Warship 2024

The annual Warship series pulls together an extraordinary collection of articles on warships from the 19th century bizarre to the latest technological ships, and this edition certainly ticks all the boxes. It opens with an article tracing the early development of the Japanese 16” gunned Nagato and Mutsu “fast battleships”, completed in 1920/21, and thus successfully escaping the strictures of the Washington Treaty, although both the Americans and British used their construction to build their own 16” gun battleships. With geared turbines, Mutsu reached 26.73 kts on trials; her public speed was 23 kts. Both ships were modernised in 1934-36; Nagato survived WWII and was used in the Bikini Atoll atom bomb tests but Mutsu sank in 1943 after a magazine explosion. The Soviet Union’s desire to build up their Navy in the 1930s was stymied by lack of expertise in everything from shipbuilding to machinery and weapons. The Italians were contracted to build a destroyer and provide technical assistance to the Soviet shipbuilding. Despite constant political interference, Soviet shipbuilding evolved into the post-war Soviet destroyer force. Coverage of the Soviet Navy continues with a photo gallery of the Soviet Navy of 1960-1990. A detailed study of the distinctive 6,000 tonne French carrier escorts Suffren and Duquesne of the 1960s, armed with both the Mascara SAM and Malafon A/S missiles, states that whilst technically less advanced than their US counterparts, they did enable France to develop its own weapons and sensors. The coverage of the French battleship Bouvet – the “martyr of the Dardanelles” – follows on from a Warship 2023 article on her sister ship Massena. Bouvet was mined off Gallipoli in 1915, sinking in less than a minute with heavy loss of life In 1915, the German Navy seized a sailing ship called Pass of Balmaha which had run aground off Cuxhaven. The decision was taken to convert her into an Armed Commerce raider. It was envisaged that she would “prey even on steamers sailing to leeward and sink them by gunfire”. The ship was to become the Seeadler, sailing in late 1916, and over the next 8 months she captured 15 ships before being wrecked in the Pacific. Further articles cover Italian midget submarines, Japanese WWII destroyers, an action between the Goeben and Russian pre-Dreadnoughts in 1915, and the RN’s role in Fishery Protection which questions what will happen as the UK fishing industry declines and the civilian Maritime Marine Organisation assumes a greater responsibility. The Warship notes section, billed as “generally highlighting little known aspects of warship history,” include an article on the aircraft carrier programmes of the Germans and Italians in WWII. The Italians hoped to gain from the German Graf Zeppelin, but initiating a carrier programme was a long process and neither country’s carrier efforts saw light. When reviewing last year’s edition of Warship I said that I looked forward to Warship 2024 and I am pleased to report that this edition doesn’t disappoint. Always interesting, illuminating and fun to read. Highly recommended.