1939- 1945 Gneisenau: a brilliant compromise, or a waste of resources?
She was to become one of the best-known German war ships of the Second World War, but that actually says very little, for the surface fleet in which she served was incapable of making a real mark on the conflict...
1939 BISMARCK. Launched on 14 February 1939 at the Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss and commissioned on 24 August 1940, the Bismarck required the concentrated fire of half the British Home Fleet to sink her on 27 May 1941. In her day the worlds largest battleship, Bismarck was in service for...
1936 GNEISENAU. Like most of the Third Reichs major surface warships, Gneisenau, and her sister-ship Scharnhorst, with whom she was always linked, were really effective only as components of a powerful fleet-in-being.
SQUANDERED RESOURCES
The two ships of the Scharrihorst class were to...
1936 SCHARNHORST Like much of Germanys surface fleet during World War II, the Scharnhorst and her sister-ship the Gneisenau were really effective only in that they tied down precious British naval assets.
A POLITICAL NECESSITY
The Scharnhorsts were to have been enlarged Deutschland-class...
1976 DETROYAT One of a class of 17 corvettes (which the French Navy classifies as Avisos - Despatch Ships), optimised for coastal anti submarine patrols and colonial duties, with good endurance at the expense of speed.
THE TYPE A-69
The primary mission of the 17 ships of the DEstienne...
1937 BOUCLIER Last of a class of twelve light coastal defence ships, classified as Torpilleurs (torpedo boats), constructed for the French Navy between 1935 and 1937.
THE MELPOMENE CLASS
Under the London Naval Treaty of 1930, signatories were allowed to build small warships of up to 600...
1970 USS AYLWI N. A member of the Knox class of 46 large anti-submarine frigates, construction of which spanned almost a decade from the mid 1960s.
THE KNOX CLASS
Design of what was to become the Knox class began at the start of the 1 960s, and was to be controversial right from the start...
1970 USS SAVANNAH. USS Savannah was one of a class of seven fleet replenishment oilers, led by the Wichita, which went into service with the
US Navy in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
THE WICHITA CLASS
Along with five of her six sisters, the Savannah (AOR4) was built by General Dynamics...
1944 USS MISSOURI. Missouri, or Mighty Mo, gained immortality when the Japanese surrender was signed aboard her in Tokyo Bay in August 1945. She is now a museum at Pearl Harbour.
A TWO-OCEAN NAVY
In 1940, authority was given by Congress to the US Navy to build six 45,000t battleships to...
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