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Navy General Board

Home of Naval History and News

Welcome to the home page of the Navy General Board website! This is your portal to all things navy, whether it be current events or historical topics. You can find a wide range of news stories or historical articles on the website. You can also connect with fellow readers on the website forum.

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History Articles

Navy General Board was created to help share all aspects of naval history from throughout the ages. Here you will find our collection of history articles. It has come a long way and has something for everyone. Take your time and browse them all!

Iowa Class Battleships over the Years

From the time that USS Iowa was laid down in 1940 until today, the Iowa class battleships have been around for 78 years. During that time, the ships underwent many changes to help them adapt to the type of conflict they were engaged in. In this article, I gathered a...

The Q-ship hero – William Sanders, VC

The story of William Sanders (1883-1917) remains one of the most intriguing personal sea experiences of the First World War. His career, though brief, can best be described as outstanding: in quick succession he won first the Victoria Cross and then the Distinguished...

The Last Naval Battle of World War 2

  What was the last naval battle of World War 2 ? When was the last battle between sailing ships? When was the last time that the United States boarded an enemy ship in combat? Would you be surprised if all three of those things occurred simultaneously? In...

Naval heroism, politics and Jutland: the story of Jack Cornwell VC

One of the most poignant human stories to come out of the Battle of Jutland was that of sixteen year old John Travers Cornwell, J/42563. He was a Boy, 1st Class, aboard HMS Chester during that clash of fleets at the end of May 1916, and he became one of the youngest...

The United States Navy, Albert Michelson, and the ‘aether’

One day in January 1879 a 25-year old physics instructor at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis began experiments with a curious apparatus set up along the north sea-wall of the academy grounds. This consisted of a rapidly spinning mirror, set up some 2000...

The story behind ‘The battlecruiser HMS New Zealand: a gift to The Empire’

The story of HMS New Zealand, the battlecruiser that the Dominion of New Zealand gave as a gift to the Empire of Britain in 1909, has been told many times. Often incorrectly. Indeed, the ship is surrounded with mythology. A variety of stories about her origin and...

Were Britain’s battleships eggshells? Investigating the loss of HMS Victoria in 1893

The loss of the battleship HMS Victoria to a ramming accident in June 1893 sent shock waves across the British Empire. As we saw in the last article, she went down remarkably quickly after a collision with the battleship HMS Camperdown. There was very heavy loss of...

Room 40 : Cryptanalysis during World War I

The sailor in Room 53 has never, it's true, been to sea but though not in a boat he has served afloat — in a bath in the Admiralty' Dillwyn ‘Dilly’ Knox, Cryptographer Room 40 . BEGINNINGS In London there is a building that has stood on its site since 1726. A two...

Were the ‘Admirals’ Britain’s first class of battleships?

In an earlier article we explored the story of HMS Collingwood, a British battleship that the Royal Navy’s Director of Naval Construction, Nathaniel Barbaby, sketched in 1880 and which was detailed by his assistant, William White.[1] Collingwood was soon followed by...

5 Great Features of the Yamato Class Battleships

The Yamato class battleships hold a special place in naval history. Popularly known as the biggest battleship to ever go to sea and carrying the most powerful guns, it is little wonder why these dreadnoughts are so endearing. However, there was so much more to these...

What was the Best Light Cruiser? : Main Guns

After the success of the posts examining which battleships had the best anti-surface firepower and anti-aircraft firepower, I wanted to change things up! In this post, we will examine the guns of light cruisers, determining what was the best light cruiser gun of the...

The origins of the American battlecruiser – part 2: the road to the Lexington

In 1916 the United States authorised the construction of six battlecruisers of significant size, fire-power and speed. They were the first such ships ordered for US Navy service and remain the only battlecruisers the US Navy ever ordered.[1] None were completed as...

Bayern Class vs. Queen Elizabeth Class Dreadnoughts

SMS BAYERN OR HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH? In 1898 the Naval Arms race that was to conclude sixteen years later in the Great War, was begun. The culmination of that titanic struggle was to see the creation of the 'Super-Dreadnought'. The British creation was the five vessels...

Battleship showdown: King George V vs. North Carolina

King George V vs. North Carolina, a question that reveals a lot about the design and intentions behind the first modern post-treaty battleships of the United Kingdom and United States. In this article, we will examine some of the features behind both ships and see how...

Designing Britain’s oddest looking battleships

In the mid-1880s the British began building two new battleships as part of the so-called ‘Northbrook’ programme, a massive burst of naval expenditure to which government reluctantly agreed in early December 1884. What then emerged from the drawing boards of the...

News and Current Events

A relatively new addition to the Navy General Board website. While we remain focused on sharing history, we also want to examine naval current events that are occuring across the world. This section is still new, but more articles are coming. 

China’s Newest Warship : The Type 55 Destroyer

At a time when the United States Navy is struggling to determine the future of its Navy, China has been quietly building up its naval forces. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has risen to be the second largest navy in the world by tonnage. It’s not just quantity that...

The Navy’s FFG(X) Program : Foreign and Domestic Options

The Navy has all but admitted that the Littoral Combat Ships are a flop. Therefore, they have started looking at potential ships to fulfill requirements for a new frigate design known as the FFG(X) Program. Make makes things interesting is that this time the US Navy...

Canada’s Next Generation Submarine

My own opinion and hypothesis on what class of submarine could become Canada’s next generation submarine

Why China’s Island Bases are Not a Big Deal

Over the past few years, the media has made a big deal of the artificial island bases that China has built in the South China Sea. Several of these islands are well fortified, featuring harbors, airstrips, and formidable land-based weaponry. Some in the media have...

Want to go a little bit further than simply reading an aritcle? Interesting in writing your own and sharing it with Navy General Board? Check out our about us page for information on becoming a guest writer for the Navy General Board website! We are looking for both historical pieces and current events happening with navies across the World. 

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