1.
Firth of Forth
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The Firth of Forth is the estuary of the River Forth in Scotland, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north and Lothian to the south. It was known as Bodotria in Roman times, in the Norse sagas it was known as the Myrkvifiörd. Geologically, the Firth of Forth is a fjord, formed by the Forth Glacier in the last glacial period, the Kincardine Bridge, the Clackmannanshire Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Bridge carry traffic across the firth. Queensferry Crossing, alongside the Forth Road Bridge, was expected to open in 2016 but has since been delayed until May 2017. From 1964 to 1982, a tunnel existed under the Firth of Forth, the shafts leading into the tunnel were filled and capped with concrete when the tunnel was closed, and it is believed to have filled with water or collapsed in places. In July,2007, a passenger service completed a two-week trial between Portobello, Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy, Fife. The trial of the service was hailed as an operational success. It was estimated the service would decrease congestion for commuters on the Forth road, despite the initial success, the project was cancelled in December,2011. Historic villages line the Fife shoreline, Limekilns, Charlestown and Culross, established in the 6th century, the firth is important for nature conservation and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Firth of Forth Islands SPA is home to more than 90,000 breeding seabirds every year, there is a bird observatory on the Isle of May. The youngest person to swim across the Firth of Forth was 13-year-old Joseph Feeney, in 2008, a controversial bid to allow oil transfer between ships in the firth was refused by Forth Ports. SPT Marine Services had asked permission to transfer 7.8 million tonnes of oil per year between tankers, but the proposals were met with determined opposition from conservation groups
2.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
3.
Royal Navy
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The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive
4.
Battle of Jutland
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The battle unfolded in extensive maneuvering and three main engagements, from 31 May to 1 June 1916, off the North Sea coast of Denmarks Jutland Peninsula. It was the largest naval battle in that war and the only full-scale clash of battleships, Jutland was the third fleet action between steel battleships, following the smaller but more decisive battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War. Jutland was the last major battle fought primarily by battleships in world history, germanys High Seas Fleet intended to lure out, trap, and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, as the German naval force was insufficient to openly engage the entire British fleet. This formed part of a strategy to break the British blockade of Germany. Meanwhile, Great Britains Royal Navy pursued a strategy of engaging and destroying the High Seas Fleet, thereby keeping German naval forces contained and away from Britain and they stationed submarines in advance across the likely routes of the British ships. The German plan had been delayed, causing problems for their submarines. On the afternoon of 31 May, Beatty encountered Hippers battlecruiser force long before the Germans had expected, in a running battle, Hipper successfully drew the British vanguard into the path of the High Seas Fleet. Fourteen British and eleven German ships sank, with loss of life. The British lost more ships and twice as many sailors but succeeded in containing the German fleet, however, the British press criticised the Grand Fleets failure to force a decisive outcome, while Scheers plan of destroying a substantial portion of the British fleet also failed. Finally, the British strategy of denying Germany access to both the United Kingdom and the Atlantic did succeed, which was the British long-term goal, subsequent reviews commissioned by the Royal Navy generated strong disagreement between supporters of Jellicoe and Beatty concerning the two admirals performance in the battle. Debate over their performance and the significance of the battle continues to this day, with 16 dreadnought-type battleships, compared with the Royal Navys 28, the German High Seas Fleet stood little chance of winning a head-to-head clash. The Germans therefore adopted a divide-and-conquer strategy, in January 1916, Admiral von Pohl, commander of the German fleet, fell ill. He was replaced by Scheer, who believed that the fleet had used too defensively, had better ships and men than the British. On 25 April 1916, a decision was made by the German admiralty to halt indiscriminate attacks by submarine on merchant shipping and this followed protests from neutral countries, notably the United States, that their nationals had been the victims of attacks. Instead, he set about deploying the submarine fleet against military vessels and it was hoped that, following a successful German submarine attack, fast British escorts, such as destroyers, would be tied down by anti-submarine operations. If the Germans could catch the British in the expected locations, the hope was that Scheer would thus be able to ambush a section of the British fleet and destroy it. A plan was devised to station submarines offshore from British naval bases, the battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz had been damaged in a previous engagement, but was due to be repaired by mid May, so an operation was scheduled for 17 May 1916. At the start of May, difficulties with condensers were discovered on ships of the battleship squadron
5.
David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty
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Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO, PC was a Royal Navy officer. He is remembered for his comment at Jutland that There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today, after two of his ships exploded. Later in the war he succeeded Jellicoe as Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet and he then followed Jellicoes path a second time, serving as First Sea Lord—a position that Beatty held longer than any other First Sea Lord in history.75 each. Beatty was born into an Anglo-Irish family at Howbeck Lodge in the parish of Stapeley, near Nantwich, Cheshire, Katrine had fair hair and blue eyes, soft wide lips, and overall an air of command. Beattys father was 6 ft 4 in tall, dark haired with big hands, both David and his elder brother Charles were short, about 5 ft 5 in with small hands and feet. Charles was fair haired taking after his mothers features, whereas David had more the look of his father, David Longfield resigned from the regiment on 21 November 1865, with the honorary rank of Captain. He took up residence with Katrine in Cheshire and in 1869 sold his commission, David Longfield was unable to marry Katrine until Katrine had obtained a divorce on 21 February 1871, after the birth of their first two sons. Beattys birth certificate recorded his mothers surname as Beatty, and his parents eventual marriage at St Michaels Church in Liverpool was kept secret, Beattys early education concentrated on horsemanship, hunting and learning to be a gentleman. Beatty had a relationship with his elder brother Charles, who became his ally against their oppressive. They remained close throughout life, so much so that the only time Beatty felt despair was at his brothers death, Beatty later wrote to his wife about Charles, we lived together, played together, rode together, fought together. His brothers would join the British Army, but early on young David developed an interest in ships. In 1881 Beattys grandfather died and David Longfield succeeded to the 18th century mansion, Borodale, outside Enniscorthy, after retiring from the army David Longfield established a business training horses first in Cheshire and then at The Mount, near Rugby, Warwickshire. On inheriting and following the death of his wife at The Mount, Beatty was educated at Kilkenny College and in 1882 entered Burneys Naval Academy at Gosport, which was a crammer for boys wishing to take the entrance examinations for the Royal Navy. Beatty joined the Royal Navy as a passing into the training ship HMS Britannia tenth out of ninety-nine candidates in January 1884. During his two years at Britannia, moored at Dartmouth, he was three times for various infractions. He passed out of Britannia eighteenth out of the remaining cadets at the end of 1885. Beattys letters home made no complaint about the living conditions in Britannia, and generally he was extrovert, even aggressive. However, he understood how far he could transgress without serious consequences, Beatty was, in February 1886, instead appointed to HMS Alexandra, flagship of Admiral the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Victorias second son, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Squadron
6.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
7.
HMS King George V (1911)
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HMS King George V was the lead ship of her class of four dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the early 1910s. She spent the bulk of her assigned to the Home and Grand Fleets. After the war, King George V became flagship of the Home Fleet, the ship evacuated refugees during the Great fire of Smyrna in September 1922 before returning home at the beginning of 1923. King George V was reduced to reserve and used as a ship until late 1926 and was sold for scrap later in the year in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. The King George V-class ships were designed as enlarged and improved versions of the preceding Orion-class battleship, King George V had an overall length of 594 feet 4 inches, a beam of 89 feet 1 inch and a draught of 28 feet 8 inches. She displaced 25,420 long tons at load and 27,120 long tons at deep load, by 1918. Her crew numbered 869 officers and ratings upon completion and 1,114 in 1916, the ships of the King George V class were powered by two sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each driving two shafts, using steam provided by 18 coal-burning Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The turbines were rated at 27,000 shaft horsepower and were intended to give the battleships a speed of 21 knots, during her sea trials on 4 November 1912, King George V reached a maximum speed of 22.4 knots from 33,022 shp. She had a range of 5,910 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots. Like the Orion class, the King George Vs were equipped with 10 breech-loading 13. 5-inch Mark V guns in five hydraulically powered twin-gun turrets, the turrets were designated A, B, Q, X and Y, from front to rear. Their secondary armament consisted of 16 BL 4-inch Mark VII guns, eight of these were mounted in the forward superstructure, four in the aft superstructure, and four in casemates in the side of the hull abreast of the forward main gun turrets, all in single mounts. Four 3-pounder saluting guns were also carried, the ships were equipped with three 21-inch submerged torpedo tubes, one on each broadside and another in the stern, for which 14 torpedoes were provided. The King George V-class ships were protected by a waterline 12-inch armoured belt that extended between the end barbettes and their decks ranged in thickness between 1 inch and 4 inches with the thickest portions protecting the steering gear in the stern. The main battery turret faces were 11 inches thick, and the turrets were supported by 10-inch-thick barbettes, by October 1914, a pair of 3-inch anti-aircraft guns had been added. The torpedo nets were removed in 1915–1916, approximately 80 long tons of additional deck armour was added after the Battle of Jutland and a medium-length rangefinder was added atop the conning tower. Around the same time, the ship was modified to use a kite balloon, by April 1917, the 4-inch guns had been removed from the hull casemates as they were frequently unusable in heavy seas. The casemates were plated over and some of the compartments were used for accommodations and that same year, the spotting top was enlarged and the foremast was fitted with full-sized tripod legs to handle the additional weight. Her stern torpedo tube was removed in 1917–1918 and flying-off platforms were fitted on the roofs of B and Q turrets during 1918
8.
HMS Thunderer (1911)
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HMS Thunderer was the fourth and last Orion-class dreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy in the early 1910s. She spent the bulk of her assigned to the Home. After the Grand Fleet was dissolved in early 1919, Thunderer was transferred to back to the Home Fleet for a few months before she was assigned to the Reserve Fleet. The ship was converted into a ship for naval cadets in 1921. While being towed to the scrapyard, Thunderer ran aground, the ship was refloated, in recognition of these improvements, the class was sometimes called super-dreadnoughts. The ships had a length of 581 feet, a beam of 88 feet 6 inches. They displaced 21,922 long tons at load and 25,596 long tons at deep load as built. Her crew numbered 738 officers and ratings when completed in 1912 and 1,107 in 1917, the Orion class was powered by two sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each driving two shafts, using steam provided by 18 coal-burning Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The turbines were rated at 27,000 shaft horsepower and were intended to give the battleships a speed of 21 knots. During her sea trials 0n 5 March 1912, Thunderer reached a speed of 20.8 knots from 27,427 shp. The ships had a range of 6,730 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots. The Orion class was equipped with 10 breech-loading 13. 5-inch Mark V guns in five hydraulically powered twin-gun turrets, the turrets were designated A, B, Q, X and Y, from front to rear. Their secondary armament consisted of 16 BL 4-inch Mark VII guns and these guns were split evenly between the forward and aft superstructure, all in single mounts. Four 3-pounder saluting guns were also carried, the ships were equipped with three 21-inch submerged torpedo tubes, one on each broadside and another in the stern, for which 20 torpedoes were provided. The Orions were protected by a waterline 12-inch armoured belt that extended between the end barbettes and their decks ranged in thickness between 1 inch and 4 inches with the thickest portions protecting the steering gear in the stern. The main battery turret faces were 11 inches thick, and the turrets were supported by 10-inch-thick barbettes, a prototype fire-control director was installed sometime before November 1912, on a platform below the spotting top. In 1914 the shelter-deck guns were enclosed in casemates and by October 1914, additional deck armour was added after the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. Around the same time, a pair of guns were removed from the aft superstructure
9.
HMS Monarch (1911)
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HMS Monarch was the second of four Orion-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the early 1910s. She spent the bulk of her assigned to the Home. After the Grand Fleet was dissolved in early 1919, Monarch was transferred to back to the Home Fleet for a few months before she was assigned to the Reserve Fleet, the ship was listed for disposal in mid-1922, but was hulked for use as a stationary training ship. In late 1923 Monarch was converted into a ship and was sunk in early 1925. In recognition of these improvements, the class was sometimes called super-dreadnoughts, the ships had an overall length of 581 feet, a beam of 88 feet 6 inches and a deep draught of 31 feet 3 inches. They displaced 21,922 long tons at load and 25,596 long tons at deep load as built. Her crew numbered 738 officers and ratings upon completion and 750 as of 1914, the Orion class was powered by two sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each driving two shafts, using steam provided by 18 Yarrow boilers. The turbines were rated at 27,000 shaft horsepower and were intended to give the battleships a speed of 21 knots, during her sea trials on 9 December 1911, Monarch reached a maximum speed of 21.9 knots from 32,277 shp. The ships had a range of 6,730 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots. The Orion class was equipped with 10 breech-loading 13. 5-inch Mark V guns in five hydraulically powered twin-gun turrets, the turrets were designated A, B, Q, X and Y, from front to rear. Their secondary armament consisted of 16 BL 4-inch Mark VII guns and these guns were split evenly between the forward and aft superstructure, all in single mounts. Four 3-pounder saluting guns were also carried, the ships were equipped with three 21-inch submerged torpedo tubes, one on each broadside and another in the stern, for which 20 torpedoes were provided. The Orions were protected by a waterline 12-inch armoured belt that extended between the end barbettes and their decks ranged in thickness between 1 inch and 4 inches with the thickest portions protecting the steering gear in the stern. The main battery turret faces were 11 inches thick, and the turrets were supported by 10-inch-thick barbettes, in 1914 the shelter-deck guns were enclosed in casemates and a fire-control director was installed sometime in 1914, before August, on a platform below the spotting top. By October 1914, a pair of 3-inch anti-aircraft guns had been installed, additional deck armour was added after the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. Around the same time, three 4-inch guns were removed from the aft superstructure and the ship was modified to operate kite balloons, a flying-off platform was mounted on B turrets roof and extended onto the gun barrels during 1917–1918. A high-angle rangefinder was fitted in the superstructure by 1921. Monarch, named after a ship of the line, Monarque
10.
HMS Conqueror (1911)
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HMS Conqueror was the third of four Orion-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the early 1910s. She spent the bulk of her assigned to the Home. After the Grand Fleet was dissolved in early 1919, Conqueror was transferred back to the Home Fleet for a few months before she was assigned to the Reserve Fleet, the ship was sold for scrap in late 1922 and subsequently broken up. In recognition of these improvements, the class was sometimes called super-dreadnoughts, the ships had an overall length of 581 feet, a beam of 88 feet 6 inches and a deep draught of 31 feet 3 inches. They displaced 21,922 long tons at load and 25,596 long tons at deep load as built. Her crew numbered 752 officers and ratings, the Orion class was powered by two sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each driving two shafts, using steam provided by eighteen coal-burning Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The turbines were rated at 27,000 shaft horsepower and were intended to give the battleships a speed of 21 knots, during her sea trials on 7 June 1912, Conqueror reached a maximum speed of 22.1 knots from 33,198 shp. The ships had a range of 6,730 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots. The Orion class was equipped with 10 breech-loading 13. 5-inch Mark V guns in five hydraulically powered twin-gun turrets, the turrets were designated A, B, Q, X and Y, from front to rear. Their secondary armament consisted of 16 BL 4-inch Mark VII guns and these guns were split evenly between the forward and aft superstructure, all in single mounts. Four 3-pounder saluting guns were also carried, the ships were equipped with three 21-inch submerged torpedo tubes, one on each broadside and another in the stern, for which 20 torpedoes were provided. The Orions were protected by a waterline 12-inch armoured belt that extended between the end barbettes and their decks ranged in thickness between 1 inch and 4 inches with the thickest portions protecting the steering gear in the stern. The main battery turret faces were 11 inches thick, and the turrets were supported by 10-inch-thick barbettes, in 1914 the shelter-deck guns were enclosed in casemates. By October 1914, a pair of 3-inch anti-aircraft guns had been added, a fire-control director was installed on a platform below the spotting top before May 1915. Additional deck armour was added after the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, around the same time, three 4-inch guns were removed from the aft superstructure. Two flying-off platforms were fitted aboard the ship during 1917–1918, these were mounted on B and X turret roofs, a high-angle rangefinder was fitted in the forward superstructure by 1921. Conqueror, named after a French fire ship, Conqueror, that had captured in 1745, was the seventh ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. The ship was laid down by William Beardmore and Company at their shipyard in Dalmuir on 5 April 1910 and she was commissioned with a partial crew on 23 November 1912, but was not completed until March 1913, after which the remainder of her crew arrived
11.
Capital ship
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The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships, they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a ship in a naval fleet. William S. Lind, in the book America Can Win, defines a capital ship as follows, These characteristics define a capital ship, if the ships are beaten. But if the rest of the navy is beaten, the ships can still operate. Another characteristic that defines capital ships is that their opponent is each other. The Mahanian doctrine was applied by the Imperial Japanese Navy, leading to its preventive move to attack Pearl Harbor. Four-deckers suffered in rough seas, and the lowest deck could seldom fire except in calm conditions, third rate,64 to 80 guns. Fourth rate,46 to 60 guns, frigates were ships of the fifth rate, sixth rates comprised small frigates and corvettes. Towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars and into the late 19th century, some larger and this applied mainly to ships resulting from the dreadnought revolution, dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers. In the 20th century, especially in World Wars I and II, typical capital ships would be battleships, all of the above ships were close to 20,000 tons displacement or heavier, with large caliber guns and heavy armor protection. Heavy cruisers, despite being important ships, were not considered capital ships, an exception to the above in World War II was the Deutschland-class cruiser. The Alaska-class cruisers, despite being oversized heavy cruisers and not true battleships/battlecruisers, were considered by some to be capital ships. In regard to design, however, the Kirov is simply a supersized guided-missile cruiser with nuclear propulsion. It took until late 1942 for aircraft carriers to be considered capital ships. The U. S. Navy was forced to rely primarily on its aircraft carriers after the attack on Pearl Harbor sank or damaged eight of its Pacific-fleet battleships. In the 21st century, the carrier is the last remaining capital ship, with capability defined in decks available and aircraft per deck, rather than in guns. Despite their significance to modern fleets, the U. S. Navy has never named aircraft carriers after U. S. states as was the practice when battleships were considered capital ships. Instead, U. S. state names are applied to nuclear submarines while Aircraft Carriers are named after famous Navy personel and presidents, such as Chester W. Nimitz
12.
Scapa Flow
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Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Scapa Flow is one of Britains most historic stretches of water - located within the Orkney Islands and its sheltered waters have been used by ships since prehistory and it has played an important role in travel, trade and conflict throughout the centuries - especially during both World Wars. It is currently a world-famous diving location, with the wrecks of the scuttled German Fleet offering unique diving challenges, Scapa Flow is also a major oil port serving the Flotta Oil Terminal, and is a prime location of ship-to-ship transfers of crude oil product and liquefied natural gas. The world’s first ship-to-ship transfer of LNG took place in Scapa Flow in 2007. Vikings anchored their longships in Scapa Flow more than a thousand years ago, the facility was closed in 1956. The Viking expeditions to Orkney are recorded in detail in the 11th century Orkneyinga sagas, en route back to Norway Haakon anchored some of his fleet in Scapa Flow for the winter, but he died that December whilst staying at the Bishops Palace in Kirkwall. The enterprise ended in failure and rout at the Battle of Carbisdale, historically, the main British naval bases were located near the English Channel to better face Britains old enemies, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. First Rosyth was considered for the base, then Invergordon at Cromarty Firth, john Rushworth Jellicoe, admiral of the Grand Fleet, was perpetually nervous about the possibility of submarine or destroyer attacks on Scapa Flow. These blocked approaches were backed by minefields, artillery, and concrete barriers, only two attempts to enter the harbour were made by German U-boats during the war, and neither was successful. U-18 tried to enter in November 1914, but a trawler searching for submarines rammed it, causing U-18 to flee, uB-116 made the second attempt in October 1918 but encountered the sophisticated defences then in place. It was detected by hydrophones before entering the anchorage, then destroyed by shore-triggered mines, after waiting for the bulk of the British fleet to leave on exercises, he gave the order to scuttle the ships to prevent their falling into British hands. Nine German sailors died when British forces opened fire as they attempted to scuttle their ship, SMS Emden was amongst the ships the British managed to beach. This Emden should not be confused with her predecessor, destroyed in the Battle of Cocos on 9 November 1914 by the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney, at least seven of the scuttled German ships, and a number of sunken British ships, can be visited by scuba divers. These ships posed a hazard to navigation, and small boats, trawlers and drifters, moving around the Flow regularly became snagged on them with the rise. The Admiralty initially declared that there would be no attempt at salvage, in the first few years after the war, there was abundant scrap metal as a result of the huge quantities of leftover tanks, artillery and ordnance. By the early 1920s, the situation had changed, in 1922, the Admiralty invited tenders from interested parties for the salvage of the sunken ships, although at the time few believed that it would be possible to raise the deeper wrecks. During the next eight years, Cox and his workforce of divers, engineers, in this fashion the submerged hulls were made into air-tight chambers and raised with compressed air, still inverted, back to the surface. Cox endured bad luck and frequent fierce storms which often ruined his work, swamping and re-sinking ships which had just been raised
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United Kingdom
Royal Navy
Historic fleets and naval commands of the Royal Navy