Sunday, December 15, 2013

Italian battleship Dante Alighieri passes the Ponte Girevole swing bridge at Taranto, 1918.

Dante Alighieri was the first battleship to have her main guns set in triple turrets at the time of her launching. She was launched ten months before Viribus Unitis but completed six weeks later than the Austro-Hungarian vessel.
Ship details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_battleship_Dante_Alighieri

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Imperial Russian Navy armoured cruiser Gromoboi.


Ship details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cruiser_Gromoboi

Close-up of the central citadel on the French battleship Richelieu.


Ship details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_battleship_Richelieu

Orion class battleship HMS Conqueror.

I have seen this picture sometimes identified as HMS Orion but base the naming here on the Clyde-built database. The first British superdreadnoughts, the Orion class vessels represented an increase in gun size from 12" to 13.5", along with the abandonment of wing turrets for the main armament. From now on, the main armament would be mounted in the more efficient centre-line arrangement with superfiring turrets (although the Orion class still had a Q turret awkwardly placed between between the aft funnel and the aft superstructure).
Ship details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Conqueror_(1911)

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Battleship USS Iowa entering floating dry-dock ABSD-2 at Manus Island, Bismarck Archipelago (Papua New Guinea), December 28th 1944.

Notice how her dual-purpose secondary armament can aim almost at the zenith to tackle not only surface threats but also high-level bombing.
Ship details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_(BB-61)

Italian light cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli taking part in NATO maneuvers in the Mediterranean, 1953.


Ship details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_cruiser_Raimondo_Montecuccoli

Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Haruna undergoes trials following her second reconstruction, August 28th 1934.


Ship details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Haruna

German predreadnought battleship SMS Deutschland, Swinemünde, August 2nd-6th 1907.

Note the the Imperial Russian Navy standard on her foremast as this was during Czar Nicholas II's visit to Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Ship details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Deutschland_(1904)

French armoured cruiser Edgar Quinet in 1907.


Ship details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_armoured_cruiser_Edgar_Quinet_(1907)

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Terrible class French coastal defense Ironclad predreadnought battleship Caiman.

Amongst the last representatives of the so-called 'monster gun era' that started in 1872 with the launch of the Italian Duilio, vessels of this class mounted two very large (16.5" caliber) single guns in barbettes fore and aft. Caiman was launched in May 1885 and scrapped in 1927.
Class details: http://www.cityofart.net/bship/fr_requin.html

Imperial Russian Navy protected cruiser Aurora circa 1910.


Ship details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cruiser_Aurora