As an artilleryman I have long had a fascination with the big gun ships of old though the aircraft carrier and the guided missle cruiser have long supplanted them. Perhaps it's because we have so few Navy folks here but I was still surprised to find no topics about ships in a search here so here goes.

Name some great ships from around the world and feel free to expound upon their merits and even if your nation is not now a great maritime power include some ships from your nation as well. For example, Austria hasn't had a navy since WWI owing to the fact that the redrawing of its borders made it a landlocked nation. Please refrain from naming submarines in your lists. As that was such a completely different means of naval warfare than surface ships I prefer to keep them seperate. If there's enough demand, I will make a seperate thread for subs.

Here are my choices:

The Mary Rose - This was among the first ships ever to be able to fire a broadside. She was the model for England's emergence as a great naval power.

USS Constitution - "Old Ironsides" has a place in most Americans' hearts. Though not the only big frigate she epitomized the birth of the US as a naval power. This concept of design heralded the later concept of the battlecruiser. Big guns and a fast ship - able to kill most ships and outrun those she couldn't.

HMS Warrior - The first practical steel hulled warship. She set the stage for a major revolution in naval warfare.

USS Monitor - Followed up the advancement of HMS Warrior with the next key ingredient in evolution of naval warfare with the revolving turreted gun.

HMS Furious - She had the distinction of mounting the first real carrier-based air strike when, on 19 July 1918, seven of her Sopwith Camels destroyed two Zeppelins and their sheds at Tondern.

USS Enterprise (CV-6) - The most decorated warship of WWII. 20 battlestars and the only carrier to have fought virtually all of the war. She entered World War II on the morning of December 7, 1941, when her scout planes encountered the Japanese squadrons attacking Pearl Harbor. Not until May 14, 1945, when a Kamikaze attack off Kyushu, Japan, left a gaping hole in her flight deck, was she forced to leave the war. She should have been preserved as a national memorial.

The Iowa Class Battle Ships: Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey, and Wisconsian. Service in WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm. You just can't improve upon perfection or a FFE with 16/50 Guns.

Commerce Raider CSS Alabama her record was amazing.

Frigate USS Cumberland her stand at Norfolk against the CSS Virginia/Merrimac was one of the most valient in Naval Combat.

The Yamato was a monster and shouldn't be left out of any discussion about the most amazing Battleships of all time. It had its flaws, but its the only Battleship that stood a decent chance in a one to one fight with one of the Iowa Class Battleships.

The HMS Dreadnaught, CSS Virginia (Merimack) also deserve significant praise.

umm the Bismarck anyone? cmon u guys are getting slow

there was nothing really new about ti, it was just bigger

Just the fact that britain mobilised most of its ships in the north atlantic just to combat the bismarck means it deserves to be in the list.

HMS victory - Keppel, Kempenfelt, Howe, Hood, Jervis, Nelson. Flagship of some of britains most famous sdmirals. lead the british fleet to countless victories.

Golden Hind - Drake's ship

1-HMS Victory. Nelson's flaghip at Trafalgar. That combination of man and ship and battle makes an unbeatable troika and each an individual legend. 2 USS Washington Forgotten because the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway allegedly ended the battleships reign, the USS Washiington won the decisive battle at Guadalcanal by pulverizing the IJN Kirishima. 3 HMS Warspite-from Jutland to D-Day with pastings of the Germans at Narvik and the Italians at Calabria and Matapan-a great fighting battleship.4If I knew the name of the flagship at Salamis I would include this. Personally I think that the Scharnhorst is the most graceful of all ships-just a beautiful ship and the Bismarck and Yamatodeserve some sort of mention although neither could match up withthe Iowa class. HMS Dreadnought is more of a trendsetter than a great warship-although I believebthat it sank a submarine in WW1 which is odd, oh well, it's still HMS Victory at the head of the class in my opinion.

battle of the river plate


the graf spree;

On paper, four British cruisers against one German pocket-battleship would have been no contest. In fact, the Graf Spee was potentially an awesome opponent. The Treaty of Versailles had forbidden Germany from making what would have been considered to be classic battleships. To get round the restrictions of Versailles, Germany produced pocket battleships. The Graf Spee was launched on New Year's Day 1936. The Graf Spee was fast enough to outrun any battleship but was also armed with sufficient weapons to be a potent enemy. The Graf Spee had six 11 inch guns, numerous anti-aircraft guns and six 21 inch torpedo tubes at her stern. Her broadside range was 30,000 yards. She carried two Arado aircraft that could be launched by catapult. Her weaponry was superior to any carried by a British heavy cruiser and her armour, at 5.5 inches, was sufficient to resist shells up to 8 inches. Her eight diesel engines gave the ship 56,000 horsepower and a top speed of 26 knots. The engines also allowed the Graf Spee to travel 12,500 miles without refueling - near enough halfway round the world.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...iver_plate.htm

umm the Bismarck anyone? cmon u guys are getting slow

I don't appreciate comments like that. If I wanted to have typed up a huge list of ships I certainly could have. I listed the ones I felt most important as others are doing as well. Bismarck does deserve mention and I was leaving it for others. I also did say I wanted you to expound upon the ships' merits which you didn't do so if anyone is "slow" then you need not look far. Hereafter if you have ships to mention please refrain from personal attacks and include your reason why the ship deserves mention. Don't just throw a name out there.

And this one is for the rest of you; just a reminder that battleships alone are not the only ships open to this discussion - all surface ships are. So you could just as easily mention a ship like USS Roberts a destroyer escort that charged Japanese cruisers in an effort to save the jeep carriers off the Leyte beach invasion.

Oh, and Chewie, it was only three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Platte not four. One heavy and two light. You're quite correct though, it was an awesome feat of arms.

Originally Posted by Charge_7

Oh, and Chewie, it was only three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Platte not four. One heavy and two light. You're quite correct though, it was an awesome feat of arms.

technically you're right.....

only three BRITISH cruisers

Great Britain's South American Naval Division was made up of four cruisers. On Saturday, December 2nd, 1939, HMS Ajax, commanded by Captain Woodhouse, was harboured at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. Also at Port Stanley was HMS Exeter, commanded by Captain Bell. Two other ships made up the South American Division – HMS Cumberland, commanded by Captain Fallowfield, and HMNZS Achilles, commanded by Captain Parry. The commander of the South American Division was Commodore Harwood.