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Navy General Board

Nov 25, 2022 • 7 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X

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The Colorado class dreadnought USS Washington under construction. The details of her multi-layer torpedo defense system are easily seen.

The United States enjoyed somewhat of a significant advantage in warship development at this time.

Most major powers (such as Britain and Germany) were locked in the dreadnought race. In an effort to outproduce the competition, the implementation of new features was somewhat hamstrung by the rush to get ships into serve as quickly as possible.

The US Navy on the other hand, could take a more leisurely approach (Not to mention take advantage of data coming from foreign experiences).

Extensive testing of various components was conducted. This was especially true for tank testing of underwater protection schemes.

This led to the development of the highly effective defense systems.

The US was able to determine features such as optimal distance between bulkheads, the best material to fill them (Air vs liquid), the thickness of the bulkhead, organization of said bulkeads, etc.

Further aided by other things (such as the powerplant and tight subdivision), the final Standard Battleships were ahead of the competition as far as underwater protection went.

Even by the Second World War, they remained competitive with the newest designs.

It's not to say the US had superior workmanship. Merely, they had the freedom to design and incorporate new features at a generous pace.

The nature of the Standard Battleships to be incremental improvements over their predecessors was also a likely factor that drove development

Overall, I'm starting to gain an appreciation for the Standards. While not quite gaining the respect of their peers, they were technologically interesting designs that had an impact on US design through the Second World War.

#fridaymorning #Friday #UnitedStates #USA #History

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Navy General Board

@thegeneralboard

Sep 6

Standards and Speed

While most Navies made the pursuit of greater speeds in their dreadnoughts a priority during the First World War, the United States remained happy with maintaining a speed of 21 knots throughout their series of superdreadnoughts.

Much has been written about the great leap in capability that was brought about by faster battleships such as the Queen Elizabeth class. This premium on speed has led the casual reader to discount the US Navy's Standard-Type battleships or even the entire battleline.

However, the reasoning for the emphasis for a 21 knot speed was not an inability to produce faster ships. Rather, it was a calculated decision to have all of their battleships standardized to the same speed throughout the entire navy.

Read 15 tweets

Navy General Board

@thegeneralboard

Sep 5

The United States "Standard-Type" Battleships are something of an oddity so far as naval history is concerned.

They are typically overlooked by the casual observer and are seen as smaller, slower, or perhaps less visually impressive compared to their European contemporaries.

However, there was a good reason for the Standards and why they were designed the way they were.

They were, along with the strategic thinking of the US Navy, heavily influenced by Alfred Thayer Mahan.

Mahan's 1890 book, "The Influence of Sea Power upon History", had an effect of navies around the World.

The US Navy on the hand, began designing its entire navy around Mahan's theories.

One of the biggest being the concept of a decisive battle between capital ships.

Read 10 tweets

Navy General Board

@thegeneralboard

Jul 30

Battlecruisers in the US Navy: Part 4

We talked about the Lexington class battlecruisers, what they might have looked like had they been built, and how they might have been upgraded.

Now let's see how they might have operated in the US Navy.

I imagine they would have spent the interwar years split between the Atlantic and Pacific Fleet, generally following the distribution of the battleships. Most of them likely would have been sent to the Pacific along with the Battleline by the late 1930s to contain Japan.

Any battlecruisers left in the Atlantic would have likely supplemented or even replaced the three battleships covering the Neutrality patrols at the outbreak of the Second World War.

The higher speed and great range likely would have been invaluable in covering more territory.

Read 9 tweets

Navy General Board

@thegeneralboard

Jul 24

Battlecruisers in the US Navy: Part 2

So let's assume that the US Navy did produce it's Lexington class battlecruisers in their original configuration.

How might they have influenced the US Navy during the interwar years and into World War 2?

There likely would have been no Alaska class cruisers for one.

With six large capital ships to patrol the sea lanes, there would be less impetus for the development of the large cruiser proposals in the 1930s.

As a side note, this might have even caused Germany to hesitate on the Deutschland class.

The Renown class/HMS Hood were known to be the major threats to the class due to their speed and power. Having the threat of the Lexington class in the Atlantic would be added to this.

Read 10 tweets

Navy General Board

@thegeneralboard

Apr 17

On the post about the Yamato class and torpedoes, someone had pointed out that they always seemed to take on roughly 3,000 tons of flooding after they were initially torpedoed by aircraft or submarines.

Perfect because I wanted to talk about a design flaw in the Yamato design.

Japanese designers went above and beyond in the design of the Yamato class, stretching their capabilities to the limit to produce a very advanced warship.

Notably, the Yamato class used plenty of full scale testing in its design. This was especially true for the armor design.

Gunnery tests against Tosa showed that large calibre shells retained enough momentum to travel for some distance underwater, allowing them to bypass the main armor belt entirely by going under it.

Read 13 tweets

Navy General Board

@thegeneralboard

Apr 12

I don't know who needs to hear this, but Bismarck was sunk by the Royal Navy, not scuttled.

I wanted to do a post on the torpedo protection of the Yamato class, but recent events required a change of plans.

There seems to be this weird, persistent belief that the Royal Navy could not sink it and the Germans scuttled it.

Some of the more extreme takes seem to suggest that Bismarck was in great shape prior to her being scuttled.

The facts of the matter is that the Royal Navy quickly "mission-killed" Bismarck, negating her use as a fighting vessel.

This allowed them to close the distance and begin pummeling her at close range.

Read 10 tweets

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