british navy vs us navy british navy vs us navy war of 1812

Pre-dreadnought battleships carried a number of guns of differing calibres, which were intended to carry out different roles. The only other countries with dreadnoughts were Brazil and Argentina, with two each, and Spain, which had one in service and two more building. Some numbers are given as ranges because of doubts over the usefulness of some older vessels.

Nine small and old US submarines, based in the Philippines, that were suitable only for coastal defence are excluded. One of the Japanese battlecruisers building was completed in August 1914. The Baltic and Black Sea ones contained all the battleships, armoured cruisers and planned dreadnoughts. Its Asian one was small and consisted mostly of old ships. In the words of Robert Massie, she ‘was the supreme embodiment of the armoured cruiser.’ The German SMS Blücher is classified as an armoured cruiser above because she was armed with 8.2 inch guns. German numbers include a dreadnought that was never completed and a battlecruiser and a light cruiser that were transferred to the Ottoman Empire just after the outbreak of war. Another Chilean dreadnought under construction in Britain that was completed as a British aircraft carrier is not included. There were fears that the Ottoman ones might be sold to Germany, which would have left the RN below its target of a 60 per cent margin over Germany. 7-20.īritish numbers include the Royal Australian Navy’s battlecruiser and three light cruisers and three dreadnoughts being built in Britain for foreign countries that were requisitioned for the RN at the outbreak of war two that had just been completed for the Ottoman Empire and a Chilean one that was still under construction. Halpern, A Naval History of World War I, (London: UCL Press, 1994), pp.

However, navies also had a large number of other types of warships. The Press, public and politicians measured the strength of navies by the number of dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers. This was then the German navy Germany was the only one of the world’s leading naval powers that Britain was then likely to fight. In 1912 this was replaced by a measure of a 60 per cent superiority to the second largest navy. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, supported by Kaiser Wilhelm II, had attempted to create a German navy that could match the RN, but the British had comfortably maintained their lead in the subsequent naval arms race.īritain had traditionally aimed to have a navy that was equal in strength to the next two in the world, the two power standard. In 1914 the British Royal Navy (RN) remained the largest in the world.

British navy vs us navy british navy vs us navy war of 1812