This is a list of battleships of the Second World War. All displacements are at standard load, in metric tonnes, so as to avoid confusion over their relative displacements. [Note: Not all displacements have been adjusted to match this yet]. Ideally displacements will be as they were at either the end of the war, or when the ship was sunk.
The battleship was a capital ship built in the first half of the 20th century. At the outbreak of war, large fleets of battleships—many inherited from the dreadnought era decades before—were considered one of the decisive forces in naval warfare. There were two engagements between battleships in the Pacific theatre and three in the Atlantic theatre. Battleships were the most heavily protected ships afloat, nonetheless sixteen were sunk or crippled by bombs or torpedoes delivered by aircraft, while three more were sunk by submarine-launched torpedoes. Guided bombs developed during the war made it much easier for aircraft to sink battleships. By the end of the war, battleship construction was all but halted, and almost every existing battleship was retired or scrapped within a few years of its end. The Second World War saw the end of the battleship as the dominant force in the world's navies. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
The List of ships of World War II contains major military vessels of the war, arranged alphabetically and by type. The list includes armed vessels that served during the war and in the immediate aftermath, inclusive of localized ongoing combat operations, garrison surrenders, post-surrender occupation, colony re-occupation, troop and prisoner repatriation, to the end of 1945. For smaller vessels, see also List of World War II ships of less than 1000 tons.
Ship | Operator | Class | Type | Displacement (tons) | First commissioned | End of service | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alabama | United States Navy | South Dakota | fast battleship | 35,980 | 16 August 1942 | 9 January 1947 | Decommissioned 9 January 1947; museum ship |
Almirante Latorre | Chilean Navy | Almirante Latorre | super-dreadnought | 28,550 | 1 August 1920 | 1 October 1958 | Scrapped 1959 |
Andrea Doria | Regia Marina | Andrea Doria | fast battleship | 25,920 | 13 March 1916 | 16 September 1956 | Scrapped 1956 |
Anson | Royal Navy | King George V | fast battleship | 39,100 | 22 June 1942 | 1 November 1951 | Scrapped 1957 |
Arizona | United States Navy | Pennsylvania | super-dreadnought | 31,900 | 17 October 1916 | 7 December 1941 | Sunk 7 December 1941; war memorial |
Arkansas | Wyoming | dreadnought | 26,100 | 17 September 1912 | 25 July 1946 | Sunk 25 July 1946 in A-bomb test | |
Asahi | Imperial Japanese Navy | pre-dreadnought | 11,625 | 28 April 1900 | 26 May 1942 | Sunk 25/26 May 1942 | |
Barham | Royal Navy | Queen Elizabeth | super-dreadnought | 31,000 | 19 August 1915 | 25 November 1941 | Sunk 25 November 1941 |
Bismarck | Kriegsmarine | Bismarck | fast battleship | 41,700 | 24 August 1940 | 27 May 1941 | Scuttled 27 May 1941 |
Bretagne | French Navy | Bretagne | super-dreadnought | 22,200 | 10 February 1916 | 3 July 1940 | Sunk 3 July 1940 |
California | United States Navy | Tennessee | super-dreadnought | 32,300 | 10 August 1921 | 14 February 1947 | Decommissioned 14 February 1947, scrapped 1959 |
Centurion | Royal Navy | King George V | super-dreadnought | 25,500 | 22 May 1913 | 7 June 1944 | Scuttled as a Mulberry harbour breakwater off Normandy, 7 June 1944 |
Colorado | United States Navy | Colorado | super-dreadnought | 33,100 | 30 August 1923 | 23 July 1959 | Sold for scrap, 23 July 1959 |
Condorcet | French Navy | Danton | semi-dreadnought | 18,458 | 25 July 1911 | July 1941 | Scuttled by Germany August 1944, scrapped 1949 |
Conte di Cavour | Regia Marina | Conte di Cavour | fast battleship | 26,140 | 1 April 1915 | 11 November 1940 | Deliberately run aground November 1940, scrapped 1946 |
Courbet | French Navy Free French Naval Forces | Courbet | dreadnought | 23,200 | 19 November 1913 | 1 January 1941 | Scuttled as a "Gooseberry" breakwater 6 June 1944 |
Duilio | Regia Marina | Andrea Doria | fast battleship | 25,920 | 10 May 1915 | 15 September 1956 | Scrapped 1957 |
Duke of York | Royal Navy | King George V | fast battleship | 39,100 | 28 February 1940 | 1 November 1951 | Scrapped 1957 |
Dunkerque | French Navy | Dunkerque | fast battleship | 26,500 | 15 April 1937 | 1 March 1942 | Scuttled 27 November 1942 |
Fusō | Imperial Japanese Navy | Fusō | super-dreadnought | 34,700 | 18 November 1915 | 25 October 1944 | Sunk 25 October 1944 |
Giulio Cesare | Regia Marina | Conte di Cavour | fast battleship | 26,140 | 10 May 1914 | 29 October 1955 | Ceded to Soviet Union 1948, renamed Novorossiysk, sunk by abandoned mine |
Gneisenau | Kriegsmarine | Scharnhorst | fast battleship | 32,000 | 21 May 1938 | 1 July 1942 | Sunk as block ship March 1945 |
Haruna | Imperial Japanese Navy | Kongō | fast battleship | 37,187 | 19 April 1915 | 28 July 1945 | Sunk at her moorings on 28 July 1945, raised and scrapped in 1946 |
Hessen | Kriegsmarine | Braunschweig | pre-dreadnought | 13,208 | 19 September 1905 | Ceded to USSR as Tsel 2 January 1946, scrapped 1960 | |
Hiei | Imperial Japanese Navy | Kongō | fast battleship | 37,187 | 21 November 1912 | 13 November 1942 | Sunk following the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942 |
Howe | Royal Navy | King George V | fast battleship | 39,100 | 28 September 1942 | 1 January 1951 | Scrapped 1958 |
Hyūga | Imperial Japanese Navy | Ise | super-dreadnought | 35,560 | 30 April 1918 | 28 July 1945 | Sunk 28 July 1945 |
Idaho | United States Navy | New Mexico | super-dreadnought | 32,514 | 24 March 1919 | 3 July 1946 | Broken up at Newark, 1947 |
Impero | Regia Marina | Littorio | fast battleship | 40,992 | Launched during war 15 November 1939, broken up at Venice, 1948 to 1950 | ||
Indiana | United States Navy | South Dakota | fast battleship | 35,980 | 30 April 1942 | 15 November 1945 | Decommissioned 11 September 1947, scrapped 1963 |
Iowa | Iowa | fast battleship | 55,770 | 22 February 1943 | 26 October 1990 | Decommissioned 1990; museum ship | |
Iron Duke | Royal Navy | Iron Duke | super-dreadnought | 25,400 | 1 March 1914 | 17 October 1939 | Paid off March 1946 |
Ise | Imperial Japanese Navy | Ise | super-dreadnought | 35,560 | 15 December 1917 | 1 March 1945 | Sunk 28 July 1945 |
Jean Bart | French Navy | Richelieu | fast battleship | 37,850 | 16 January 1949 | 1 August 1957 | Launched during war 6 March 1940, Scrapped 24 June 1970 |
Kilkis | Hellenic Navy | Mississippi | pre-dreadnought | 13,209 | 1 February 1908 | 23 April 1941 | Sunk 23 April 1941, wreck was refloated and scrapped 1950s |
King George V | Royal Navy | King George V | fast battleship | 39,100 | 11 December 1940 | 1 June 1950 | Scrapped 1957 |
Kirishima | Imperial Japanese Navy | Kongō | fast battleship | 37,187 | 19 April 1915 | 15 November 1942 | Sunk 15 November 1942 |
Kongō | fast battleship | 37,187 | 18 May 1912 | 21 November 1944 | Sunk by USS Sealion in the Formosa Strait, 21 November 1944 | ||
Lemnos | Hellenic Navy | Mississippi | pre-dreadnought | 13,209 | 1 April 1908 | 23 April 1941 | Sunk 23 April 1941, wreck was refloated and scrapped 1950s |
Littorio | Regia Marina | Littorio | fast battleship | 40,724 | 6 May 1940 | 1 June 1948 | Renamed Italia 30 July 1943, scrapped 1948 |
Lorraine | French Navy Free French Naval Forces | Bretagne | super-dreadnought | 22,200 | 27 July 1916 | 17 February 1953 | Scrapped January 1954 |
Malaya | Royal Navy | Queen Elizabeth | super-dreadnought | 31,000 | 1 February 1916 | 1 December 1944 | Scrapped 1948 |
Marat | Soviet Navy | Gangut | dreadnought | 23,000 | 5 January 1915 | 4 September 1953 | Sunk 23 September 1941, later rear part refloated, renamed Petropavlovsk 31 May 1943, scrapped September 1953 |
Maryland | United States Navy | Colorado | super-dreadnought | 33,100 | 21 July 1921 | 3 April 1947 | Sold for scrap 8 July 1959 |
Massachusetts | South Dakota | fast battleship | 35,980 | 12 May 1942 | 27 March 1947 | Museum ship 14 August 1965 | |
Minas Geraes | Brazilian Navy | Minas Geraes | dreadnought | 19,200 | 18 April 1910 | 16 May 1952 | Scrapped 1954 |
Mississippi | United States Navy | New Mexico | super-dreadnought | 32,514 | 25 January 1917 | 17 September 1956 | Scrapped 1957 |
Missouri | Iowa | fast battleship | 55,770 | 11 June 1944 | 31 March 1992 | Museum ship 29 January 1999 | |
Moreno | Argentine Navy | Rivadavia | dreadnought | 27,720 | 26 February 1915 | 1 October 1956 | Sold for scrap 11 January 1957 |
Musashi | Imperial Japanese Navy | Yamato | fast battleship | 65,000 | 5 August 1942 | 25 October 1944 | Sunk 25 October 1944 |
Mutsu | Nagato | super-dreadnought | 32,720 | 24 October 1921 | 8 June 1943 | Sunk in harbor by internal explosion 8 June 1943 | |
Nagato | super-dreadnought | 32,720 | 25 November 1920 | 15 September 1945 | Sunk as target 29 July 1946 | ||
Nelson | Royal Navy | Nelson | treaty battleship | 34,000 | 10 September 1927 | 20 October 1947 | Decommissioned February 1948, scrapped March 1949 |
Nevada | United States Navy | Nevada | super-dreadnought | 29,000 | 11 March 1916 | 29 August 1946 | Sunk as a target 31 July 1948 |
New Jersey | Iowa | fast battleship | 55,770 | 23 May 1943 | 8 February 1991 | Museum ship 15 October 2001 | |
New Mexico | New Mexico | super-dreadnought | 32,514 | 20 May 1918 | 19 July 1946 | Scrapped November 1947 | |
New York | New York | super-dreadnought | 27,000 | 15 May 1914 | 29 August 1946 | Sunk as target 6 July 1948 | |
North Carolina | North Carolina | fast battleship | 37,200 | 9 April 1941 | 27 June 1947 | Museum ship 29 April 1962 | |
Océan | French Navy | Courbet | dreadnought | 23,475 | 5 June 1913 | Captured by Germany 27 November 1942, sunk 1944, scrapped 14 December 1945 | |
Oklahoma | United States Navy | Nevada | super-dreadnought | 29,000 | 2 May 1916 | 1 September 1944 | Sunk 7 December 1941, raised and sunk under tow 1947 |
Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya | Soviet Navy | Gangut | dreadnought | 23,000 | 3 June 1909 | 17 February 1956 | Scrapped 1959 |
Paris | French Navy Royal Navy | Courbet | dreadnought | 23,475 | 5 June 1913 | 21 December 1955 | Captured by Britain 3 July 1940 used as depot ship, scrapped 1956 |
Parizhskaya Kommuna | Soviet Navy | Gangut | dreadnought | 23,000 | 30 November 1914 | 17 February 1956 | Renamed Sevastopol 31 May 1943, scrapped 1956–1957 |
Pennsylvania | United States Navy | Pennsylvania | super-dreadnought | 31,900 | 12 June 1916 | 29 August 1946 | Decommissioned 29 August 1946, sunk as target 10 February 1948 |
Prince of Wales | Royal Navy | King George V | fast battleship | 37,300 | 31 March 1941 | 10 December 1941 | Sunk 10 December 1941 |
Provence | French Navy | Bretagne | super-dreadnought | 22,200 | 1 March 1916 | 27 November 1942 | Scuttled 27 November 1942 |
Queen Elizabeth | Royal Navy | Queen Elizabeth | super-dreadnought | 31,000 | 22 December 1914 | 15 May 1948 | Decommissioned and scrapped 1948 |
Ramillies | Revenge | super-dreadnought | 29,150 | 1 September 1917 | 31 August 1945 | Decommissioned 31 August 1945, scrapped 1949 | |
Resolution | super-dreadnought | 29,150 | 7 December 1916 | February 1948 | Scrapped 1949 | ||
Revenge | super-dreadnought | 29,150 | 1 February 1916 | March 1948 | Scrapped 1948 | ||
Richelieu | French Navy Free French Naval Forces | Richelieu | fast battleship | 37,850 | 15 July 1940 | 30 September 1967 | Scrapped 1968 |
Rivadavia | Argentine Navy | Rivadavia | dreadnought | 27,720 | 27 August 1914 | 1 February 1957 | Sold for scrap 30 May 1957 |
Rodney | Royal Navy | Nelson | treaty battleship | 34,000 | 10 November 1927 | Scrapped 1948 | |
Roma | Regia Marina | Littorio | fast battleship | 40,992 | 14 June 1942 | 9 September 1943 | Sunk 9 September 1943 |
Royal Oak | Royal Navy | Revenge | super-dreadnought | 29,150 | 1 May 1916 | 14 October 1939 | Sunk 14 October 1939 |
Royal Sovereign | Royal Navy Soviet Navy | super-dreadnought | 29,150 | 1 February 1916 | 18 May 1949 | Transferred to USSR as Arkhangelsk 30 May 1944, returned to UK 4 February 1949, scrapped 18 May 1949 | |
São Paulo | Brazilian Navy | Minas Geraes | dreadnought | 19,200 | 12 July 1910 | 2 August 1947 | Sunk while under tow 4 November 1951 |
Scharnhorst | Kriegsmarine | Scharnhorst | fast battleship | 32,000 | 7 January 1939 | 26 December 1943 | Sunk 26 December 1943 |
Schlesien | Deutschland | pre-dreadnought | 14,218 | 5 May 1908 | 4 May 1945 | Blown up 4 May 1945 | |
Schleswig-Holstein | pre-dreadnought | 14,218 | 6 July 1908 | 25 January 1945 | According to Polish sources expended as target in 1948 by Soviets; according to other sources: scrapped after 1946 | ||
Settsu | Imperial Japanese Navy | Kawachi | dreadnought | 16,390 | 1 July 1912 | 29 July 1945 | Scrapped 1946–1947 |
South Dakota | United States Navy | South Dakota | fast battleship | 35,980 | 20 March 1942 | 31 January 1947 | Decommissioned 31 January 1947, scrapped 1962 |
Sovetskaya Rossiya | Soviet Navy | Sovetsky Soyuz | fast battleship | 65,150 | Laid down 22 July 1940, 0.97% complete by the end of the war, scrapped 27 March 1947 | ||
Sovetskaya Ukraina | fast battleship | 65,150 | Laid down 31 October 1938, 17.98% complete by the start of the war, scrapped 27 March 1947 | ||||
Sovetsky Soyuz | fast battleship | 65,150 | Laid down 15 July 1938, 21.19% complete by the start of the war, scrapped 29 May 1948 | ||||
Strasbourg | French Navy | Dunkerque | fast battleship | 26,500 | 15 March 1938 | 27 November 1942 | Scuttled 27 November 1942 |
Tennessee | United States Navy | Tennessee | super-dreadnought | 32,300 | 3 June 1920 | 14 February 1947 | Decommissioned 14 February 1947, scrapped 1959 |
Texas | New York | super-dreadnought | 27,000 | 12 March 1914 | 21 April 1948 | Decommissioned 21 April 1948; museum ship | |
Tirpitz | Kriegsmarine | Bismarck | fast battleship | 42,900 | 25 February 1941 | 12 November 1944 | Sunk 12 November 1944 |
Turgut Reis | Turkish Navy | Brandenburg | pre-dreadnought | 10,013 | 14 October 1894 | Scrapped 1950–1957 | |
Utah | United States Navy | Florida | dreadnought | 22,175 | 31 August 1911 | 5 September 1944 | Sunk 7 December 1941; war memorial |
Valiant | Royal Navy | Queen Elizabeth | super-dreadnought | 31,000 | 13 January 1916 | 1 July 1946 | Scrapped 1950 |
Vanguard | fast battleship | 45,200 | 15 October 1946 | 9 October 1959 | launch during war 30 November 1944, paid off 7 June 1960 | ||
Vittorio Veneto | Regia Marina | Littorio | fast battleship | 40,517 | 28 April 1940 | 10 September 1943 | Scrapped 1948 |
Warspite | Royal Navy | Queen Elizabeth | super-dreadnought | 31,000 | 8 March 1915 | 1 February 1945 | Scrapped 1950 |
Washington | United States Navy | North Carolina | fast battleship | 37,200 | 15 May 1941 | 27 June 1947 | Decommissioned 27 June 1947, scrapped 1960 |
West Virginia | Colorado | super-dreadnought | 33,100 | 1 December 1923 | 9 January 1947 | Decommissioned 9 January 1947, scrapped 1959 | |
Wisconsin | Iowa | fast battleship | 55,770 | 16 April 1944 | 30 September 1991 | Decommissioned 30 September 1991; museum ship | |
Wyoming | Wyoming | dreadnought | 26,000 | 25 September 1912 | 1 August 1947 | Sold for scrap 30 October 1947 | |
Yamashiro | Imperial Japanese Navy | Fusō | super-dreadnought | 34,700 | 31 March 1917 | 25 October 1944 | Sunk 25 October 1944 |
Yamato | Yamato | fast battleship | 65,000 | 16 December 1941 | 7 April 1945 | Sunk 7 April 1945 | |
Zähringen | Kriegsmarine | Wittelsbach | pre-dreadnought | 11,800 | 25 October 1902 | 18 December 1944 | Scuttled 26 March 1945, scrapped 1949–1950 |
A battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with a main battery consisting of large-caliber guns, designed to serve as capital ships with the most intense firepower. Before the rise of supercarriers, battleships were among the largest and most formidable weapon systems ever built.
The battlecruiser was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attributes. Battlecruisers typically had thinner armour and a somewhat lighter main gun battery than contemporary battleships, installed on a longer hull with much higher engine power in order to attain greater speeds. The first battlecruisers were designed in the United Kingdom, as a development of the armoured cruiser, at the same time as the dreadnought succeeded the pre-dreadnought battleship. The goal of the design was to outrun any ship with similar armament, and chase down any ship with lesser armament; they were intended to hunt down slower, older armoured cruisers and destroy them with heavy gunfire while avoiding combat with the more powerful but slower battleships. However, as more and more battlecruisers were built, they were increasingly used alongside the better-protected battleships.
Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built from the mid- to late- 1880s to the early 1900s. Their designs were conceived before the appearance of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 and their classification as "pre-dreadnought" is retrospectively applied. In their day, they were simply known as "battleships" or else more rank-specific terms such as "first-class battleship" and so forth. The pre-dreadnought battleships were the pre-eminent warships of their time and replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s.
The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's HMS Dreadnought, had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts. Her design had two revolutionary features: an "all-big-gun" armament scheme, with an unprecedented number of heavy-calibre guns, and steam turbine propulsion. As dreadnoughts became a crucial symbol of national power, the arrival of these new warships renewed the naval arms race between the United Kingdom and Germany. Dreadnought races sprang up around the world, including in South America, lasting up to the beginning of World War I. Successive designs increased rapidly in size and made use of improvements in armament, armour, and propulsion throughout the dreadnought era. Within five years, new battleships outclassed Dreadnought herself. These more powerful vessels were known as "super-dreadnoughts". Most of the original dreadnoughts were scrapped after the end of World War I under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, but many of the newer super-dreadnoughts continued serving throughout World War II.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)