battleship

Despite a few conspicuous successes (sinking of Glorious by Scharnhorst & Gneisenau, of Hood by Bismarck), the German naval surface forces were incapable of fulfilling more than a mission of « fleet in being ».  They no longer ventured in the Atlantic after the loss of Bismarck, which came after that of Graf Spee. And on their own doorstep, in the North Sea or Barents Sea, they suffered horrendous defeats, such as Narvik, or failed to score on the occasion they deployed overwhelming force, as in the battle of the Barents Sea.

The existence of the German surface fleet was due to the will of a man, GrossAdmiral Erich Raeder, who won the Führer’s confidence and was allowed to start work on an ambitious Plan Z, aiming, no less, at fighting a winning against the Royal Navy around 1946.  But in total, throughout World War 2, it did not field more than 2  battleships, 2 battlecruisers, 3 pocket battleships, 3 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers and about 70 destroyers and torpedo boats. I am not including the various sundry ships, such as E-Boote, minesweepers etc… On the whole, a measly total to take on the world’s most powerful navies, without any chance of success. Despite Raeder’s wishes to see his beloved surface combattants play a major role, it soon became apparent that tying down RN ships in Europe was the best they could hope to achieve.

This does not mean these ships were worthless. With Teutonic efficiency, nazi naval architects displayed on the whole their traditional technical prowess in their design (with some exceptions). So let’s start a naval revue of their various units.

BISMARCK

It’s hard to talk about a myth. In my young days, Bismarck was hailed as the nec plus ultra in military shipbuilding , best armor, great guns, a superbly trained crew, with an Achilles’ heel in the person of the fanatical admiral Gunther Lütjens. The truth is that while Bismarck was a powerful ship, i twas by no means revolutionary. Its speed was correct, between that of the King George V class and the Richelieu class,  its armor and armament were average as well. Its luck was to be pitted against Hood, a flawed design woefully under-armored, and Prince of Wales, a brand new ship with teething problems. Pitted against a ship of the same class & the Rodney, it was inevitably overwhelmed.

SCHARNHORST

This one too is a myth and with the Bismarck, the most prestigious ship of the German Navy. More lightly armed (9 x 11 » guns in three barrelled turrets), it destroyed the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious during the Norway campaign, destroyed the auxiliary cruiser HMS Rawalpindi, sank various ships in mid Atlantic in 1941  before being blocked in Brest under British bombs. She managed to escape back to Germany through the Strait of Dover in 1942, and ended up sunk in battle by HMS Duke of York near the North Cape at the end of 1943.

GNEISENAU

Sharnhorst’s sister ship, its companion during nearly all of its career. Damage sustained in the Strait of Dover took so long to repair Gneisenau never again set back to sea, and was eventually spent as a block-ship in 1945 at Gotenhafen (modern day Gdynia).

DEUTSCHLAND CLASS

The infamous Pocket Battleships, supposed to remain within the 10 000 tons limit imposed by the treaty of Versailles, were in fact around nearly 15 000 tons. They were, consequently, formidable ships, well fit to accomplish the raiding missions they would be given in time of war, more powerful than anything that could catch them, faster than anything that could defeat them. They met however varied success in their careers. Fast for the time of their commissioning (26kt), they were well armored and sported a powerful 6 x 280mm guns main battery, supported on each side by 4 x 150 mm guns.

LÜTZOW (ex DEUTSCHLAND)

Launched in 1931, the oldest ship of the trio, LÜTZOW was damaged in 1940 in front of Oslo. She took part in

the Battle of the Barents Sea, which saw 2 British light cruisers hold up decisively a stronger German force and allow convoy JW51B to sail unscathed. Sunk by the RAF in 1945, she was raised and expanded as a target by Soviet forces in 1947.

ADMIRAL SCHEER

The farthest ranged of the trio, SCHEER raided the Indian Ocean in late 1940, sinking some 110 000 tons of Allied shipping. Later, in 1942, she raided the Kara Sea and took on Soviet shipping. She was sunk by RAF bombers in port in April 1945.

GRAF SPEE

The most famous of the trio, but the shortest lived, she was scuttled after an epic battle against HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax & HMS Achilles off the Rio de la Plata. As she had been heavily damaged, in need of repairs and bottled up in the port of Montevideo, her commander, Hans Langsdorff, took the decision to scuttle her to spare the crew’s lives.

HIPPER CLASS

Three were built. The first one, Blücher, was sunk in front of Oslo. They were powerful ships, typical heavy cruisers, armed with a 8 x 8’’ guns main battery. They were mostly used as commerce raiders.

PRINZ EUGEN

The most famous of the class, she was Bismarck’s companion in the ill –fated Rheinübung operation. Present at Denmark Strait, she separated from Bismarck & eventually made it to Brest where she was subjected to bombing alongside Scharnhorst & Gneisenau before escaping through the Strait of Dover during Operation Cerberus.

ADMIRAL HIPPER

The class namesake took part in Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway, where she sank destroyer HMS Glowworm after the latter managed to ram and severely damage her. She was the consort of Lützow in the failed attempt on convoy JW-51B in the Barents Sea, and was eventually sunk in Kiel harbor by RAF bombers.

LEIPZIG CLASS

Nürnberg & Leipzig were a class of 2 ships. Well armed 3 triple barrelled turrets of 150mm guns, although in an original configuration of 1 turret forward, 2 turrets aft), and 12 torpedoes in 4 x triple mounts, they were fast (32kt) but short-legged (7000 km), handled difficultly in heavy seas, and more lightly armored than comparable ships.

LEIPZIG

After a fairly lackluster service throughout the war – the main episode being a collision with Prinz Eugen – Leipzig was captured in port, served as  a barracks ship and was scuttled the following year.

NÜRNBERG

Damaged off Norway, Nürnberg spent the remainder of the war as a training ship &  a mine layer in the Baltic. Captured in port, she was awarded to the Soviets.

KÖLN

Last survivor of the 3 ships class Königsberg after 2 were lost off Norway in 1940, she sported similar armament & performances as the Leipzig class. She took part in attempted but failed convoy attacks in the Arctic, and served as a training ship before being sunk in Wilhelmshaven by US bombers.

Typ 1934 & 1934A

Fast (36 kt) but lacking endurance (3700 km ), these ships were relatively powerfully armed for the time, with 5 x 5''  guns and 2 quadruple torpedo mounts. Many were lost during the battle of Narvik. Eckoldt was sunk at the battle of the Barents Sea.

Typ 1936A

Toting an impressive battery of 2 twin barrelled 5’’ turrets, & 2 quadruple torpedo mounts, fast, these ships however lacked range and top heavy because of their impressive armament, giving them poor seagoing capacities.  

Typ 39 Torpedoboot

Altough classed as torpedo boats, the Typ 39 were the equivalent of most RN destroyers. 15 were built. Fast (33kt), well armed (4 x 105mm guns, 2 x triple torpedo mounts), tehy accounte well of themselves in the various battles they took part in. The most successful was the battle of Sept-Isles, in October 1943, where 5 Typ 39 sank light cruiser HMS Charybdis.

Italy at the start of WW2 faced essentially 3 scenarios : war against France, war against Britain, war against both. In all 3, it was essential to keep open sea communications to Libya and the Italian possessions in the Dodecanese islands. Regia Marina – the Italian royal navy – enjoyed the benefits of a central position in all cases, but was bottled up in Mare Nostrum (the Mediterranean name in Latine, « Our Sea ») if it ever went to war against Britain, and perhaps also against France as access to Gibraltar implied sailing along French controlled Algerian coast.

Left with a strong navy at the end of WW1, Italy saw its naval power steadily decline until a few years before WW2. This was due to the restrictions of the treaty of Washington, budgetary constraints, and the lack of regard Il Duce had for his naval arm.  It did not take long before competent Admiral THAON di REVEL was replaced at the head of the Regia Marina by more pliable officers. For a time, prior to the Ethiopian Invasion, it was far from certain Italy would be a threat to Western Powers : in 1934, it resolutely sided with France and opposed the attempted nazi takeover of Austria. The sanctions it was subjected to brought out a reversal of Mussolini’s positions in this matter, and the Spanish Civil War cemented Italy’s alliance with the Third Reich.

BATTLESHIPS

Italy never owned a carrier in WW2, on the assumption that its central position awarded it of air control over surrounding sea expanses. This was never the case, as cooperation with the Italian Air Force never reached a satisfactory level. The « barber shop stripes » on the Italian bows are a recognition device designed chiefly to prevent Italian airmen from bombing their own ships… At the start of the war, Italy had 4 dreadnoughts , 2 of the Cavour Class, 2 of the Andrea Doria class.

Extensively rebuilt and upgraded in 1937, Andrea Doria was a fast ship, toting 10 x 320 mm guns. It was moderately armored, but fairly fast (26 kt). Undamaged at Taranto, she took part in but one combat, in the inconclusive action of the 1st battle of the Gulf of Sirte under the command of Admiral Iachino. She saw escort duty and was eventually interned in Malta after Italy’s surrender.

VITTORIO VENETO

Second ship of the Littorio class, launched in 1937 & commissioned in 1940, she was at the apex of battleship technoly at the time, in a class shared by the French Richelieu and the German Bismarck : fast, well armed and armored, she could have posed the Royal Navy the same kind of problems posed by the Bismarck and the Tirpitz. This was not to be, not out of an excess of pusillanimity, but because Axis fuel resources needed to be husbanded : fuel for Rommel’s panzers first, the remainder for naval operations. Vittorio Veneto saw action at Cape Spartivento, and came close to inflicting a defeat on the Mediterranean squadron, and at Matapan, where, as admiral IACHINO’s flagship , she was torpedoed by a Swordfish biplane. Repaired, she was once more torpedoed by HM submarine Urge in December 1941. She was interned after Italy’s surrender.

HEAVY CRUISERS

Fast, well gunned & armored, the Zaras were well-balanced ships, equivalent to any European competitor, and superior to the French ones. Launched around 1930, they sported 8 x 203mm guns in their main battery, and 16 x 100 mm guns as secondary armament but no torpedoes.

She took part in most of the surface engagements in the Med. Damaged by an Allied air raid in 1943, the ship under repairs was seized by the Germans, but deemed beyond repair. Eventually broken up in 1947.

She served throughout 1940, possibly destroying a turret on HMS Berwick at Cape Teulada. Hit by a Swordfish torpedo at Cape Matapan, she lost propulsion. Her fellow cruisers, Zara & Fiume were surprised and destroyed by Bristish battleships in their rescue attempt. Pola herself was latter finished .

LIGHT CRUISERS

Well armed & extremely fast, but poorly armored (their armor being equivalent to that of a Panzer II), the Giussano class light cruisers suffered from a poor conception, as they had but a single steam main, leading to possible immobilization of the ship if hit.. The risk was deemed negligible, but nevertheless happened to Colleoni at Cape Spada. Banda Nere was the last to be sunk, by a torpedo from HMS Urge in March 1942.

The Abruzzi class light cruisers were an improvement of the Condottieri class, they were as fast, as armored and slightly better gunned (10 x 152mm to 9) than their French La Galissionnière class equivalents. Garibaldi took part in the battles of Calabria & Matapan, took a torpedo hit in July 41, and eventually was interned  in Malta after Italy’s surrender.

One of the Condottieri class cruisers, Duca d’Aosta was a lucky ship that never took a hit throughout the war. As fast, but less armored and gunned as the French La Galissonniere, she took part in the battles of Calabria and Sirte, and various attempted intercepts of British convoys to Malta. She was eventually was interned  in Malta after Italy’s surrender.

DESTROYERS

A class of 8 built in the second half of the Twenties, the Turbines, named after winds, were somewhat outdated at the outbreak of WW2. Moderately fast for Destroyers (33 kt) they were lightly armed (2x2 x 120mm guns and 2 x triple torpedo mounts). All were sunk in action.

A numerous class of 17 ships, the Soldati were well armed and relatively fast (35 kt). A real workhorse of the Regia Marina, they took part in most naval actions in the Mediterranean. At least 10 were sunk in action. Armed with 5 x 120mm guns, and 2 triple torpedo mounts.

Never had France, since the times of Napeleon III’s Empire, had such a strong navy, with some of its ships at the cutting edge of naval technology : its Gloire class light cruisers were unmatched in the world when they were launched, and its contre-torpilleurs, its big destroyers, were capable of speeds above 40 kt, unrivaled except by light torpedo launches , its battle cruisers of the Dunkerque class and battleships of the Richelieu class were innovative designs, well capable of preserving the vital sea routes to North Africa. The man at the center of this revival was François DARLAN, who would become a key player in the Vichy collaborationist state, shown here a few days before his assassination.

And yet the French Navy of that time never lived up to the expectations. That was of course the result of the failure to fend off the Blitzkrieg. The point of the blog is neither to discuss what went wrong then, nor what could have been had it not or had France followed another path after its defeat however. I’ll just leave it there, for you, dear reader to ponder and dream about it.

There is no discussion that the « Royale » - the unofficial name French sailors give the Marine Nationale as the ministry is located Rue Royale in Paris – was first & foremost designed to control the Western basin of the Mediterranean, and, to accomplish that goal, keep open sea lines to Tunisia & Algeria against the Italian Regia Marina. Some day, perhaps, I will design a campaign about this, and the problem of safeguarding parallel sea lines of communication – the Italians had likewise to keep open communications to Libya…

BATTLESHIPS

The core of the French Navy was its battleships : at the start of the war, France had 7 commissionned capital ships : 2 old Courbet class dreadnought, 3 slightly newer Bretagne class (Bretagne, Provence, Lorraine), and 2 recent battlecruisers, Dunkerque & Strasbourg.

Fast and well armored, it sported 2 x 4 barrelled 330mm turrets forward, and her secondary battery in 3 3 x barrelled 130 mm turrets aft. Launched in 1935, she was scuttled in Toulon in 1942, but before that was severely damaged at Mers-el-Kebir. Towed back to Toulon, she was never fully repaired. This is one of my older models, and at that time I was not too  demanding on paint scheme accuracy.

A very successful design, Richelieu was a well protected, well armed, and fast ship, that could have dominated the Western Mediterranean, a role it had been intended for and yet, ironically, never fulfilled. Armed classically with 8 x 380mm guns, yet in 2 forward four barrelled turrets , and a 155mm battery of 9 guns in 3 turrets aft, it took part in the battle of Dakar that saw the Vichy French navy inflict a tactical defeat on a Royal Navy force tasked with taking control of Senegal. Repaired, refitted  and added to the Free French fleet, it joined the RN Far Eastern Fleet and was present at the battle of the Malacca Strait.

CRUISERS

Namesake of her class of 4 cruisers, she was also the sole survivor, the other three being scuttled at Toulon while she was interned at Alexandria after the 1940 Armistice. Well armed and fast, she suffered from her weak armor, which was however an improvement over that of the preceding class. Added to the Free French Navy in 1943, she spent the remainder of the war mostly in lusterless but vital sea-control missions in the South Atlantic.

ALGERIE

Successor to the Suffren class, namesake and only ship in her class, Algerie was a  well balanced ship, well armored, fast and toting the classical 8x8" guns main battery of most heavy cruisers in World War 2. Sadly enough, she never got to take part in a naval battle, and ended up scuttled at Toulon in 1942.

Part of the Dugay-Trouin class of 3, she was deployed to the Far East squadron at the start of the war, and consequently never received a Loire 130 seaplane. Well armed with 9x 155mm guns, fast, she was virtually unarmored, the thickest plates no thicker that the armor of a Panzer II. She nevertheless fought a winning battle at Koh Chang in 1941 under the command of Capitaine Bérenger, leading a motley collection of sloops and inflicting a crushing defeat on the vastly superior Siamese navy they caught at anchor. She was sunk  by US naval aviation in 1945, under the Japanese occupation of French Indochina. For all his efforts, Bérenger had to retire in 1945 as it was not commendable then to have fought under the flag of Vichy.

Gloire & Montcalm were part of a class of 6 ships built just before WW2. Very well protected, fast, and with a main battery of 9 155mm guns, they were better than German or Italian light cruisers. Half of the ships were scuttled at Toulon, of the remaining 3, Montcalm & Georges Leygue took part in the victorious defense of Dakar in 1940. With Gloire, they served after the occupation of Southern France with the Free French Navy. Montcalm intercepted a German blockade runner, and with her sisters, took part in the following Allied landings in Corsica, Normandy and Provence. These are part of my older models, and at that time I was not too  demanding on paint scheme accuracy.

DESTROYERS

Designed around 1925, the 12 torpilleurs de haute mer of the Bourrasque class were in fact powerful destroyers, toting 4 x 5.1" guns and 2 x triple torpedo mounts, with a good speed of 33 kt. Most were lost during the war, either at Toulon, or in battle, during Operation Dynamo in front of Dunkerque, or Operation Torch in front of Oran.

Vauquelin & Kersaint were part of a 6 class ships, both were scuttled at Toulon. They were big ships, ported 5 x 138 mm guns and could reach 36 kt. All ships of the class were sunk either at Toulon, or in action off Syria (Chevalier Paul) or by accident (Maiilé Brézé at Greenock).

FANTASQUE CLASS

Fantasque & Terrible were big ships, fairly similar to the Vauquelin class. Like them, they carried 5 x 138mm guns, and 2 triple torpedo mounts. Their best known quality was, however, their exceptional speed. They were deemed to be the fastest destroyers afloat at the time, Fantasque reaching  an astounding top  speed of 42.75kt.

Admiral Beatty’s management of the Battlecruisers force at Jutland remains a subject of controversy, more than a century after the battle. The truth of the matter, however, seems to be less a lack of protection than defective ammunition procedures, compounded by a rash decision to rush at Hipper’s throat, cancelling the advantage awarded by his bigger guns’ longer range.

Under Beatty’s command, on that fateful 31st May 1916, were 6 battlecruisers and the 4 superdreadnoughts Admiral  Evan-Thomas’  5th Battle Squadron, the biggest, best armored, heaviest gunned ships (15’’ caliber guns !)  of the line at the time. Confused signals kept them too far away at the start of  the engagement, compounding Beatty’s tactical error. Under his command only the 6 ships of the 1st & 2^nd Battlecruiser Squadrons rushed at Hipper’s force.

British Battlecruisers design evolution, illustrated with this top-down picture : the apparition of superfiring turrets gave the Lion & Tiger class improved arcs of fire. The most notable improvement, though, can’t be made out on the picture : instead of 12’’ caliber guns like the Invincible & Indefatigable classes, they sported 13’’ guns

HMS New Zealand and Indefatigable

Barely improved versions of the original Invincible class battlecruisers, the class comported 3 ships in all, alongside HMAS Australia that was accidentally damaged days before the battle and so missed the engagement. Indefatigable was the 1st RN ship lost at Jutland. New Zealand survived the battle without even being hit.Tradition has it that her captain wore the traditional Maori garb & amulets he’d been offered by a Maori chieftain for the protection of the ship.

The Lion Class

The « Splendid Cats » as they were collectively known, were the joy and pride of Admiral Fisher. They  were better gunned, 13’’ caliber guns instead of their predecessors’ 12 ‘’, moreover sporting superfiring turrets forward, giving overall better arcs of fire. They were fast, and better armored (though not as  well as their German counterparts). Lion was Beatty’s flagship, and took part at the Dogger Bank battle where i ts propulsion was knocked out, ruining Beatty’s ability to pass orders efficiently, and hit again at Jutland, where she was saved from Indefatigable’s & Queen Mary’s fate by the quick thinking and sacrifice of Royal Marines Major Francis Harvey who managed to get the magazines flooded. Queen Mary was the 2^nd Battlecruiser exploding during the battle. From Lion’s bridge, a bitter Beatty commented « There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today ».

HMS Tiger

The last of the « Splendid Cats », Tiger was an improved version of the Lion class. Launched & commissioned in 1914, she took part in the Dogger Bank engagement. She was moderately damaged at Jutland, but her gunnery was deemed to be the poorest of the Battlecruiser Force, that was itself inferior to that of Jellicoe’s Battle Squadrons.

5th Battle Squadron

HMS Warspite

HMS Barham

HMS Valiant

HMS Malaya

Attached to Beatty’s Battlecruiser Force, they were left behind at the start of the battle due to bungled signals from HMS Lion, and the strict adherence to received orders, traditional among British admirals of the Victorian era ; Admiral Evan-Thomas, the 5th BS commander, was no exception. He nonetheless managed to get back in time to pull Beatty’s squadron from its predicament, inflicting Grievous damage on Hipper’s ships and the 1st Battle squadron of  the High Seas fleet, getting hammered in return. With the exception of Warpite that was badly damaged, the British Queen Elizabeth suffered no combat efficiency loss for the treatment, dishing out more than they got.

British Destroyers

A few L class Destroyers, as some of those that were with Beatty’s force at Jutland.