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Interwar Naval Development
[edit]In the years between World War I and World War II naval design and technology advanced by leaps and bounds. Do to the restrictions placed on the major naval powers by the London Naval Treaty and the Washington Naval Treaty they were forced to adapt and work around the limitations. This resulted in radically different ships than those built before the war.
World War I Naval design
[edit]
The primary fighting ship of World War I was the dreadnaught. These ships all shared common design principles which were put in place by the first ship of the type HMS Dreadnought (1906). These types of warships generally had decent armor protection running the entire length of the ship.[1] This came at a cost of speed and many ships of this type could only make about twenty knots.[2]Another important aspect of these warship's design is the inclusion of torpedo tubes on a vessel of this size. In the years leading up to the First World War the tonnage and armament of these ships continued to increase especially as the Anglo-German naval arms race set in.
Developed alongside the dreadnaughts the battlecruisers were a development of armored cruisers and featured similar armament as dreadnaughts but with much lighter armor and higher top speed.[2]
The last type of warship to see major evolution during the interwar years these vessels often featured very light armor and large fuel capacity for long range scouting operations.
The Interwar Naval Conferences
[edit]The Washington Naval Treaty was signed in 1923.[3] The treaty was signed by the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan. The treaty touched on many things but had four primary components.[4]
- A limit of 35,000 tons was placed on any new Battleship that were to be built.
- A maximum tonnage of capital ships was set for each of the five signatories with a ratio of 5:5:3:1.75:1.75 (US:UK:JPN:FR:ITLY).
- Cruisers had their maximum tonnage set at 10,000 tons and a maximum armament of 8in guns.
- The major Pacific powers were prohibited from constructing new naval bases or fortifications in that part of the world
The London Naval Treaty was signed in 1930.[5] This treaty was smaller in scope than that of the Washington and had three primary components.[5]
- A limit was placed on the total tonnage allowed for both Heavy cruisers and Light cruisers.
- A limit of 2,000 tons was placed on submarines.
- A limit was placed on the total tonnage of Destroyers.
The New Generation of Warships
[edit]Despite there only being seven major points between these two treaties each had a profound impact on the design philosophy of the nations who signed them.
Washington
[edit]35,000 ton Limit
[edit]As the Anglo-German naval arms race continued to gain momentum the size of dreadnaughts continued to grow at an alarming rate. Launched in 1908 HMS Dreadnought (1906) weighed in at just over 18,000 tons.[2] However, the HMS Royal Oak (08) launched in 1914, just 6 years later, came in at just under 30,000 tons.
The limit of 35,000 tons however brought battleship development to a halt. This is because following the conventional ideas of battleship design laid out by HMS Dreadnaught it was becoming more and more difficult to build a balanced and competitive ship.
The solution to this was three fold. First most of the world adopted the All or nothing (armor) armor layout.[6] This allowed for adequate protection for the vital parts of the ship while saving weight by leaving the non critical parts lightly armored. Secondly was the switch to having the primary armament only on the center line of the vessel.[7] This cut weight by removing gun turrets what would only be able to fire half the time while in a Line of battle. Lastly torpedo's were removed from almost all post Washington battleship designs. This was due once again due to the need to save weight and the increasing range of main battery guns on these newer battleships.[8]
Maximum Total tonnage of Capital ships
[edit]The limit on the maximum total tonnage of capital ships forced navies to make a decision on how they wanted to allocate that tonnage. This resulted in the concept of the Pocket battleship.[6] Smaller than a full size battleship but more heavily armored than a Battlecruiser. This way these nations could construct two or three of these pocket battleships instead of just one ship at the 35,000 ton limit of the treaty.
Maximum tonnage of cruisers
[edit]In the years leading up to the First World War the tonnage of Protected cruisers was increasing at a regular pace with. However, after the treaty was ratified all the signatory nations immediately set out to build the biggest cruiser allowed by the treaty because they assumed the other nations were doing the same.[6]
Prohibition on building of new naval bases
[edit]With the major Pacific naval powers unable to build more forward bases they had to come up with a new way to protect their overseas positions across the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. The solution was to sacrifice armor for fuel capacity and range on their cruisers.[9]
Sources
[edit]- ^ Roberts (2002). The Battleship Dreadnought. Anatomy of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press Ltd. pp. p.84-85, plan А3/7 - platform
p.140 - 143, plan В22/1-В22/5 - armour layout, . ISBN ISBN 978-0851778952:.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help); Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help); line feed character in|pages=at position 30 (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ a b c Breyer, Siegfried (1973). Battleships and Battlecruisers of the World, 1905–1970. London: Macdonald and Jane's. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-356-04191-9.
- ^ Mowat, Robert J. C. (2018-07-03). "The Battleship Holiday: The naval treaties and capital ship design". The Mariner's Mirror. 104 (3): 371–372. doi:10.1080/00253359.2018.1493289. ISSN 0025-3359.
- ^ "A Treaty Between the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, Limiting Naval Armament". American Journal of International Law. 16 (S2): 41–56. 1922-04. doi:10.2307/2213014. ISSN 0002-9300.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Jordan, John (2020). Warships After London: The End of the Treaty Era in the Five Major Fleets 1930–1936. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1682476109.
- ^ a b c Jordan, John (2015). Warships after Washington: The Development of the Five Major Fleets 1922-1930. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1591145837.
- ^ Czarnecki, Joseph (1 February 2001). "A Survey of the American "Standard Type" Battleship".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Why Don't American Battleships Have Torpedoes? With Drachinifel, retrieved 2023-11-07
- ^ Emily, Goldman (1994). Sunken Treaties: Naval Arms Control between the Wars. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 978-0271010342.