vanir
Jedi
Joined: 11 May 2011
Posts: 793
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 Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2012 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Erm... not as far as I am aware. It would remain a battleship the entire time. It may be an outdated battleship, but it remains one the entire time. |
No, the Royal Navy reclassified all the QE class and the Hood (an enlarged QE as a flagship), between the wars as battlecruisers because at Jutland Germans used tactics of turning the line at a distance (for fear of massed torpedo attacks from destroyers) and a byproduct was most of the battle fought under plunging fire (that's why all the exploding battleships in that fight). The newer dreadnaughts had thin deck armour for more speed, at the time classed dreadnaught battleships. It was between the wars that battleships started plating the deck thickly (dreadnaughts planned after 1917 in england/france did this and the Hood was almost cancelled in drydock because it was engineered prior to this wisdom). When this happened the 1916 contemporary dreadnaughts became battlecruisers (a new class, created by Jutland and this is exactly how) instead of battleships. They were literally reclassified, it's in the Royal Navy fleet records.
Battleships originally got the name because it meant that a ship could withstand a direct fire broadside from its own guns (look up the Gloire and Warrior first battleships ca.1860). Jutland proved you had to withstand indirect fire as well, so the classification of battlecruiser was created following that battle, which originally they were just fast battleships retroactively termed battlecruisers after the classification was made. Thin deck armour gave you 3-5kts at a time when 20kts on a heavy ship was pretty quick. People were using optic sights in those days anyway, it wasn't that big an issue before radar ranging...well so they thought.
The QE class dreadnaughts that were sent to the Med were upgunned with more AAA so they got reclassified again as battleships, again it's in the fleet records. Those in the North and Arctic Sea or Atlantic remained battlecruisers in the records. The Hood was due to have its deck armour thickened but remained reclassified as a battlecruiser until this was performed, which never happened because it was one of the fast vessels with big guns needed to pursue the Bismarck, so it couldn't be drydocked. The Rodney and Nelson were very slow, but totally all round armoured battleships, and the fast new King George V class also roundly armoured weren't finished yet. These were classed battleships from planning, but so were all the dreadnaughts later reclassified as battlecruisers.
But again the Royal Navy are exercising utilitarian purposes in classifying their battleships and battlecruisers. The German Navy classed their Scharnhorst class ships as battleships but big guns weren't available for them when built so the Royal Navy classed them as battlecruisers, due to 11" guns instead of 14", 15" or 16" guns. Nevertheless those ships are at least as heavily armoured as any new battleship and can take 15" shells just fine, plunging or direct. It was very difficult to sink them, and took a lot of torpedos after a lot of pounding with RN battleship volleys, hours worth. The Scharnhorst class were such a big deal to the RN specifically because you just couldn't sink them without battleships, and if it had bigger guns it would fight them toe to toe no worries. There was no deficiency in line combat, only their gun calibre which meant basically they could roam around right in front of battleships and blow a convoy to pieces, so you really had to throw the kitchen sink at them.
Under strictest terms, they can take broadsides from their own guns all day and all night with barely a scratch so fit the original classification of "battleship" to a T, and remember in 1915 most "battleships" or dreadnaughts had 11" guns. The quality of steel back then made the deck wrinkle if you fired bigger guns on certain angles.
Then the RN called the Deutschland class battlecruisers, the German Navy called them heavy cruisers, the international media called them pocket battleships (an invention), originally the German Navy classed them as coastal defence cruisers. Medium cruiser tonnage, WW1 era battleship guns in two turrets and coastal craft engines. They're not really anything, but a direct result of trying to play ball with Versailles at its upper limitation (no battleships or heavy cruisers, but coastal defence cruisers okay so the Reichsmarine tried to combine the roles and lied about tonnage).
So they started off classed as coastal defence cruisers (panzerschiff) and were reclassified as heavy cruisers (very very slow ones with troublesome machinery).
Then you have the German Torpedo Boat (as opposed to S-Boat or R-Boat which is what the USN would call a torpedo boat). The German Torpedo Boat is a USN Destroyer-escort. Same thing, tonnage, armament, you name it. Just the USN ones are a cheap quick new production and the German ones were WW1 era class of ship. The bulk of the German Navy was actually made up of these.
Anyway point being: role = ship class. Roles change for the same ship, when they do it is usually reclassed. |
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