A monitor is a class of relatively small warship that is lightly armoured, often provided with disproportionately large guns, and originally designed for coastal warfare. The term "monitor" grew to include breastwork monitors, the largest class of riverine warcraft known as river monitors, and was sometimes used as a generic term for any turreted ship. In the early 20th century, the term "monitor" included shallow-draft armoured shore bombardment vessels, particularly those of the Royal Navy: the Lord Clive-class monitors carried guns that fired the heaviest shells ever used at sea and saw action against German targets during World War I. Two small Royal Navy monitors from the First World War, Erebus and Terror survived to fight in the Second World War. When the requirement for shore support and strong shallow-water coastal defence returned, new monitors and variants such as coastal defence ships were built (e.g. the British Roberts-class monitors). Allied monitors saw service in the Mediterranean in support of the British Eighth Army's desert and Italian campaigns. They were part of the offshore bombardment for the Invasion of Normandy in 1944. They were also used to clear the German-mined River Scheldt by the British to utilize the port of Antwerp. The German, Yugoslav, Croatian, Romanian, Hungarian and Czech armed forces operated river monitors that saw combat during World War II. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The List of ships of the Second World War 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. Some uncompleted Axis ships are included, out of historic interest. Ships are designated to the country under which they operated for the longest period of the Second World War, regardless of where they were built or previous service history.
Ship | Country or organization | Class | Type | Displacement (tons) | First commissioned | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alexandru Lahovari | Royal Romanian Navy | Brătianu | river monitor | captured by Soviets 2 September 1944, returned 1951, put in reserve 1957, scrapped 1959 [5] | ||
Abercrombie | Royal Navy | Roberts | monitor | 7,850 | 5 May 1943 | scrapped 1954 [6] |
Bechelaren | Kriegsmarine | river monitor | 214 | 1 August 1932 | Originally laid down and commissioned as the President Masaryk for the Czechoslovakian Naval Forces. Captured in 1938 by Germany and renamed Bechelaren. Returned to Czechoslovakia in 1947. scrapped 1978. | |
Claverhouse | Royal Navy | M15 | monitor/training ship | 540 | July 1915 | scrapped 21 April 1959 |
Drava | Royal Yugoslav Navy | Enns | river monitor | 536 | 15 April 1920 | scuttled 11 April 1941 [7] |
Erebus | Royal Navy | Erebus | monitor | 7,300 | 2 September 1916 | scrapped July 1946 |
Flyagin | Soviet Navy | Zheleznyakov | river monitor | 230 | 30 December 1936 | scuttled 18 September 1941 |
GM 194/Biber | Regia Marina Kriegsmarine | monitor/floating battery | 2,854 | 1 April 1917 | scrapped 1945-1946 | |
Ion C. Brătianu | Royal Romanian Navy | Brătianu | river monitor | captured by Soviets 27 August 1944, returned 1951, put in reserve 1957, scrapped 1959 [5] | ||
Khasan | Soviet Navy | Khasan | River monitor | 1,704 | 1 December 1942 | Originally to be named Lazo, renamed Khasan on 25 September 1940. Scrapped 23 March 1960. |
Lascăr Catargiu | Royal Romanian Navy | Brătianu | river monitor | 680 | 1907 | Built at the Galați Shipyard in Romania, [8] armament during World War II consisted of 3 x 120 mm guns in armoured turrets, 1 x 76 mm AA gun, 2 x 47 mm guns and two machine guns, 75 mm of armor protected the sides, deck, and turrets, sunk 24 August 1944 [5] |
Levachev | Soviet Navy | Zheleznyakov | river monitor | 230 | 27 October 1936 | scuttled 18 September 1941 |
Martynov | Soviet Navy | Zheleznyakov | river monitor | 230 | 8 December 1936 | scuttled 18 September 1941 |
Mihail Kogălniceanu | Royal Romanian Navy | Brătianu | monitor | 680 | 1907 | sunk 24 August 1944 [5] |
Morava/Bosna | Royal Yugoslav Navy Navy of the Independent State of Croatia | Körös | river monitor | 448 | 15 April 1920 | scuttled 11 April 1941, raised by Croatia as Bosna, sunk June 1944 [9] [10] |
Parnaiba | Brazilian Navy | river monitor | 620 | 9 March 1938 | in service | |
Perekop | Soviet Navy | Khasan | River monitor | 1,704 | 1 December 1942 | Originally to be named Simbirtsev, renamed Perekop on 25 September 1940. Scrapped 23 March 1960. |
Roberts | Royal Navy | Roberts | monitor | 8,100 | 27 October 1941 | scrapped June 1965 |
Rostovtsev | Soviet Navy | Zheleznyakov | river monitor | 230 | 13 May 1937 | scuttled 18 September 1941 |
Sava | Royal Yugoslav Navy Navy of the Independent State of Croatia | Temes | river monitor | 440 | 15 April 1920 | scuttled 11 April 1941, raised by Croatia, [7] scuttled 8 September 1944, [11] raised by Yugoslavia, decommissioned 1962 [12] [13] |
Sivash | Soviet Navy | Khasan | River monitor | 1,704 | 31 October 1946 | Originally to be named Seryshev, renamed Sivash on 25 September 1940. Disarmed and converted to an accommodation ship September 1960. Scrapped 28 February 1968. |
Terror | Royal Navy | Erebus | monitor | 7,300 | 6 August 1916 | sunk 24 February 1941 |
Vardar | Royal Yugoslav Navy | Sava | river monitor | 580 | 15 April 1920 | scuttled 11 April 1941 |
Zheleznyakov | Soviet Navy | Zheleznyakov | river monitor | 230 | 27 October 1936 | Decommissioned 10 September 1960. Preserved as a war memorial 10 July 1967 in Kiev. |
Zhemchuzhin | Soviet Navy | Zheleznyakov | river monitor | 230 | 27 October 1936 | scuttled 12 August 1941 |
The Illustrious class was a class of aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that included some of the most important British warships in the Second World War. They were laid down in the late 1930s as part of the rearmament of British forces in response to the emerging threats of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan.
The Derzky or Bespokoiny-class destroyers was a class of destroyers built for the Imperial Russian Navy just before World War I. Nine ships were built for the Black Sea Fleet. These ships were a derivative of the Russian destroyer Novik, but were slightly smaller. These ships were popular with the Russians and effective particularly in the Black Sea, where the Ottoman Navy had no similar ships.
The Izyaslav class were a class of destroyers built for the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. They were modified versions of the Orfey class built in Russia with the assistance of the French company Augustin Normand. These ships fought in World War I, the Russian Civil War, the Estonian War of Independence, and World War II.
The Highflyer-class cruisers were a group of three second-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the late 1890s.
HMS Velox (D34) was a V-class destroyer built in 1918. She served in the last year of the First World War and was engaged in the Second Ostend Raid. During the interwar period she underwent a refit and continued serving during the Second World War as a long range convoy escort in the battle of the Atlantic. Post-war Velox was broken up in the reduction of the fleet. Sailors of the ship took part in the Royal Navy mutiny of 1919.
Kumano Maru (熊野丸) was a landing craft carrier with a small flight deck built for the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Launched and completed in early 1945, the ship saw no significant action.
HMS Wakeful was a W-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, built under the 1916–1917 Programme in the 10th Destroyer order. Wakeful was assigned to the Grand Fleet after completion, and served into the early years of the Second World War. Wakeful was torpedoed and sunk during Operation Dynamo by a German E-Boat on 29 May 1940.
The Standard-type battleship was a series of thirteen battleships across five classes ordered for the United States Navy between 1911 and 1916 and commissioned between 1916 and 1923. These were considered super-dreadnoughts, with the ships of the final two classes incorporating many lessons from the Battle of Jutland.
The first HMS Whirlwind was a W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service during World War I and World War II.
HMS Wolfhound was one of 21 W-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Completed in 1918 the ship only played a minor role in the war before its end. The ship was converted into an anti-aircraft escort destroyer during the Second World War and was badly damaged during the Dunkirk evacuation. Wolfhound survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1948.
HMS Walpole (D41) was a W-class destroyer of the Royal Navy.
The flight-deck cruiser was a proposed type of aircraft cruiser,, designed by the United States Navy during the Interwar period. Several designs were proposed for the type, but none was approved for construction. The final design was developed just before World War II, and the entry of the United States into the war saw the project come to an end.
HMS Wren (D88/I88) was an Admiralty modified W class destroyer built for the Royal Navy. She was ordered in April 1918 from Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited under the 13th Order for Destroyers of the Emergency War Program of 1918–19. She was the third Royal Navy ship to carry the name, which was introduced in 1653.
The Yamashio Maru class consisted of a pair of auxiliary escort carriers operated by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. They were converted from tankers. Only the name ship was completed during the war and she was sunk by American aircraft before she could be used.
HMS Winchester was an Admiralty W-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She saw service in the First and Second World Wars.