Warship
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term warship
the term warship becomes in article 29 of the maritime law convention of the United Nations of 10. December 1982 defines obligatory as follows:
Definition of the warships
“in the sense of this convention means” Warship “a ship belonging to armed forces of a state, which carries the outside characteristics of such a ship of its nationality; its name must stand for that in that under the instruction of an officer, in the service of the respective state is andappropriate rank list of the armed forces or is contained in an equivalent list; the crew must be subject to the rules of the military discipline.“
The status warship does not depend on the armament and technology of a ship. The unarmed sail school ship Gorch Fock that German navy is for example a warship; in the past even the patrol boats of the federal police armed with more easily artillery are however no warships, since its crew consists not of soldiers but of police officers. In the course of history and in particular in20. Century formed large variety of warship types. Surface combat ships are characterised for example usually through slim of trunks, high speed, small additional load and strong armament. A typical warship is the battle ship. Besides there is so differentTypes such as aircraft carriers, minesweepers, landing ships, supply ships and submarines.
auxiliary ships
beside the warships have many marine ones civilian occupied auxiliary ships, which lead partially also light weapons to self-defense. They do not have that abovedefined status, but a state ship. In the German navy it gives to be used for example tankers, which are civilian occupied, quite however with warships together. Also US Navy and the British Royal Navy order overa larger number of such vehicles. Militarily occupied support vehicles like e.g. the servicers that Berlin - sometimes class auxiliary ships, are from the status however warships are called.
antique ones
the first typical warships became from the Greeks, Persern and Phöniziern built. Were long ships, which were developed further later to Galeeren with ramming spur.
Around 250 v. Chr. the Karthager possessed the largest and combatstrongest fleet of warships in the Mediterranean with up to five rows of belts one above the other(Quinquiremen). This changed in the first Puni war, when the Romans copied a stranded karthagische Galeere. The Romans added the karthagischen construction the Corvus, a Enterbrücke, and manned the ships with foot soldiers. In this waythe first naval infantry developed. By this advantage with the Entern transferred the Romans the naval supremacy in the Mediterranean.
Wikinger
in Northern Europe was developed the type of the Wikingerlangschiffes, which was suitable for raids particularly fast and. It was the weapon-technology basis for the Wikingerreiche in Russia, normandy, Sicily and Great Britain.
ever larger Dschunken than warships were built for China in the Empire of China. The high point of this development lay in the Ming dynasty around 1405 until 1430, when China with more than 400 ships, which were built mostly in Nanking (Nanjing), which largest war fleet of the world at that time had. Considerably for it the Chinese admiral Ma San Bao, also Cheng Ho was mentioned, thatfor the fight against Piraten and for the Sicherstellung of the Vormacht China undertook journeys to Southeast Asia , India , Africa and to the Pacific. Largest ship type were the so-called. Treasure ships, those up to 9 masts had and over 150 meters long and50 meters were wide. They remained up to 19. Century the largest ships of the world and imperial China cartography ores with their assistance allegedly the American continent before the Europeans.
Hanse
existed at the Hans time the war fleetsin northern Europe mainly from more strongly armed Hansekoggen and Kraweelen, which hardly differed in the building from trading vessels.
15. and 16. Century
this changed in 15. and 16. Century, asFeuerwaffen ever more strongly the war guidance determined. In the Mediterranean the Galeasse developed from the Galeeren. The Portuguese and Spaniard developed the ship type further of the Kogge and the Kraweel to Karavellen and Karacken . The Spanish Armada became the largest fleet thatworld at that time. As pure sailing boat the Galeone was developed, which both when handels and (in slimmer form) as warship was used. An example of it is golden those Hind of Sir Francis Drake.
The sailing boats dominated now the warship building,the liner with slimmer trunk than the trading vessels dominated 17 starting from that. Century the seas. Model for the first liners was the Henri Grâce á Dieu, which exhibited 1547 21 cannons with 1000 tons of water displacement. The ship cannons, thosefirst on deck and balls from stone or iron were fired, in special weapon deck behind piece gates were accommodated. Thus the emphasis was shifted downward and it could be transported more cannons, without increasing the Kentergefahr. Preferential combat equipment becamenow the broadside, with which from all pipes of a side one shot. Engine of this development was John Hawkins, which was under Drake a captain and 1578 came into the admiralty. Its goal were fast ships with good sail characteristics andstrong armament. With these ships, the change of tactics (and a strong storm) and destroyed the English fleet defeated the Spanish Armada 1588.
17. Century
the Prince Royal, built 1610, was the first shipwith three cannon rows and for longer time the largest warship of the world. The HMS Naseby, 1660 renamed in HMS Royal Charles, became the prototype of the warship for the next 150 years. It had 1230 tons of water displacement, 80 cannonsand 600 men crew with a length of 53 m and width of 14 M. Beside the larger liners soon the frigate than smaller, but particularly fast sail warship with approx. stepped. 20-40 cannons.
18. Century
inProcess 18. Century trunks, frigates and liners became still narrower and more elegant approached the building method of the Klipper on. Famous ships from this time are:
- the HMS Victory, the flagship of lord Nelson in the battle Trafalgar. Them became to 23. July 1759 posed on Kiel put, but only 1776 in service. Starting from 1778 it served different admirals as flagship and is today the oldest still warship in service. The length amounts to 69 m,the largest width 15.7 m, the water displacement 3556 tons. It carries 114 cannons and reached a top speed of 11 knots.
- the USS Constellation, which was built for 1797 as the first ship on behalf US Navy. It combined firepowera standard frigate of this time with the speed of a Baltimore Klippers. The water displacement amounts to 1278 tons, the length 55 m, the width 13 M. It was armed with 36 cannons. The speed amounted to 14 knots, so that it the pointed name Yankee Racehorse (Yankee Rennpferd) got.
19. Century
with the industriellen revolution in 19. Century gave it a development thrust, which brought a whole set of inventions out: the steam engine, the impeller drive, the propeller, the introduction of shells and armoring. The shellsat present the napoleonischen wars had developed not yet completely, worked however after removal of their problems (off approx. 1830) devastatingly against unarmored wood ships.
First the wood ships with steel plates were therefore armored. Steam warships became first as wheel steamers, in the 2.Half 19. Century increasingly as screw steamers built, the Dampfantrieb made a higher speed and Manövrierbarkeit possible.
After the Krimkrieg two revolutionary ships were built, which first “Ironclad Warships “, which made at one blow all other ships worthless:
- the French Gloire 1858 and it superior
- the English HMS Warrior 1859. With 15 knots speed faster, with 114 mm steel on Teakholz more strongly armored and with 40 heaviest cannons was more strongly armed it than every other ship. Theirown cannons could not armoring on 360 meters no more pierce.
Due to this superiority of armoring the tactics of ramming became popular for short time. (Sea-battle of Lissa 1866)
swivelling turrets became first at small coastal war ships (monitor), off approx. 1870 also on large warships assigned, when the masts and sails, which were still needed for world-wide employment of the war ships, disappeared, so that it toward end 19. Century practically only gave steam ships. From the building of sailing boatshowever if many names for ship's classes were taken over, so the frigate and corvette. As new type the tank cruiser originated in, in 20. Century to the battle ship was developed further.
The pulled Hinterlader came on lake only relatively late into use, therethe advantages (aiming accuracy improved) were counterbalanced with the small combat distances on lake of the disadvantages (smaller caliber, unreliable catches, Rohrkrepierer), then however could between 1880 and 1890 large calibers with long pipes and armor-piercing long projectiles the armoring overcome.
20. Century
after the sea-battle with Tsushima 1905 the won experiences were consistently converted: An effective fire control could be achieved only by standardization of the calibers, a large range of fire only by large-caliber cannons. It developed within a yearly those
- HMS Dreadnought, which was equipped with ten 30,4-cm cannons, into any direction at least six of it to begin and twice in each case per minute fire could. Like the Warrior also this ship all other past was far superior, from the liner also Pre Dreadnought was called the Dreadnought, also battle ship.
With the Skagerrakschlacht combat on over 10,000 meters distance was delivered, which with the past ship and cannon types was inconceivable. The Skagerrakschlacht remained also the latter with battle ships delivered sea-battle.
After that 1. World war permitted the Versailler only reduced substitution of the few remaining battle ships (these under the old term liner were led) to contract of the German war navy. The tactical development went in and the 30's 20's (under duress)in Germany away from the heavy battle fleet, to cruisers. A special milestone is the development of the so-called „vest pocket battle ship “(tank ship), whose first prototype was the tank ship „Germany “. Here the characteristics of high speed, heavy armament became and more largelyRange combines with one another. This taken place via the first use of diesel engines and (in the direct comparison) substantial a weight reduction. The strategic concept behind it was called „cruiser war in overseas “. The idea marks itself in the sentence: „Fast as more heavily armed one andmore heavily arms than faster one! “Both „Germany “(later umklassifiziert to the heavy cruiser „Lützow “) and their sister ships „admiral Scheer “and „admiral count Spee “led this cruiser war in 2. World war at first very successfully, in the same way those originally also as increased tank ships begun,later to battle cruisers „crowd refuge “and „Gneisenau “umdeklarierten.
Parallel to the development of the battle ships the submarines were developed, in particular in Germany. Technically possible these were only by the combustion engine. Typical weapon of the submarines was and is that torpedo. Thus were these ships in the First World War in the situation to attack and sink to a large extent unidentified different ships.
In addition developed the torpedo boats, small, fast and above all inexpensive boats, whose primary weapon was likewise that torpedo, and which against the battle ship fleets assignedbecame. Their cannons were too slow, in order to repel torpedo boats effectively. For the defense against the torpedo boats therefore the torpedo boat destroyer developed, later briefly for destroyers mentioned.
the Second World War
hereby was practically terminated the development of the battle ship, because the battle ships of theThe Second World War, like z. B. the battle ship Bismarck, had due to their size additionally to the unchanged main armament a central artillery of smaller cannons and air defense cannons.
In the Second World War the military effectiveness of the submarines became increasingly by the monitoring also Airplanes and radar, as well as the preventive measures of destroyers neutralizes. Today submarines serve primarily as independently operating rocket launching sites. By nuclear reactors large submarines received starting from center 20. Century the ability, much is enough without contact to bases on laketo operate.
As the further development the aircraft carrier is to be called, whose development in the First World War began and was forced in the Second World War. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor showed for the first time the superiority opposite conventional warships and led to the fact that aircraft carriersan elementary component of the large naval nations became.
today
For the coastal protection easily armed from wood built sweeper in use is, as well as speedboats, it make possible to intercept without permission penetrating ships promptly. Since the Second World War also amphibious warships play a large role. In additionbelong large landing ships, which are equipped with a dock area usually with helicopters and partially. Small, very flatgoing landing boats to be able crews, vehicles and material to the bank bring. These boats are usually only easily armed. Important are besides those Aircraft carrier, with up to 336 m length. They make the employment possible from bombers and fighters far from land-based Basen and played in the second and third Gulf War an important role.
see also
- list of warships
- GermansWarships after 1945
- rank organization of the warships
- ship cannon
- German navy
- sea-battle
- Roman navy
- list of ship types
- history of the aircraft carriers
- raid
- war guidance
literature
- Bernd Loose/Bernd Oesterle: The large book of the warships (19. & 20. Jh.), engine book publishing house, ISBN 3-613-01854-3
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| Wiktionary: Warship - word origin, synonyms and translations |
