 mm. In addition, the battleship was supposed to become an aircraft carrier - they decided to install a catapult and four aircraft on board. The Great Patriotic War interrupted the construction of Soviet dreadnoughts - none of them were ever launched.

The naval strategy of the states of the anti-Hitler coalition was significantly influenced by the construction of several large German battleships. One of them was the Tirpitz, whose displacement was 53,500 tons, length - 250.5 m, width - 36 m, and crew - 1905 people. The German battleship was very fast, it easily reached a speed of 31 knots.
"Tirpitz" was simply stuffed with a wide variety of artillery. By 1943, at the height of the war, the battleship's armament included 132 guns, including 8 main 380-mm caliber guns, and 8 torpedo tubes. On board the battleship, four combat aircraft were located in special hangars.

Despite her fearsome combat power, not all of this dreadnought's operations were successful. He was too tasty a morsel for submarines. In 1942, during an attack on an enemy convoy off the coast of Norway, the Tirpitz was attacked by the Soviet submarine K-21. Having received damage, he was forced to move to his base, but was soon located by an English submarine and escaped from it in shameful flight.
In September 1943, the German battleship was again attacked by British submarines - small ones like the Midget. Enemy torpedoes caused serious damage to it. A shell from an English bomber finished the job.
In November 1944, he landed in the aft artillery magazines of the Tirpitz. A powerful explosion shook the battleship, which immediately capsized and sank to the bottom.

Cruisers

The development of the class of heavy cruisers began with the Washington Naval Agreement of 1922, which limited the construction of super-large warships - mainly battleships and aircraft carriers. As for the cruisers, the clauses of the Agreement only spurred the arms race. Realizing that England is unlikely to scrap its newest cruisers, the Haukiis, experts decided to limit the armament and displacement of all future cruisers to the characteristics of ships of this type. No one thought that countries that had not previously intended to acquire heavy cruisers would immediately begin building them, adjusting them to the “Washington restrictions” - 10,000 tons of displacement, maximum gun caliber - 203 mm.

After 1922, heavy cruisers began to be built in all countries that signed the Agreement - in the USA, France, Japan and Italy. Perhaps one of the best “Washington-type” cruisers was the French ship “Alger”. The perfect contours of its 186-meter hull made it possible to “squeeze” the maximum possible speed - 31 knots - out of the relatively low-power turbine installation. Similar, but slightly better armored cruisers were built in the States.

However, after a few years, interest in Alger-class cruisers began to disappear. The fact is that powerful but heavy guns were completely unnecessary when performing cruising missions. In addition, weakened armor made these ships very vulnerable during a squadron battle.
In the early 1930s. everyone again turned their attention to light cruisers of smaller displacement with small caliber guns, but very fast.
For example, the artillery caliber on the 5886-ton French cruiser Emile Bertin, built in 1933, was 152 mm, but the maximum speed exceeded 39 knots.

Considering the French to be its main enemy in the upcoming war, Italy began building light cruisers of the condottieri type, which, in its opinion, were capable of defeating high-speed French destroyers and leaders. With a displacement of 5200-7000 tons, the condottieri developed a speed of 37-42 knots, carrying on board eight 152 mm guns, fourteen 37-100 mm guns and eight anti-aircraft guns. The price to pay for speed was “shell” armor no thicker than 25 mm. As a result, all the “condottieri” were destroyed in the first year of the war.

The further evolution of light cruisers followed the path of increasing armor at the expense of some loss of speed. In 1934, the Germans built the light cruiser Nuremberg, which was intended for operations on long-distance ocean communications. The ship had a displacement of 6980 tons and an average speed of 32 knots. The cruiser could cover 5,700 miles in one voyage. Less than a year after the launch of the Nuremberg, Germany threw off all the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and began building heavy cruisers at the very moment when all the maritime powers decided to send them to the scrapheap. The Germans carefully hid everything related to their heavy cruisers, so for England the appearance in 1939 of the cruiser Admiral Hipper, armed with eight 203-mm guns, was an unpleasant surprise. Following him, Germany launched the heavy Blucher and Prinz Eugene. Three heavy cruisers, coupled with six light ones - that’s the entire fascist cruising fleet with which they started World War II.

On the first day of the Great Patriotic War, the naval artillery of the cruiser Kirov, stationed on the Ust-Dvina roadstead, opened fire on German bombers attacking Riga. Kirov was not the only Soviet cruiser to meet the enemy fully armed. In the pre-war years, the small cruising squadron of the Soviets, consisting of only 4 ships, was replenished with ships of the same type as the Kirov - the light cruisers Maxim Gorky, Voroshilov and Slava.

Armored cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov"

The last two cruisers became part of the Black Sea Fleet. More than once they had to break through to Sevastopol, delivering troops and ammunition to the besieged port. By the way, “Slava” (displacement 9700 tons, length 191.2 m, speed 36.6 knots) was the first Soviet ship to be equipped with a radar station. In 1942, the explosion of an enemy torpedo that overtook the cruiser near Feodosia tore off the stern of the cruiser. But the sailors did not want to part with their seemingly mortally wounded ship. The repairmen managed to do the impossible: they cut off the stern of the unfinished cruiser Frunze and securely “sewed” it to the damaged Slava. The cruiser continued to fight, went through the entire war with honor and remained in service right up until 1973.

But nine German cruisers faced an inglorious fate. Many of them shamefully capitulated. The cruisers Nuremberg and Prinz Eugene surrendered in Copenhagen. “Priits Eugene” was especially unlucky: it fell into the hands of the Americans and was included in the experimental squadron on which nuclear bomb explosions were tested at Bikini Atoll.

The Americans have always regarded the small displacement of a ship as an obstacle to fulfilling the main task of the American fleet - to wage war away from its native shores. However, in the 1930s. and they were captured by the fashion for light cruisers. Having churned out 27 Cleveland-class light cruisers at once, the Americans realized that they needed to return to familiar and reliable heavy cruisers.
They increased the length of the Cleveland by 20 m, installed nine 203 mm guns and numerous anti-aircraft guns on it. After that it was renamed "Baltimore". It became the prototype for a huge number of new series of American cruisers - both heavy and light. The descendants of the Baltimore are considered to be the three best heavy American cruisers that left the stocks after the war - Newport News, Salem and Des Moines. Due to the heavy armor and heavy 203 mm guns, their displacement was increased to 17,000 tons.

Since 1952, large attack aircraft carriers have begun to be laid down at American shipyards. These giants, filled with ammunition and aviation fuel, turned out to be so vulnerable to aerial bombs and submarine torpedoes that they needed the protection of much more powerful ships than heavy cruisers. Thus ended the era of conventional, or artillery, cruisers, which opened the way for a new type of ship - URO (guided missile) cruisers.

Aircraft carriers

The first successful takeoff of aircraft from the deck of a ship was carried out on November 14, 1910 from the American cruiser Birmingham in Chesapeake Bay. The first aircraft carriers appeared already in 1917, first from the British, and then from the USA and Japan. But before this became possible, seaplanes and air transport vessels designed specifically for them were created.

Back in 1913, the Russian engineer Shishkov designed high-speed air transport. With the outbreak of World War I, the Russian Black Sea Fleet was replenished with several air transporters, each of which could carry up to seven aircraft. The cruiser Almaz, converted into an aircraft carrier, and the Nikolai air transport showed the high efficiency of naval aviation when shelling the Bosphorus fortifications in March 1915. However, until 1930, aircraft carriers were created mainly from converted battleships, cruisers and passenger ships.

In 1931-1936. specially built aircraft carriers Yorktown (25,500 tons, USA), Ark Royal (27,600 tons, England) and others began to appear in all the fleets of major maritime powers. Serial construction of aircraft carriers began only during the Second World War. The impetus for this was the defeat of part of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Japanese carrier-based aircraft with casual ease sent 4 battleships to the bottom that day, and disabled 4 more. In addition, 3 cruisers and 3 destroyers were severely damaged, and about 250 aircraft were destroyed at the airfields.
The Japanese themselves lost only 29 aircraft out of 353 that took part in the raid.

This successful Japanese operation demonstrated the exceptional capabilities of aircraft carriers and radically changed attitudes towards them. As a result, 169 aircraft carriers were built in the USA, Japan and England alone. Eight times more than there were before the war. These ships also changed qualitatively - they could already take on board up to 100 aircraft with a launch weight of 12-14 tons. In addition, the combat power of aircraft carriers increased due to the greater speed and altitude of fighters, the range and carrying capacity of bombers.

During World War II, aircraft carriers, depending on their purpose, were divided into heavy (attack), light and convoy carriers. The first were intended for carrier-based aircraft to carry out torpedo and bomb attacks on ships and coastal targets, the second accompanied large formations of warships, and the third ensured the safety of convoys.

The marching order of four different modern aircraft carriers - USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), Charles De Gaulle, HMS Ocean (L12) and USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) accompanied by escort ships, 2002. The ships move much closer to each other than they would in combat.

The largest number of aircraft carriers was built in the United States - 137 units, including 23 heavy Essex-class, 50 Casablanca-class convoy carriers and 9 light squadron aircraft carriers created on the basis of the Cleveland cruisers. During the war, most convoy aircraft carriers were built on the basis of transport ships. In England, during the war, four heavy aircraft carriers, Illustrious, Idomitable, and two Implicable types, came into service. The British light aircraft carriers, unlike the American ones, were specially built.

In Japan, in turn, 3 aircraft carriers of the Unryu type and one each of Taiho and Shinano were built. True, the pride and hope of the empire - the giant Shinano, which had a displacement of 71,890 tons and a speed of 27 knots, powerful 200 mm armor, 16 130 mm caliber guns, 145 anti-aircraft guns and 12 rocket launchers - was sunk very prosaically. This happened just ten days after it was launched. During the passage from the port of Yokosuka to Tokyo, an American submarine fired six torpedoes at him.

Destroyers and patrol ships

In the period between the two world wars, the development of destroyers followed different paths. Along with the construction of destroyers with a displacement of about 1,500 tons and small-displacement destroyers of about 900 tons, ships with a displacement of 3,000-3,500 tons, which were called leaders, were launched. Leaders were the flagships of destroyer formations and carried more powerful weapons. But during the Second World War, the combat capabilities of destroyers constantly grew. Artillery armament was strengthened, rocket launchers, sonars and radar stations were installed. The displacement also increased significantly, and therefore the name “leader” lost its meaning.

Another class of ships, the mass construction of which began only during the Second World War, were patrol ships. Their appearance was associated with the growing role of offensive ships such as destroyers, torpedo boats and submarines.
The patrol ships of this period had a displacement of 1000-1500 tons and were multi-purpose. They were intended to guard large ships, escort transport and patrol duty. They were also entrusted with the search and destruction of enemy submarines in coastal waters, as well as anti-submarine protection of convoys. Depending on the tasks performed, “hunters” (as they were also called) were divided into large (120-450 tons) and small (20-100 tons).

To lay minefields, special vessels were used - minelayers. To find mines laid by the enemy, minesweepers were needed. As experience has shown, minesweepers are the only ships that had to “fight” for several years after the end of hostilities. For safe navigation, they cleared fairways and entire areas of the seas from mines.

– they were undeservedly forgotten and buried under the dust of time. Who is now interested in the pogrom at Savo Island, artillery duels in the Java Sea and at Cape Esperance? After all, everyone is already convinced that naval battles in the Pacific Ocean are limited to the raid on Pearl Harbor and the battle at Midway Atoll.

In the real war in the Pacific, cruisers were one of the key operating forces of the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy - this class accounted for a large share of sunk ships and vessels from both warring sides. The cruisers provided close-range air defense for squadrons and aircraft carrier formations, covered convoys and carried out patrol missions on sea lanes. If necessary, they were used as armored “tow trucks,” towing damaged ships out of the combat zone. But the main value of the cruisers was revealed in the second half of the war: the six- and eight-inch guns did not stop talking for a minute, “smashing” the Japanese defensive perimeter on the Pacific Islands.

In daylight and dark, in all weather conditions, through an impenetrable wall of tropical downpour and a milky veil of fog, the cruisers continued to rain lead on the head of the unfortunate enemy, locked on tiny atolls in the middle of the Great Ocean. Multi-day artillery preparation and fire support for the landing force - it was in this role that the heavy and light cruisers of the US Navy shone most brightly - both in the Pacific Ocean and in the European waters of the Old World. Unlike the monstrous battleships, the number of American cruisers participating in the battles was close to eight dozen (the Yankees riveted 27 units of the Clevelands alone), and the lack of particularly large-caliber artillery on board was compensated by the high rate of fire of eight-inch and smaller guns.

The cruisers had enormous destructive power - the 203 mm shell of the 8"/55 gun had a mass of 150 kilograms and left the barrel at a speed exceeding two speeds of sound. The rate of fire of the 8"/55 naval gun reached 4 rounds/min. In total, the heavy cruiser Baltimore carried nine similar artillery systems located in three main-caliber turrets.

In addition to impressive offensive capabilities, the cruisers had good armor, excellent survivability and a very high speed of up to 33 knots (>60 km/h).
High speed and security were highly appreciated by sailors. It is no coincidence that admirals so often flew their flag on cruisers - spacious work spaces and an amazing set of electronic equipment made it possible to equip a full-fledged flagship command post on board the ship.

USS Indianapolis (CA-35)

At the end of the war, it was the cruiser Indianapolis that was entrusted with the honorable and responsible mission of delivering nuclear charges to the island air base of Tinian.

Cruisers that took part in World War II are divided into two large categories: those built before and after the war (meaning the late 30s and later). As for pre-war cruisers, the great variety of designs had one important thing in common: most pre-war cruisers were victims of the Washington and London Naval Agreements. As time has shown, all the countries that signed the agreement, one way or another, committed fraud with the displacement of the cruisers under construction, exceeding the prescribed limit of 10 thousand tons by 20% or more. Alas, we still didn’t get anything worthwhile - we couldn’t prevent the World War, but we wasted a million tons of steel on damaged ships.

Like all Washingtonians, American cruisers built in the 1920s - the first half of the 1930s had a skewed ratio of combat characteristics: low security (the thickness of the main battery turrets of the cruiser Pensacola barely exceeded 60 mm) in exchange for firepower and a solid range swimming. In addition, the American projects “Pensacola” and “Notrehampton” turned out to be underutilized - the designers were so carried away by “squeezing” the ships that they could not effectively use the entire displacement reserve. It is no coincidence that in the navy these masterpieces of shipbuilding received the eloquent name “tin cans”.

Heavy cruiser "Wichita"

The American "Washington" cruisers of the second generation - "New Orleans" (7 units built) and "Wichita" (the only ship of its type) turned out to be much more balanced combat units, however, also not without shortcomings. This time, the designers were able to maintain decent speed, armor and armament in exchange for such an intangible parameter as “survivability” (linear arrangement of the power plant, denser layout - the ship had a high chance of dying from being hit by a single torpedo).

The outbreak of the world war overnight annulled all world treaties. Having thrown off the shackles of all kinds of restrictions, shipbuilders quickly presented projects for balanced warships. Instead of the previous “tin cans”, formidable combat units appeared on the stocks - true masterpieces of shipbuilding. Armament, armor, speed, seaworthiness, cruising range, survivability - the engineers did not allow compromises in any of these factors.

The combat qualities of these ships turned out to be so excellent that many of them continued to be used by the US Navy and other countries even three to four decades after the end of the war!

Frankly, in an open ship-versus-ship naval battle format, each of the cruisers presented below will prove stronger than any of its modern descendants. An attempt to pit some rusty Cleveland or Baltimore against the missile cruiser Ticonderoga will be disastrous for a modern ship - approaching a couple of tens of kilometers, the Baltimore will tear the Ticonderoga apart like a hot water bottle. The possibility of Ticonderoga using a missile with a firing range of 100 kilometers or more in this case does not solve anything - old armored ships are not very susceptible to such “primitive” weapons as warheads of the Harpoon or Exocet missiles.

I invite readers to get acquainted with the most enchanting examples of American shipbuilding during the war years. Moreover, there is something to see there...

Brooklyn-class light cruisers

Number of units in the series – 9
Years of construction: 1935-1939.
Total displacement 12,207 tons (design value)
Crew 868 people
Main power plant: 8 boilers, 4 Parsons turbines, 100,000 hp.
Maximum travel 32.5 knots
Cruising range 10,000 miles at 15 knots.
Main armor belt – 140 mm, maximum armor thickness – 170 mm (main battery turret walls)

Weapons:
- 15 x 152 mm main battery guns;
- 8 x 127 mm universal guns;
- 20-30 Bofors anti-aircraft guns, caliber 40 mm*;
- 20 Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns of 20 mm caliber*;
- 2 catapults, 4 seaplanes.
* typical Brooklyn air defense in the 40s

The close breath of the World War forced us to reconsider approaches to ship design. At the beginning of 1933, the Yankees received alarming information about the laying of Mogami-class cruisers in Japan, armed with 15 six-inch guns in five turrets. In reality, the Japanese committed a major forgery: the standard displacement of the Mogami was 50% greater than stated - these were heavy cruisers, which, in the future, were planned to be armed with ten 203 mm cannons (which happened at the beginning of the war).

But in the early 1930s, the Yankees did not know about the insidious plans of the samurai and, in order to keep up with the “probable enemy,” they rushed to design a light cruiser with five main battery turrets!
Despite the current restrictions of the Washington Treaty and non-standard design conditions, the Brooklyn-class cruiser turned out to be damn successful. Impressive offensive potential, coupled with excellent armor and good seaworthiness.

All nine built cruisers took an active part in the Second World War, and (one might be surprised!) none of them died in battle. The Brooklyns came under bomb and torpedo attacks, artillery fire and kamikaze attacks - alas, each time the ships remained afloat and returned to service after repairs. Off the coast of Italy, the cruiser "Savannah" was hit by a German guided super-bomb "Fritz-X", however, this time, despite the colossal destruction and death of 197 sailors, the ship was able to limp to the base in Malta.

The cruiser Phoenix off the coast of the Philippines, 1944

Argentine cruiser General Belgrano (ex-Phoenix) with the bow torn off by an explosion, May 2, 1982

The damaged cruiser Savannah off the coast of Italy, 1943. The roof of the third main battery turret was hit by a 1400 kg radio-controlled bomb "Fritz-X"

But the most amazing adventures befell the cruiser Phoenix - this joker deftly escaped from a Japanese attack in Pearl Harbor without receiving a scratch. But he could not escape his fate - 40 years later he was sunk by a British submarine during the Falklands War.

Atlanta-class light cruisers

Number of units in the series – 8

Total displacement 7,400 tons
Crew 673 people
Main power plant: 4 boilers, 4 steam turbines, 75,000 hp.
Maximum travel 33 knots
Cruising range 8,500 miles at 15 knots
Main armor belt 89 mm.

Weapons:
- 16 x 127 mm universal guns;
- 16 automatic anti-aircraft guns of 27 mm caliber (the so-called “Chicago piano”);
on the latest ships of the series they were replaced with 8 Bofors assault rifles;
- up to 16 Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns of 20 mm caliber;
- 8 torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber;
- by the end of the war, sonar and a set of depth charges appeared on the ships.

Some of the most beautiful cruisers of World War II. Specialized air defense ships capable of bringing down 10,560 kg of hot steel on the enemy in a minute - the salvo of the small cruiser was amazing.
Alas, in practice it turned out that the US Navy did not suffer from a shortage of 127 mm universal anti-aircraft guns (hundreds of destroyers were armed with similar guns), but medium-caliber artillery was sometimes lacking. In addition to the weakness of its weapons, Atlanta suffered from low security - due to its small size and too “thin” armor.

As a result, out of eight ships, two were killed in battle: the lead Atlanta was killed by torpedoes and enemy artillery fire in a firefight near Guadalcanal (November 1942). Another one, the Juneau, perished on the same day: the damaged ship was finished off by a Japanese submarine.

Cleveland-class light cruisers

The number of units in the series is 27. Another 3 were completed according to the improved Fargo project, 9 - as light ones
aircraft carriers Independence. The remaining dozen unfinished hulls were scrapped in 1945 - many of the cruisers had been launched by that time and were being completed afloat (the planned number of ships of the project was 52 units)

Years of construction: 1940-1945.
Total displacement 14,130 tons (project)
Crew 1255 people
Main power plant: 4 boilers, 4 steam turbines, 100,000 hp.
Maximum travel 32.5 knots
Cruising range 11,000 miles at 15 knots
Main armor belt 127 mm. Maximum armor thickness – 152 mm (frontal part of main battery turrets)

Weapons:
- 12 x 152 mm main caliber guns;

- up to 28 Bofors anti-aircraft guns;
- up to 20 Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns;

The first truly full-fledged cruiser of the US Navy. Powerful, balanced. With excellent security and offensive capabilities. Ignore the prefix “light”. Cleveland is as light as a cast iron locomotive. In the countries of the Old World, such ships are, without exaggeration, classified as “heavy cruisers.” Behind the dry numbers “gun caliber/armor thickness” there are no less interesting things hidden: a good location of anti-aircraft artillery, relative spaciousness of the interior, a triple bottom in the area of the engine rooms...

But Cleveland had its own “Achilles heel” - overload and, as a result, problems with stability. The situation was so serious that on the last ships of the series they began to remove the conning tower, catapult and rangefinders from towers No. 1 and No. 4. Obviously, it was the problem with low stability that was the reason for the short life of the Clevelands - almost all of them left the ranks of the US Navy before the start of the Korean War. Only three cruisers - Galveston, Oklahoma City and Little Rock (in the title illustration of the article) underwent extensive modernization and continued to serve as cruisers carrying guided missile weapons (Talos air defense system). We managed to take part in the Vietnam War.

The Cleveland project went down in history as the most numerous series of cruisers. However, despite their high combat qualities and the large number of ships built, the Clevelands arrived too late to see the real “smoke of naval battles”; Among the trophies of these cruisers, only Japanese destroyers are listed (it is worth noting that the Yankees never suffered from a lack of equipment - in the first phase of the war, pre-war cruisers, of which the Americans had as many as 40, actively fought)

Most of the time, the Clevelands were engaged in shelling coastal targets - the Mariana Islands, Saipan, Mindanao, Tinian, Guam, Mindoro, Lingayen, Palawan, Formosa, Kwajalein, Palau, Bonin, Iwo Jima... It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of these cruisers to the defeat of the Japanese defensive perimeter .

Anti-aircraft missile launch from the cruiser "Little Rock"

During the hostilities, none of the ships sank, however, serious losses could not be avoided: the cruiser Houston was badly damaged - having received two torpedoes on board, it took on 6,000 tons of water and barely reached the forward base on Ulithi Atoll. But Birmingham had a particularly hard time - the cruiser was helping to put out fires on board the damaged aircraft carrier Princeton when the aircraft carrier's ammunition detonated. The Birmingham was almost capsized by a blast wave, 229 people on the cruiser were killed, and more than 400 sailors were injured.

Baltimore-class heavy cruisers

Number of units in the series – 14
Years of construction: 1940-1945.
Total displacement 17,000 tons
Crew 1700 people
Power plant - four-shaft: 4 boilers, 4 steam turbines, 120,000 hp.
Maximum travel 33 knots
Cruising range 10,000 miles at 15 knots
Main armor belt - 150 mm. Maximum armor thickness – 203 mm (main battery turrets)

Weapons:
- 9 x 203 mm main caliber guns;
- 12 x 127 mm universal guns;
- up to 48 Bofors anti-aircraft guns;
- up to 24 Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns;
- 2 catapults, 4 seaplanes.

“Baltimore” is not ketchup with pieces of ripe vegetables, this thing is much richer. The apotheosis of American shipbuilding in the cruiser class. All prohibitions and restrictions have been lifted. The design incorporates the latest achievements of the American military-industrial complex during the war years. Radars, monstrous guns, heavy armor. A super hero with maximum advantages and minimum disadvantages.

Like the lighter Cleveland-class cruisers, the Baltimores arrived only at a preliminary stage in the Pacific - the first four cruisers entered service in 1943, another in 1944, and the remaining nine in 1945. As a result, most of the damage to the Baltimores was caused by storms, typhoons and navigational errors by the crews. Nevertheless, they made a certain contribution to the victory - heavy cruisers literally “hollowed out” the Marcus and Wake atolls, supported the landing forces on countless islands and atolls of the Pacific Ocean with fire, participated in raids to the Chinese coast and launched attacks on Japan.

Missile and artillery cruiser "Boston". Launch of the Terrier anti-aircraft missile, 1956
The war was over, but the Baltimores did not think of retiring - heavy naval artillery soon came in handy in Korea and Vietnam. A number of cruisers of this type became the world's first carriers of anti-aircraft missiles - by 1955, the Boston and Canberra received the Terrier air defense system. Three more ships underwent global modernization according to the Albany project, with the complete dismantling of superstructures and artillery and subsequent conversion into missile cruisers.

Just 4 days after the Indianapolis delivered atomic bombs to the island. Tinian, the cruiser was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-58. Of the 1,200 crew members, only 316 were saved. The disaster in the ocean became the largest in terms of the number of casualties in the history of the US Navy

To fully understand the picture: a battleship is a class of heavy armored artillery warships with a displacement of 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length of 150 to 280 m, with a main caliber gun of 280-460 mm, with a crew of 1500-2800 people.

Battleships became an evolutionary development of battleships in the second half of the 19th century. But before they were sunk, written off, and turned into museums, the ships had to go through a lot. Let's talk about this.

Richelieu

Length - 247.9 m
Displacement - 47 thousand tons

Named after the famous French statesman Cardinal Richelieu. It was built with the aim of stopping the raging Italian fleet. I never saw real combat, except for participation in the Senegalese operation in 1940. Sadness: in 1968, “Richelieu” was sent for scrap. Only one of his guns survived and was installed in the port of Brest as a monument.

Source: wikipedia.org

Bismarck

Length - 251 m
Displacement - 51 thousand tons

Left the shipyard in 1939. The Fuhrer of the entire Third Reich, Adolf Hitler himself, was present at the launch. The Bismarck is one of the most famous ships of World War II. He heroically destroyed the English flagship, the cruiser Hood. He paid for this just as heroically: they organized a real hunt for the battleship, and finally caught it. In May 1941, British ships and torpedo bombers sank Bismarck after a long battle.

Source: wikipedia.org

Tirpitz

Length - 253.6 m
Displacement - 53 thousand tons

Although the second largest battleship of Nazi Germany was launched in 1939, it was practically unable to take part in real battles. By his presence, he simply kept the hands of the Arctic convoy of the USSR and the British fleet tied. In 1944, Tirpitz was sunk as a result of an air raid. And then with the help of special super-heavy bombs like Tallboy.

Source: wikipedia.org

Yamato

Length - 263 m
Crew - 2500 people

Yamato is one of the largest battleships in the world and the largest warship in history ever sunk in a naval battle. Until October 1944, he practically did not participate in battles. So, “little things”: he fired at American ships.

On April 6, 1945, he went out on another campaign, the goal was to confront the Yankee troops that had landed on Okinawa. As a result, for 2 hours in a row, the Yamato and other Japanese ships were in hell - they were fired upon by 227 American deck ships. The largest battleship in Japan caught 23 hits from aerial bombs and torpedoes → the bow compartment exploded → the ship sank. Of the crew, 269 people survived, 3 thousand sailors died.

Source: wikipedia.org

Musashi

Length - 263 m
Displacement - 72 thousand tons

The second largest Japanese ship from World War II. Launched in 1942. The fate of “Musashi” is tragic:

the first trip - a hole in the bow (torpedo attack by an American submarine);
last trip (October 1944, in the Sibuyan Sea) - came under attack by American planes, caught 30 torpedoes and aerial bombs;
Along with the ship, its captain and more than a thousand crew members died.

On March 4, 2015, 70 years after its death, the sunken Musashi in the waters of Sibuyan was discovered by American millionaire Paul Allen. The battleship rested at a depth of one and a half kilometers.

Source: wikipedia.org

Soviet Union

Length - 269 m
Displacement - 65 thousand tons

Sovki did not build battleships. They tried only once - in 1938 they began to lay down the “Soviet Union” (Project 23 battleship). By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the ship was 19% ready. But the Germans began to actively advance, and terribly frightened Soviet politicians. The latter, with trembling hands, signed a decree to stop the construction of the battleship, throwing all their efforts into stamping the “thirty-fours”. After the war, the ship was dismantled for metal.