WW1 Royal Navy

United Kingdom (1914) – Seaplane Carrier History’s first purpose-built seaplane carrier HMS Ark Royal is a famous name, as it went back to Elizabethan times (1587) but was used only with this ship and became even more famous in the interwar as the most modern, purpose-built British aircraft carrier. But back in WW1, she was … Read more

United Kingdom (1898) Formidable, Irresistible, Implacable, London, Bulwark, Venerable, Queen, Prince of Wales. The improved Canopus This “superclass” of eight pre-dreadnought battleships was a same time very close to the Majestic and Canopus, yet they had true turrets and were enlarged Canopus essentially. Design changes were made during construction, so that two-subclasses appeared, the London … Read more

United Kingdom (1911) King George V, Centurion, Ajax, Audacious If the King George V class battleships are generally assumed to be the one which soldiered in WW2, there was another one which did the same in the previous war, in 1914-18. These were “super-dreadnoughts” (faster with a heavier artillery) presenting a new aspect of the … Read more

United Kingdom (1899-1906), 10 armoured cruisers: Monmouth, Bedford, Essex, Kent, Berwick, Cornwall, Cumberland, Donegal, Lancaster, Suffolk. The other County Class These armoured cruisers bearing County names answered to the concern of well-armed and well-protected but cheaper ships, especially compared to previous Drake. The concern was to produce a series of armoured cruisers for half the … Read more

Town class cruisers (WWI) United Kingdom (1917) Sub-classes Bristol, Weymouth, Chatham, Birmingham, Birkenhead: 21 protected cruisers The battle-hardened WW1 Town class Cruisers Some of these made it through WW2 as well, and they are less well-known than the 1936 namesake class designed to answer to the Mogami, but they were perhaps the most involved British … Read more

British P-Boats (1915) United Kingdom (1915-18) Submarine-chasers, 43 ships The Mass-built British ww1 sub-chasers The submarine total war in the Atlantic by 1914-18 was no less savage and critical than in the second world war. With her fleet prisoner of the Baltic and confined to the western cost of Denmark, the German Empire unleashed dozens … Read more

United Kingdom (1904) Classes Adventure, Forward, Pathfinder & Sentinel, 8 ships Genesis of British scout cruisers Scout cruisers were the type that spawn the entire generation of ww1 light cruisers fielded by the Royal Navy. Adventure class scout cruisers were, as the title suggests, not designed for the battleline (like armoured cruisers) nor used more … Read more

United Kingdom (1889) HMS Blake, Blenheim HMS Blake in the 1890, in typical peacetime livery, black hull, white superstructures and canvas sand funnels, masts and apparels. The oldest cruisers in British service In 1914 indeed, the oldest 1st class cruisers in service were the two Blake, designed by William White from Chatham Dyd. They were … Read more

Orion class Battleships (1911) United Kingdom (1911) Orion, Monarch, Conqueror, Thunderer. Built in emergency Built in the emergency plan of 1909 (due to public pressure “we want eight and we won’t wait” the programme was raised to six dreadnoughts and two battlecruisers), these four battleships innovated by their main artillery, with a 343 mm caliber … Read more

United Kingdom (1901) Drake, Good Hope, King Alfred, Leviathan. A new class of large armoured cruisers The 1897 Powerful class marked its era as the most impressive cruisers in the Western Hemisphere, but they has been considered since as one of a kind “white elephants”, leading to the construction of more reasonable series of the … Read more