Note: Because of computer graphics, the drawings may appear to be over-shaded and difficult to look at on the screen, but they should print out much more nicely at their real size. Long drawings are vertical for ease of printing.
American:
Carriers:
- ENTERPRISE was the sole survivor of her class of YORKTOWN and the later HORNET (as well as the shortened WASP).
Battleships:
- NORTH CAROLINA and WASHINGTON were modern battleships built just before the war, with the crushing U.S. 16"/400mm naval guns which smashed anything they were used against. If WASHINGTON (accompanying DUKE OF YORK) had been in proper position and intercepted BISARCK's superbattleship sister TIRPITZ during the Convoy PQ17 debacle, the TIRPITZ would have been pounded down into the sea in short order.
They had an eccentricity of randomly tipping their bows down deeply into the ocean in certain wave harmonics, though, which greatly alarmed their crews!
- SOUTH DAKOTA was the first of 4 wartime construction battleships in a shorter, more compact and efficient size and having the same armament. MASSACHUSSETTS shut down anchored French superbattleship JEAN BART very quickly, in the Battle for Oran, Nov42. These would be followed by the 200' longer, beautiful IOWAs.
Cruisers:
- SAN FRANCISCO, MINNEAPOLIS, NEW ORLEANS, TUSCALOOSA, et al heavy cruisers -- nine 8"/203mm guns. Their bridge configurations were different in 1942.
- INDIANAPOLIS, PORTLAND heavy cruisers -- nine 8" guns.
- WICHITA was a heavy cruiser on a BROOKLYN/HELENA hull, having the usual nine 8" guns.
- HELENA was from the modern prewar light cruiser class with fifteen! 6"/152mm guns. She, ST. LOUIS, and SAVANNAH had their dual-purpose 5" secondary guns mounted in twin turrets, unlike the other ships of the BOISE class.
- ATLANTA, JUNEAU, et al were light, antiaircraft cruisers -- sixteen! 5"/127mm guns and eight 21" torpedo tubes.
Although il-suited to surface combat against heavy units, both ATLANTA and JUNEAU were desperately thrown into the First Battle of Guadalcanal. ATLANTA was wrecked above the waterline -- Admiral Norman Scott dying on her bridge when mistakenly hit by SAN FRANCISCO -- and had to be scuttled the following day.
JUNEAU survived a torpedo hit during the battle to be sunk by a submarine while withdrawing on the following day. Of her 700+ crew, only 10 survived the explosion and lack of rescue (blamed on HELENA's Captain Hoover but really Admiral Halsey's theater command responsibility). All 5 Sullivan brothers from Waterloo Iowa died with her. The Navy immediately ordered brothers off the same ships and commissioned a FLETCHER class destroyer -- see below -- THE SULLIVANS.
Destroyers:
- FLETCHER was the best destroyer class of the war, once the early and unforgivable problems with our torpedoes were finally admitted and fixed (in 1943). Five 5" guns, ten 21" torpedo tubes, and many medium and light antiaircraft guns.
- BENSON was the final prewar destroyer class which, like most of our modern prewar destroyers, was found to be topheavy and/or deficient in antiaircraft weapons and had to have its armament scaled back, usually to four 5" guns and five 21" torpedo tubes, although MONSSEN and GWIN (for example) had ten 21" torpedo tubes, but with fewer antiaircraft guns and X (no. 3) gun turret open-roofed to reduce topweight.
- SIMS -- which is missing from my ONI book, for some reason -- was the preferred class for escorting our fast carriers early in the war. Four 5" guns, eight 21" torpedo tubes.
- MAHAN had five and then four 5" guns and twelve 21" torpedo tubes with one of the three quadruple sets mounted high on the centerline.
- BAGLEYs had four 5" guns but sixteen! 21" torpedo tubes. Of course, at the time of the war they were employed, our radar was unreliable and our torpedoes not only usually didn't work but often turned back against the ships that launched them!
- Old World War I 4-Stackers were actually quite effective early in the Asian-Pacific War, with their four 4"/105mm guns and twelve 21" torpedo tubes. This graphic shows both the orginal prewar configuration and the modified configuration with six 3"/76mm guns and only six torpedo tubes.
British:
The Royal Navy fought heroically throughout the war, suffering heavy casualties. Its ships were reliable and adequate, but its skilled, courageous, and aggressive officers and men made the victorious difference time and time again. As has been said many times, the very aggressive Spirit of (Admiral Horatio) Nelson permeated the Fleet, and its enemies knew they would have a fight on their hands in any confrontation.
Battleships:
- The KING GEORGE Vs were a modern but compromise design which was plagued by breakdowns of its ten 14" guns throughout the war. To Britain's shock, PRINCE OF WALES was sunk by Japanese torpedo bombers at sea off Malaya on 10Dec41, three days after Pearl Harbor.
- NELSONs had nine 16" guns on an ungainly hull which challenged quartermaster officers, especially when sailing in and out of harbor. It was RODNEY's 16" guns, though, that did the most to sink BISMARCK.
BattleCruiser:
- RENOWN was a frequent sailer in Force H from Gibraltar.
Aircraft Carriers:
- ILLUSTRIOUS was an armored carrier of limited aircraft capacity which survived an incredible pounding by German divebombers on its way to the island fortress of Malta.
Cruisers:
- LONDON heavy cruiser
LONDON was the sole ship of its variant, attempting to put a heavy block superstructure on its class's hull. Structural weaknesses soon became apparent and were corrected only later in the war. LONDON (along with NORFOLK and U.S. cruisers TUSCALOOSA and WICHITA) was part of the Cruiser Covering Force which deserted Convoy PQ17 to its fate, under Admiralty orders.
- NORFOLK and other "County" class heavy cruiser
NORFOLK and DORSETSHIRE were both involved in the cornering and sinking of BISMARCK. NORFOLK later made a key, blinding hit on the fast and very powerful German battle cruiser SCHARNHORST before the latter's sinking, Christmas 1943, and seems to have been the best shooting ship in the Royal Navy and probably of the entire war.
- BELFAST light cruiser
BELFAST and her ill-fated sister EDINBURGH were heavily armored ships with light cruiser armament which were used to support the Russian convoys. Even immobilized by a stern hit, EDINBURGH managed to sink an inquisitive German destroyer, only to be immediately re-torpedoed and sunk ... carrying down with her millions of pounds in Russian gold! (... which was finally salvaged 10 or so years ago).
- "Colony" class light cruiser
JAMAICA herself teamed with SHEFFIELD to help Sherbrooke's Russian convoy escort fight off German heavy cruiser HIPPER and pocket battleship SCHEER. Although a modern, and more compact design, the Colonys' lack of flotation may have contributed to their heavy losses.
- "Town" class SHEFFIELD
SHEFFIELD was a member of Force H from Gibraltar, accompanying the famous carrier ARK ROYAL, and later fought in key actions north of Norway.
- DIDO class light antiaircraft cruiser
Some of the most beautiful ships of World War II, the DIDOs' twin 5.25" gun( turret)s were expensive to produce and disappointing in performance. There was a 5.25" turret at 3/C position as well, usually.
- LEANDER class prewar light cruisers
AJAX and ACHILLES along with heavy cruiser EXETER confronted German pocket battleship GRAF SPEE, off Montevideo, Uruguay, in December 1939 and forced the latter's scuttling.
- ARETHUSA class prewar light cruisers
Fought with the Malta Striking Force, sortying out from the island fortress at night, to intercept and gut the German-Italian convoys headed to supply and reinforce Rommel and Afrika Korps in the North African desert.
- HOBART class prewar light cruisers
Given to the Australians, these excellent ships served with distinction both in the Mediterranean and Pacific waters. SYDNEY and a German merchant raider sank each other, PERTH (with "Scrap Iron Flotilla" hero CAPT Hec(tor) Waller) died alongside HOUSTON fighting superior Japanese forces off Java, and HOBART endured torpedoings to survive the war.
- E class prewar light cruisers
These were on worldwide patrol (for raiders and the like), for the most part, although ENTERPRISE -- which had a twin 6" gun turret in A position -- joined "Town" class light cruiser GLASGOW in running down some German torpedoboats and destroyers in the Bay of Biscay on one rough, windy, and sunny winter's day. They had an unusually heavy torpedo armament of 4 quadruple sets, at the start of the war.
- D class prewar light cruisers
A group of these were in Southeast Asia waters during the fall of the Dutch East Indies. It would have been interesting to see what their torpedo armament could have done in a night battle, but their guns were old and of limited velocity, in comparison to the very high velocity of the Japanese fleet destroyers' guns ... as well as the latter's 24" torpedoes!
- C class prewar light cruisers, in antiaircraft configuration.
Some of these were used in the Mediterranean.
- Ausralian WWI-era light cruisers
ADELAIDE was used for patrol. Pretty ship, but lacking torpedoes for real punch.
Destroyers:
- A to I class British Destroyers
This is a latewar configuration, but at the start, there were 4.7" single gun mounts at 2/B and 4/Y positions and both banks of quadruple (in the I class, quintuple) 21" torpedo tubes.
- TRIBAL class British Destroyers
Britain's big-gun approach to the prewar super destroyers, these had only a single quadruple mount of 21" torpedo tubes.
War quickly made the need for stronger antiaircraft armament apparent, and the third/X turret was replaced by a twin Dual Purpose 4.0" gun turrent, shown.
- J, K, & N class British Destroyers
Later than the TRIBAL class, these had 3 twin 4.7" gun surface-only gun turrets and 2 quintuple 21" torpedo tube sets. Eventually, again, the after set of torpedo tubes had to be replaced by the single 4.0" antiaircraft gun.
HMS KELLY was the ship sunk out from under Lord Louis Montbatten, during the desperate evacuation of Commonwealth troops from the island of Crete in May 1941.
Notice the lattice mainmast in this Dec44 drawing, instead of the original tripod version.
- British L & M class British Destroyers
This was designed to be the equal of our later SUMNER/GEARING class, with twin DP (Dual Purpose) 4.7" enclosed gun turrets -- 2 forward and 1 aft -- and 2 quadruple 21" torpedo tube sets amidships.
Unfortunately, the 4.7" twin turrets proved to be difficult to produce and to operate, and so the first 4 (L class) ships were instead armed with 4 open 4.0" twin gun turrets, which proved to be the most successful destroyer design in the Royal Navy. (Nonetheless, after all 4 of those were sunk in the Mediterranean, the British built no more of that variant!)
Indeed, the 4.7" turrets performed so poorly, that the after set of torpedo tubes had to be removed and replaced with a single 4.0" antiaircraft gun!
- S class British Destroyers
HMS SAMAUREZ was involved in the sinking of SCHARNHORST, December 1943, and the sinking of the Japanese heavy cruiser HAGURO off Malaya in 1945. Although a similar configuration to the early A to I class destroyers, the Ss had higher angle main battery guns that had some antiaircraft capability.
"Minor Combatants":
Japanese:
Battleships:
Japanese naval guns tended to have very long range, even in the early ships.
- KONGO class Fast Battle Cruisers
KONGO herself was built in British shipyards, and Japanese shipyards did the other 3 of her class: HARUNA, HIEI, and KIRISHIMA ... the last two sunk at Guadalcanal in fierce nighttime gunnery actions. Main battery: eight 14" guns.
- NAGATO class Battleship
NAGATO was the Imperial Fleet flagship for most of the war. Main battery: eight 16" guns.
Heavy Cruisers:
- FURUTAKA class Heavy Cruiser
Six 7.9" guns.
- AOBA class Heavy Cruiser
The above two classes consisted of 4 ships which fought the early nighttime battles in Iron Bottom Sound off Guadalcanal. Six 8" guns.
- NACHI class Heavy Cruiser
Ten 8" guns and sixteen "Long Lance" 24" torpedo tubes, reloadable.
- ATAGO class Heavy Cruiser
Ten 8" guns and sixteen "Long Lance" 24" torpedo tubes, reloadable.
- TONE class Heavy Cruiser
TONE and CHIKUMA usually teamed with two KONGO fast battle cruisers, to accompany the "Kido Butai" -- Japan's aircraft carrier striking force and principal naval weapon of attack. Interestingly, their search seaplanes -- not search planes from the carriers -- were used for reconnaissance, which contributed to Japan's horrific defeat at Midway in June 1942.
- MOGAMI class Heavy Cruiser
Light Cruisers:
Destroyers:
Italian -- "The Cardboard Fleet":
- LITTORIO (later ITALIA), VENETO VITTORIO, and ROMA fast battleships had nine 15" guns but weak armor. They were beautiful, and the Italian Navy's heart broke when they had to be scrapped after the war, in accordance with the surrender treaty.
ROMA blew up and sank catastrophically, when hit by German remote-controlled glider bombs when the Italian Navy defected and fled to surrender at Malta. VENETO was stopped cold in 1941 by a single puny British 18" Swordfish-launched aerial torpedo. The "revolutionary" torpedo protection architecture proved to be less than advertized (and was actually a concept discarded by the French Navy before/during World War I.)
- GARIBALDI and D'ABRUZZI light cruisers had ten 6" guns and six 21" torpedo tubes. These were beautiful ships which survived the war and
- GRECALE destroyers had four 4.7"/120mm guns and six 21" torpedo tubes. These were not good sea boats, and two of them foundered in storms immediately after the Second Battle of Sirte. See photos of my cardstock model of this class.
If you are a friend, and/or if you would like to share info and ideas about military and naval history and game designing and cardstock model shipbuilding, feel free to write me at: Lou Coatney, 626 Western Ave., Macomb, IL 61455 USA
... or e-mail me at
ELCOAT@Hotmail.com
You may also telephone me at (309)836-1447. You can leave a message and/or your mailing address on my recording machine if I don't answer; but I cannot afford to return calls.
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[4Mar04, revised 12Dec04 ]
