Biographies Characteristics Analysis

What does a ship of the line mean? Iowa-class battleships - battleships for all battleships

SHIPS OF THE BATTLE

Until the middle of the 17th century, there was no strictly established combat formation of ships in battle. Before the battle, the opposing ships lined up against each other in close formation, and then approached each other for a shootout or boarding battle. Usually the battle turned into a chaotic scuffle, duels between ships that accidentally collided.

Many naval battles of the 16th - 17th centuries were won with the help of fireships - sailing ships filled to capacity with explosives or shaped like giant torches. Sent downwind towards the crowded ships, the fireships easily found victims, setting fire to and exploding everything in their path. Even large, well-armed ships often sank to the bottom, overtaken by “sailing torpedoes.”

The most effective means of protection against fire ships turned out to be a wake formation, when ships line up one after another and can maneuver freely.

The unwritten tactical commandment of that time said: each ship occupies a strictly designated position and must maintain it until the end of the battle. However (as always happens when theory begins to contradict practice), it often happened that weakly armed ships had to fight with huge floating fortresses. “The battle line should consist of ships of equal strength and speed,” the naval strategists decided. This is how battleships appeared. At the same time, during the first Anglo-Dutch war (1652 - 1654), the division of military courts into classes began.

Historians of naval art usually cite the battleship Prince Royal, built in Woolwich by the outstanding English shipbuilder Phineas Pett in 1610, as the prototype of the first battleship.

Rice. 41 The first battleship of England "Prince Royal"

The Prince Royal was a very strong three-deck ship with a displacement of 1,400 tons, a keel of 35 m and a width of 13 m. The ship was armed with 64 cannons located along the sides on two closed decks. Three masts and a bowsprit carried straight sails. The bow and stern of the ship were strangely decorated with sculptural images and inlays, which were worked on by the best craftsmen in England. Suffice it to say that the wood carving cost the English Admiralty 441 pounds sterling, and the gilding of allegorical figures and coats of arms cost 868 pounds sterling, which amounted to 1/5 of the cost of building the entire ship! Now it seems absurd and paradoxical, but in those distant times, gilded idols and statues were considered necessary to raise the morale of sailors.

By the end of the 17th century, a certain canon of the battleship was finally formed, a certain standard, from which shipyards throughout Europe tried not to deviate until the end of the period of wooden shipbuilding. The practical requirements were as follows:

1. The length of a battleship along the keel should be three times the width, and the width should be three times the draft (maximum draft should not exceed five meters).

2. Heavy aft superstructures, as they impair maneuverability, should be reduced to a minimum.

3. On large ships, it is necessary to build three solid decks, so that the lower one is 0.6 m above the waterline (then the lower battery of guns would be combat-ready even in strong seas).

4. The decks must be continuous, not interrupted by cabin bulkheads - if this condition is met, the strength of the vessel increases significantly.

Following the canon, the same Phineas Pett in 1637 launched the Royal Sovern, a battleship with a displacement of about 2 thousand tons. Its main dimensions were: length along the battery deck - 53 (on the keel - 42.7); width – 15.3; hold depth - 6.1 m. The ship had 30 guns on the lower and middle decks, and 26 guns on the upper deck; in addition, 14 guns were installed under the forecastle and 12 under the poop.

There is no doubt that in the entire history of English shipbuilding, the Royal Sovereign was the most luxurious ship. Many carved gilded allegorical figures, heraldic signs, and royal monograms dotted its sides. The figurehead depicted the English King Edward. His Majesty was seated on a horse whose hooves were trampling seven rulers - the defeated enemies of “foggy Albion”. The ship's aft balconies were crowned with gilded figures of Neptune, Jupiter, Hercules and Jason. The architectural decorations of the Royal Sovereign were made according to the sketches of the famous Van Dyck.

This ship participated in many battles without losing a single battle. By a strange whim of fate, his fate was decided by one accidentally falling candle: in 1696, the flagship of the English fleet burned down. At one time, the Dutch called this giant the “Golden Devil”. To this day, the British joke that the Royal Sovereign cost Charles I his head (to ensure the implementation of the naval program, the king increased taxes, which led to discontent among the population of the country, and as a result of the coup, Charles I was executed).

Cardinal Richelieu is rightfully considered the creator of the French military battle fleet. By his order, the huge ship “Saint Louis” was built - in 1626 in Holland; and ten years later - “Kuron”.

In 1653, the British Admiralty, by a special decree, divided the ships of its navy into 6 ranks: I - more than 90 guns; II – more than 80 guns; III – more than 50 guns. Rank IV included ships that had more than 38 guns; to rank V – more than 18 guns; to VI – more than 6 guns.

Was there any point in classifying warships so meticulously? Was. By this time, gunsmiths had begun producing powerful cannons using industrial methods, and of uniform calibers. It became possible to streamline the ship's economy according to the principle of combat power. Moreover, such a division by rank determined both the number of decks and the size of the ships themselves.

Rice. 42 Russian two-deck battleship of the late 18th century (from an engraving of 1789)

Rice. 43 French three-deck battleship of the mid-18th century

Until the middle of the last century, all maritime powers adhered to the old classification, according to which sailing ships of the first three ranks were called battleships.

From the book Sailboats of the World author Skryagin Lev Nikolaevich

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From the book Battleships of the British Empire. Part 4. His Majesty Standard by Parks Oscar

AIRCRAFT SHIPS The creation of aircraft-carrying ships in the USSR began almost 50 years later than in foreign fleets. Until the early 1960s, all proposals for their construction, regardless of world experience, were invariably rejected by the military-political leadership of the country or

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Battleship

Battleship

(battleship), 1) a large three-masted warship of the sailing fleet, which had strong artillery on its sides to destroy enemy ships. In this case, linear tactics were used (which is what the name is associated with): the battleships in battle order followed strictly one after another, without leaving the wake. They first appeared in England in 1637. The displacement of the last sailing battleships reached 5000 tons, armament up to 120–130 guns, crew up to 800 people. Replaced by steam armored ships - battleships.

2) A large warship that was part of the 1st floor. 20th century part of the navies of many states, equipped with powerful artillery and armor protection. Intended to destroy enemy warships and coastal targets. The first battleship of this type was the English Dreadnought (1906). In 1914, 4 Russian battleships of the Sevastopol type were built, which later became the only Soviet battleships. In the 1960s battleships have been withdrawn from fleets everywhere. In the USA alone there are 4 battleships (Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri and Wisconsin) built in 1943-44. returned to service after modernization (installation of missile weapons). However, they too in the 1990s. transferred to reserve. Battleships of this type had a displacement of 58,000 tons, a speed of 33 knots (61 km/h), a cruising range of 15,000 (27,800 km), and a crew of 1,588 people. Armament: cruise missiles (32) with a firing range of up to 3000 km, anti-ship missiles (16), 406 mm (19), 127 mm (12) and 20 mm (24) artillery mounts, helicopters (3).

Encyclopedia "Technology". - M.: Rosman. 2006 .


See what a “ship of the line” is in other dictionaries:

    - (battleship) 1) two three-deck sailing ships of the late 17th century and the first half of the 19th century with powerful artillery weapons (up to 130 guns located along the sides in a line) for naval combat in accordance with linear tactics (hence the name). With... ...Nautical Dictionary

    - (battleship) 1) in the sailing navy 17 1st floor. 19th centuries a large three-masted warship with 2-3 decks; had from 60 to 130 guns and up to 800 crew. Intended for combat in the battle line (from here... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

    SHIP OF THE LINE, military. a ship designed for battle in a line, i.e. in formation. Because the fate of a war at sea is usually decided by squadrons. battles, then L. to bl is the main one. military type fuck. Everything is left. auxiliary types. Like L. fuck... ... Military encyclopedia

    battleship- (battleship) two three-deck sailing ships of the late 17th and first half of the 19th century with powerful artillery weapons (up to 130 guns located along the sides in a line) for naval combat in accordance with linear tactics (from here... ... Marine Biographical Dictionary

    This term has other meanings, see Battleship (meanings). "Dreadnought" the ancestor of the class of battleships ... Wikipedia

    BATTLESHIP- battleship. 1. In the sailing fleet (late 17th - mid 19th centuries) the largest combat 3-masted ship with strong artillery weapons (from 60 to 130 guns). Depending on the number of guns, Battleships were divided into ranks. Linear... ... Marine encyclopedic reference book

    Battleship, 1) in the sailing navy of the 17th 1st half of the 19th centuries. a large three-masted warship with 2-3 artillery decks; had from 60 to 135 guns, mounted on the sides in a line, and up to 800 crew members.... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

    - (battleship), 1) in the sailing navy of the 17th and first half of the 19th centuries. a large three-masted warship with 2-3 decks; had from 60 to 130 guns and up to 800 crew. Intended for combat in the battle line (hence... encyclopedic Dictionary

    Battleship, 1) in the steam fleet, the class of the largest art. surface ships (displacement up to 65 thousand tons), intended. for destruction at sea. combat of ships of all classes and the application of powerful artillery. strikes against enemy coastal targets. L.K. had an onboard... Big Encyclopedic Polytechnic Dictionary

    Battleship "Arkhangelsk"- Battleship "Arkhangelsk" (before 05/30/1944 "Royal Sovereign") 1915 Built in Portsmouth (England). Laid down on January 15, 1914, launched on April 29, 1915, entered service in May 1916. Overhauled and modernized in 1928... Military encyclopedia

Books

  • , Forester Cecil Scott. The Corsican tyrant again decided to tease the British lion. As a result, a hasty recruitment of young fighters for the 74-gun Sutherland under the command of the fearless captain Horatio...

battleship

SHIP OF THE BATTLE (battleship)

    in the sailing navy 17 - 1st floor. 19th centuries a large three-masted warship with 2-3 decks; had from 60 to 130 guns and up to 800 crew. Intended for combat in the battle line (hence the name).

    In the steam armored fleet, 1st half. 20th century one of the main classes of large surface ships. It had 70-150 guns of various calibers (including 8-12 280-457 mm) and 1500-2800 crew members. After World War II, battleships lost their importance.

Battleship

    in the sailing navy of the 17th–1st half of the 19th centuries. a large three-masted warship with 2≈3 artillery decks; had from 60 to 135 guns, mounted along the sides in a line, and up to 800 crew members. He fought while in the wake column (battle line), which is why he got his name, which was passed on by tradition to the ships of the steam fleet.

    In the steam armored fleet, one of the main classes of the largest artillery surface ships, designed to destroy ships of all classes in naval combat, as well as deliver powerful artillery strikes on coastal targets. Light ships appeared in many navies around the world after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 to replace battleships. At first they were called dreadnoughts. In Russia, the name of the class of L.K. was established in 1907. L.K. were used in World War I, 1914–18. By the beginning of the 2nd World War, 1939≈45 light ships had a standard displacement of 20 to 64 thousand tons, armament of up to 12 main-caliber turret guns (from 280 to 460 mm), up to 20 anti-mine, anti-aircraft or universal artillery guns caliber 100≈127 mm, up to 80≈140 anti-aircraft small-caliber automatic guns and heavy machine guns. The speed of the aircraft is ≈ 20≈35 knots (37≈64.8 km/h), wartime crew ≈ 1500≈2800 people. The side armor reached 440 mm, the weight of all the armor was up to 40% of the total weight of the ship. On board the aircraft there were 1-3 aircraft and a catapult for their take-off. During the war, due to the increasing role of naval, especially carrier-based aviation, as well as the submarine forces of the fleet and the death of many naval forces from attacks by aircraft and submarines, they lost their importance; After the war, almost all aircraft in all fleets were scrapped.

    B. F. Balev.

Wikipedia

Ship of the line (disambiguation)

Battleship- the name of heavy artillery warships designed to fight in wake columns:

  • A ship of the line is a sailing wooden warship with a displacement of 500 to 5500 tons, which had 2-3 rows of guns on its sides. Sailing battleships were not called battleships.
  • The battleship is an armored artillery ship of the twentieth century with a displacement of 20 to 64 thousand tons.

Battleship

Battleship:

  • in a broad sense, a ship intended for combat operations as part of a squadron;
  • in the traditional sense (also abbreviated battleship), - a class of heavy armored artillery warships with a displacement from 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length from 150 to 280 m, with a main caliber gun of 280-460 mm, with a crew of 1500-2800 people.

Battleships were used in the 20th century to destroy enemy ships as part of a combat formation and provide artillery support for ground operations. They were an evolutionary development of armadillos in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Ship of the line (sailing)

Battleship- a class of sailing warships. Sailing battleships were characterized by the following features: a total displacement from 500 to 5500 tons, armament, including from 30-50 to 135 guns in the side ports (in 2-4 decks), the crew size ranged from 300 to 800 people when fully manned. Sailing battleships were built and used from the 17th century until the early 1860s for naval battles using linear tactics.

In 1907, a new class of armored artillery ships with a displacement from 20 thousand to 64 thousand tons was called battleships (abbreviated as battleships). Sailing battleships were not called battleships.

The era of sailing ships disappeared forever at the end of the 19th century. But the need for this class of ships has not disappeared. With the departure of heavy battleships from the scene of military operations, the urgent issue became the need to build fundamentally new ships that could perform the tasks of linear tactics. In 1907, in Russia they began to create a new class of battleships and, in memory of sailing ships, this class was called “battleships” - an abbreviated name for a battleship.

The new class of battleships was based on the following technical characteristics:

  • Displacement from 20,000 to 70,000 tons.
  • Length 150 – 280 m.
  • The main caliber of guns is from 280 to 460 mm.
  • The battleship's crew ranged from 1,500 to 2,800 people.

The main task of the battleship was to destroy surface combat targets as part of a formation of ships and to provide artillery support for ground operations with the main caliber.

British Admiral Fisher, commander of the Mediterranean squadron in 1899, became the author of the “big guns only” concept. The use of large-caliber guns and the abandonment of medium-caliber artillery weapons made it possible to increase the firing range to 120 cables.

Along with the “big guns only” concept, the new class of battleships was based on technical innovations, such as fire control from a central console, the use of new high-strength light alloys, as well as the ability to quickly aim and reload guns. An important factor in the improvement of the guns themselves was the invention of smokeless powder

The experience of the Russian-Japanese War showed that superiority in naval battles can only be achieved through the speed of the ship and the range of its guns. Not only the Russians or the Japanese took this experience into account; the main naval powers took note of the experience and laid down new battleships. In English, battleships continued to be called "battleships". The first battleship was launched by the British due to the fact that their shipbuilding was the most advanced in the world at the beginning of the twentieth century. This ship was the Dreadnought. His name became a household name for all ships of his class.

Before the start of World War II, the USSR did not build new battleships, but only modernized the existing Gangut-class battleships. Modernization did not give anything, since the changes made did not keep pace with the development of technology.

Just before the war, Stalin gave instructions on the development of the “Big Fleet” program. The lack of a clear understanding of the strategic purpose of the new fleet slowed down the development of a new class of ships. In the end, it was decided to abandon any restrictions on displacement. The result was the so-called “Project 23”.

Beginning in July 1938, the USSR laid down four battleships: Sovetsky Soyuz, Sovetskaya Ukraina, Sovetskaya Belorussia and Sovetskaya Rossiya. By the beginning of World War II, none of the ships were ready and their construction was frozen. The era of battleships is a thing of the past.

In times long past... on the high seas, he [the battleship] feared nothing. There was not a shadow of a feeling of defenselessness from possible attacks from destroyers, submarines or aircraft, nor trembling thoughts about enemy mines or air torpedoes, there was essentially nothing, with the exception of perhaps a severe storm, drift to a leeward shore or a concentrated attack of several equal opponents, which could shake the proud confidence of a sailing ship of the line in its own indestructibility, which it assumed with every right. - Oscar Parks. Battleships of the British Empire.

Background

Many interconnected technological advances and circumstances led to the emergence of battleships as the main force of navies.

The technology of building wooden ships, considered today classic - first the frame, then the plating - was formed in the Mediterranean basin during the 1st millennium AD. e. and began to dominate at the beginning of the next one. Thanks to its advantages, it eventually replaced the previously existing construction methods, starting with cladding: Roman, used in the Mediterranean, with cladding consisting of boards, the edges of which were connected with tenons, and clinker, used from Rus' to the Basque Country in Spain, with cladding overlapping and inserted into finished body with transverse reinforcement ribs. In southern Europe, this transition finally took place before the middle of the 14th century, in England - around 1500, and in Northern Europe, merchant ships with clinker lining (holkas) were built back in the 16th century, possibly later. In most European languages, this method was denoted by derivatives of the word carvel (à carvel, carvel-built, Kraweelbauweise)- probably from caravel, “caravel”, that is, initially - a ship built starting with a frame and with smooth plating.

The new technology gave shipbuilders a number of advantages. The presence of a frame on the ship made it possible to accurately determine in advance its dimensions and the nature of its contours, which, with the previous technology, became fully obvious only during the construction process. Since then, ships have been built according to pre-approved plans. In addition, the new technology made it possible to significantly increase the dimensions of ships, both due to greater hull strength and due to reduced requirements for the width of the boards used for plating, which made it possible to use lower quality wood for the construction of ships. The qualification requirements for the workforce involved in construction were also reduced, which made it possible to build ships faster and in much larger quantities than before.

In the 14th-15th centuries, gunpowder artillery began to be used on ships, but initially, due to the inertia of thinking, it was placed on superstructures intended for archers: forecastle and sterncastle, which limited the permissible mass of guns for reasons of maintaining stability. Later, artillery began to be installed along the side in the middle of the ship, which largely removed the restrictions on the mass and, therefore, the caliber of the guns, but aiming them at the target was very difficult, since fire was fired through round holes made to the size of the gun barrel in the sides, in the stowed position. position plugged from the inside. Real gun ports with covers appeared only towards the end of the 15th century, which paved the way for the creation of heavily armed artillery ships. True, loading the guns still remained a big problem - even in the days of Mary Rose, the most advanced muzzle-loading guns at that time had to be loaded from the outside of the hull, since the tightness of the internal space of the gun deck of ships of that era did not allow them to be dragged inside (it was because of this that on ships For a long time they used breech-loading bombards, which were very unreliable and were inferior in characteristics to the muzzle-loading guns of their time). Because of this, reloading guns in battle was practically excluded - heavy artillery was saved for one single salvo during the entire battle immediately before the boarding dump. However, this salvo often decided the outcome of the entire battle.

Only in the second quarter of the 16th century did ships begin to appear, the design of which allowed for the convenient reloading of heavy artillery during a battle, which made it possible to fire in repeated salvoes from a long distance, without the risk of losing the ability to use it in the event of approaching boarding distance. Thus, the Spaniard Alonso de Chavez, in his work “Espejo de Navegantes” (“Mirror of the Navigator”), published in 1530, recommended dividing the fleet into two parts: the first approached the enemy and conducted a classic boarding battle, the second, acting on the flanks of the main forces , exhausted him with artillery fire from a long distance. These recommendations were developed by British sailors and applied during the Anglo-Spanish War.

So, over the course of the 16th century, a complete change in the nature of naval battles occurred: rowing galleys, which had previously been the main warships for thousands of years, gave way to sailing ships armed with artillery, and boarding combat to artillery.

Mass production of heavy artillery pieces was very difficult for a long time. Therefore, until the 19th century, the largest ones installed on ships remained 32...42-pounders (based on the mass of the corresponding solid cast-iron core), with a bore diameter of no more than 170 mm. But working with them during loading and aiming was very complicated due to the lack of mechanization and servos - such guns weighed several tons each, which necessitated the need for a huge gun crew. Therefore, for centuries, they tried to arm ships with as many relatively small guns as possible, located along the side. At the same time, for reasons of strength, the length of a warship with a wooden hull is limited to approximately 70...80 meters, which also limited the length of the onboard battery: several dozen heavy guns could only be placed in several rows, one above the other. This is how warships arose with several closed gun decks - decks - carrying from several dozen to hundreds or more guns of various calibers.

In the 16th century, cast iron cannons began to be used in England, which were a great technological innovation due to their lower cost relative to bronze and less labor-intensive manufacturing compared to iron ones, and at the same time having better characteristics. Superiority in naval artillery manifested itself during the battles of the English fleet with the Invincible Armada (1588) and since then began to determine the strength of the fleet of any state, making massive boarding battles history. After this, boarding is used solely for the purpose of capturing an enemy ship that has already been disabled by gunfire. By this time, artillery had reached a certain degree of perfection, the characteristics of the guns had more or less stabilized, which made it possible to quite accurately determine the strength of a warship based on the number of guns, and to build systems for their classification.

In the middle of the 17th century, the first scientific systems for designing ships and methods of mathematical calculation appeared. Introduced around the 1660s by the English shipbuilder Anthony Dean, the method of determining the displacement and waterline level of a ship based on its total mass and the shape of its contours made it possible to calculate in advance at what height from the sea surface the ports of the lower gun deck would be located, and to position the decks accordingly and the guns are still on the slipway - previously this required lowering the ship’s hull into the water. This made it possible to determine the firepower of the future ship at the design stage, as well as to avoid accidents like what happened with the Swedish Vasa due to gun ports being too low. In addition, on ships with powerful artillery, part of the gun ports was necessarily on the frames. Only frames that were not cut by ports were power-bearing, so precise coordination of their relative positions was important.

History of appearance

The immediate predecessors of battleships were heavily armed galleons, carracks and so-called "big ships" (Great Ships). The first specially built artillery ship is sometimes considered the English "Mary Rose" (1510) - although in fact it retained many features that indicate an orientation primarily towards boarding combat (very high superstructures-towers in the bow and stern, anti-boarding nets stretched over deck in the middle part of the hull during the battle, a large boarding crew, the number of soldiers in which was almost equal to the number of ship sailors) and in fact was more of a transitional type to a well-armed artillery ship. The Portuguese attribute the honor of their invention to their king João II (1455-1495), who ordered the arming of several caravels with heavy guns.

Until the end of the 16th-17th centuries, there was no strictly established order in the battle; after the warring parties came together, the sea battle turned into a chaotic dump of individual ships. A terrible weapon in such conditions were fire ships - old ships that were stuffed with flammable and explosive substances, set on fire and launched at the enemy.

The use of formation in wake columns in battle began towards the end of the 16th century, but its widespread adoption took at least 100 years (1590-1690), since the use of linear tactics required specific changes in the design of ships, as well as the introduction of a certain degree of standardization. During this period, Britain's wartime Royal Navy consisted of a "core" of purpose-built warships and numerous requisitioned "merchants". However, it soon became clear that with a linear formation, such heterogeneity of ships in terms of seaworthiness and combat qualities is extremely inconvenient - weaker ships, when placed in a battle line, turned out to be the “weak link” of the chain due to worse performance and less resistance to enemy fire. It was then that the final division of sailing ships into combat and merchant ships took place, and the former were divided according to the number of guns into several categories - ranks. The belonging of ships to the same rank guaranteed their ability to operate in the same formation with each other.

The first real battleships appeared in the fleets of European countries at the beginning of the 17th century, and the first three-decker (three-deck) battleship is considered to be the 55-gun HMS Prince Royal (1610). It was followed by the even larger and well-armed three-decker, 100-gun HMS Sovereign of the Seas (1637), which was one of the largest (and most expensive) ships of its time.

The French responded with the laying of the two-deck, 72-gun battleship La Couronne (1636), which set the standard for a more moderately sized and cheaper, but still quite powerful, battleship. This marked the beginning of a long-term “arms race” between the main European naval powers, the main instrument of which was battleships.

Battleships were lighter and shorter than the “tower ships” that existed at that time - galleons, which made it possible to quickly line up with the side facing the enemy, when the bow of the subsequent ship looked at the stern of the previous one.

Also, battleships differ from galleons in having straight sails on a mizzen mast (galleons had from three to five masts, of which usually one or two were “dry”, with oblique sails), the absence of a long horizontal latrine at the bow and a rectangular tower at the stern , and maximum use of the free area of ​​the sides for the guns. The lower hull increased stability, which made it possible to increase windage by installing taller masts. A battleship is more maneuverable and stronger than a galleon in artillery combat, while a galleon is better suited for boarding combat. Unlike galleons, which were also used to transport trade cargo, battleships were built exclusively for naval combat, and only as an exception sometimes carried a certain number of troops on board.

The resulting multi-deck sailing battleships were the main means of warfare at sea for more than 250 years and allowed countries such as Holland, Great Britain and Spain to create huge trading empires.

By the middle of the 17th century, a clear division of battleships into classes arose depending on their purpose, and the basis for the classification was the number of guns. Thus, the old two-deck (with two closed gun decks) ships, which had about 50 guns, turned out to be not strong enough for linear combat as part of a squadron, and were used mainly for escorting convoys. Double-decker battleships, carrying from 64 to 90 guns, made up the bulk of the war fleets, while three- or even four-decker ships (98-144 guns) served as flagships. A fleet of 10-25 such ships made it possible to control maritime trade lines and, in case of war, to close them off to the enemy.

Battleships should be distinguished from frigates. Frigates had either only one closed battery, or one closed and one open battery on the upper deck. The sailing equipment of battleships and frigates was fundamentally the same - three masts, each of which had straight sails. Initially, frigates were inferior to battleships in terms of performance, having superiority only in cruising range and autonomy. However, subsequently, improvement of the contours of the underwater part of the hull allowed the frigates, with the same sail area, to develop a higher speed, making them the fastest among large warships (faster than the frigates were the armed clippers that only appeared in the 19th century as part of some fleets, but they were a very specific type of ship , generally unsuitable for military operations). Battleships, in turn, were superior to frigates in terms of artillery firepower (often several times) and the height of their sides (which was important during boarding and, partly, from the point of view of seaworthiness), but were inferior to them in speed and cruising range, as well as could not operate in shallow water.

Battleship tactics

With the increase in the strength of the warship and with the improvement of its seaworthiness and fighting qualities, an equal success has appeared in the art of using them... As sea evolutions become more skillful, their importance increases day by day. These evolutions needed a base, a point from which they could depart and to which they could return. A fleet of warships must always be ready to meet the enemy; therefore, it is logical that the combat formation should be such a base for naval evolutions. Further, with the abolition of galleys, almost all the artillery moved to the sides of the ship, which is why it became necessary to always keep the ship in such a position that the enemy was abeam. On the other hand, it is necessary that not a single ship in its fleet can interfere with firing at enemy ships. Only one system can fully satisfy these requirements, this is the wake system. The latter, therefore, was chosen as the only combat formation, and therefore as the basis for all fleet tactics. At the same time, they realized that in order for the battle formation, this long thin line of guns, not to be damaged or torn at its weakest point, it is necessary to introduce into it only ships, if not of equal strength, then at least with equal strength. strong sides. It logically follows from this that at the same time as the wake column becomes the final battle formation, a distinction is established between battleships, which alone are intended for it, and smaller vessels for other purposes. - Alfred T. Mahan

The term “battleship” itself arose due to the fact that in battle, multi-deck ships began to line up one after another - so that during their salvo they would be turned broadside towards the enemy, because the greatest damage to the target was caused by a salvo from all onboard guns. This tactic was called linear. Formation in a line during a naval battle first began to be used by the fleets of England, Spain and Holland at the beginning of the 17th century and was considered the main one until the middle of the 19th century. Linear tactics also did a good job of protecting the squadron leading the battle from attacks by fireships.

It is worth noting that in a number of cases, fleets consisting of battleships could vary tactics, often deviating from the canons of the classic firefight of two wake columns running parallel courses. Thus, at Camperdown, the British were unable to line up in the correct wake column and attacked the Dutch battle line with a formation close to the front line followed by a disorderly dump, and at Trafalgar they attacked the French line with two columns running across each other, wisely using the advantages of longitudinal fire, inflicting not separated by transverse bulkheads caused terrible damage to wooden ships (at Trafalgar, Admiral Nelson used tactics developed by Admiral Ushakov). Although these were unusual cases, even within the framework of the general paradigm of linear tactics, the squadron commander often had sufficient space for bold maneuver, and the skippers for showing their own initiative.

Design features and combat qualities

Although in comparison with all-metal ships of subsequent eras, wooden battleships were relatively small, nevertheless they were structures of an impressive scale for their time. Thus, the total height of the mainmast of Nelson’s flagship, the Victory, was approximately 67 m (higher than a 20-story building), and the longest yard reached a length of 30 m, or almost 60 m with extended lisels. Of course, all work with the spar and rigging was done entirely by hand, which required a huge crew of up to 1000 people.

The wood for the construction of battleships (usually oak, less often teak or mahogany) was selected in the most careful manner, soaked (stained) and dried for a number of years, after which it was carefully laid in several layers. The side skin was double - inside and outside of the frames. The thickness of the outer plating alone on some battleships reached 60 cm at the gondeck (at the Spanish Santisima Trinidad), and the total thickness of the inner and outer was up to 37 inches (that is, about 95 cm). The British built ships with relatively thin plating, but often spaced frames, in the area of ​​which the total thickness of the side of the gondeck reached 70-90 cm of solid wood. Between the frames, the total thickness of the side, formed by only two layers of skin, was less and reached 2 feet (60 cm). For greater speed, French battleships were built with thinner frames, but thicker plating - up to 70 cm between frames in total.

To protect the underwater part from rot and fouling, an outer skin made of thin strips of soft wood was placed on it, which was regularly changed during the timbering process in a dry dock. Subsequently, at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, copper cladding began to be used for the same purposes.

Even in the absence of real iron armor, battleships were still protected to some extent and at a certain distance from enemy fire, in addition:

...wooden sailing [linear] ships and frigates, according to the offensive weapons of that time, had a high degree of survivability. They were not invulnerable, most of the cannonballs penetrated their sides, however, what they lacked in invulnerability they made up for in survivability. Damage to two or three yards and sails did not deprive the ship of its ability to be steered. The damage to two or three dozen guns did not prevent the others from continuing their artillery fire. Finally, the control of the entire ship was carried out by people without the help of steam engines, and there were no such devices, the knocking out or damage of which would make the ship unsuitable for battle... - S. O. Makarov. Reasoning on issues of naval tactics.

In battle, they were usually disabled by shooting at the spar, the defeat of the crew or fire, in some cases they were captured by the boarding crew after exhausting their ability to resist, and as a result passed from hand to hand for decades until they became victims of fire, dry rot or a wood-boring beetle. The sinking of a battleship in battle was rare, since flooding with water through relatively small holes from cannonballs usually located above the waterline was insignificant, and the pumps available on the ship could cope with it quite well, and the holes themselves were sealed from the inside - with wooden plugs, or from the outside - right during the battle - cloth plaster.

It was this factor that became decisive in establishing English naval dominance in the Atlantic during the Seven Years' War, when the French fleet, equipped with technically more advanced ships, lost battles to more experienced English sailors, which led to the loss of the French colonies in the West Indies and Canada. After this, England rightfully bore the title of mistress of the seas, supporting it with the so-called. “double standard”, that is, maintaining such a fleet size that it was possible to counteract the two next strongest fleets in the world.

Russian-Turkish wars

Napoleonic wars

This time Russia and England are allies. Accordingly, Napoleonic France was confronted by two of the strongest naval powers at that time. And if the Russian-Austrian army was defeated at Austerlitz, then at sea the British and Russian fleets, on the contrary, won one victory after another. In particular, the English under the command of Admiral Nelson completely defeated the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar, and the Russian fleet under the command of Admiral Ushakov, for the first time in the history of military fleets, captured the fortress of Corfu by storm from the sea with the direct participation of naval warships. (Before this, the naval fortress was almost always stormed only by assault troops landing by the fleet, while the ships of the fleet did not participate in the attack on the fortress, but only blocked the fortress from the sea.)

Sunset of sailing battleships

Between the end of the 18th and the middle of the 19th century, the development of battleships proceeded almost exclusively along an extensive path: the ships became larger and carried a larger number of heavier guns, but their design and combat qualities changed very little, in fact having already reached the perfection possible with the existing level of technology. The main innovations during this period consisted of increasing the level of standardization and improving individual elements of the hull design, as well as the increasingly widespread introduction of iron as a structural material.

  • List of men-of-war 1650-1700. Part II. French ships 1648-1700.
  • Histoire de la Marine Francaise. French naval history.
  • Les Vaisseaux du roi Soleil. Contain for instance list of ships 1661 to 1715 (1-3 rates). Author: J.C Lemineur: 1996 ISBN 2-906381-22-5