WW1 Royal Navy

Renown class battlecruisers (1916)

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HMS Repulse, Renown (1916) Veterans of two wars: The Renown class battlecruisers were initially planned as two extra battleships of the Revenge class, or which five were already in construction. Admiral Sir Jackie Fisher was rebuffed by the admiralty for more battlecruisers, but after the first battles of 1914, opinion changed, and Fisher convinced Churchill … Read more

WW1 British Submarines

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WW1 British Submarines United Kingdom (1890-1918) About 350 subs 1885-1921. Overview of British ww1 submarines In the general sense, the very conservative Royal Navy always considered surface warfare like the only “honorable way” to do battle on the seven seas. Submarines were either not considered as to be trusted (not proven) in the 1890s, and … Read more

Canopus class battleships (1897)

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United Kingdom (1897) Canopus, Albion, Glory, Goliath, Ocean, Vengeance Successors of the Majestic Five ships of a new class of battleships were ordered on the 1896 plan. A sixth was on the 1897 plan. They were defined as faster versions of the Majestic, and at the same time to operate in the Far East to … Read more

Majestic class battleships (1894)

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United Kingdom (1894) Majestic, Caesar, Hannibal, Jupiter, Illustrious, Magnificient, Mars, Prince Georges, Victorious The Majestic class were barbette pre-dreadnough battleships, the largest of their time, with the most numerous class of their day. The idea was still to be ahead of the next two major navies combined at the time when planned in 1888, Russia … Read more

Iron Duke class Dreadnoughts (1911)

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United Kingdom (1911) Iron Duke, Marlborough, Benbow, Emperor of India The last prewar dreadnought class Last dreadnoughts before the revolutionary Queen Elisabeth class largely completed during the war, the Iron Dukes were the last of a lineage started with the HMS Dreadnought a few years ago. The class consisted in four ships which design was … Read more

Powerful class Armoured Cruisers (1895)

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United Kingdom (1895) – HMS Powerful, HMS Terrible The Anglo-Russian naval arms race Before the better known anglo-german naval arms race of 1906, the British press were scared, as the government and ultimately the Navy that had no apparent answer, to the known construction in 1890 of a massive Russian cruiser, Rurik, specifically intended in … Read more

Active class Cruisers

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RN (1911): Active, Amphion, Fearless The last prewar scout cruisers: The Active class were three ships closely derived from previous Blonde/Boadicea scout cruisers. This third group only counted HMS Amphion and HMS Active, as HMS Fearless was built on similar plans a few months later. These three units were operational in 1913. With a few … Read more

Lion class Battlecruisers (1910)

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Lion class Battlecruisers (1910) HMS Lion, Princess Royal, Queen Mary Beatty’s “splendid cats” at Jutland were a source of pride in 1914… but a source of embarrassment in June 1916. The fatidic day of the battle the admiral said famously “what is wrong with our b… ships today ?” after seeing Queen Mary blowing out. … Read more

Invincible class Battlecruisers (1907)

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RN (1907) Battlecruisers: HMS Invincible, Indomitable, Inflexible The Invincible class were the world’s first battlecruisers. A rare breed, since it was only tried by four nations, UK, Germany, Japan and the US (attempted, the converted to CVs). The way that lead to them was as fascinating as for the Dreadnought, and also entirely due to … Read more

Admiralty M-class destroyers

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13 RN Destroyers (1914): HMS Matchless, Murray, Myngs, Milne, Moorsom, Morris, Mansfield*, Mento*, Mastiff**, Meteor**, Miranda***, Minos***, Manly***. The Admiralty M were the first British (and world’s) mass-built destroyer class ever. They were an improvement of the L (Laforey) class but at the insistance of Winston Churchill, first lord of the admiralty, they were planned … Read more