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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!

How do Torpedoes Damage a Ship?

Nothing shook warship designers so much as the arrival of the torpedo. Striking the ship below the water line, torpedoes could deliver an incredible amount of explosive power to a part of the warship that is not easily protected. Designers would learn that there was...

Britain’s Majestic class battleships, part 2 – the politics

Britain’s nine Majestic class battleships of the 1890s were the largest single class of battleships ever built. As we saw in the previous article, the class introduced a range of key technologies, and the Admiralty wanted them in order to maintain the ‘two power...

Where did the term ‘battleship’ come from?

Think ‘battleship’, and you might think of the steam-driven steel warships that emerged during the last decade or so of the nineteenth century, and which remained an important measure of sea-force until the Second World War. In that, you would be right. The word...

How some key naval engineering terms migrated into English

It’s been said that English is a language that pursues other languages down dark alleys and mugs them for vocabulary, then riffles their pockets for more, and that’s certainly true of a fair number of naval engineering terms. Words such as ‘barbette’, ‘casemate’ and...

Myths about the Montana Class Super Battleships

A stretched Iowa with an extra turret. A ship designed to kill the Yamato class. Many myths surround the Montana class, the immensely powerful super battleships of the United States Navy. Designed to be larger and more powerful than any previous dreadnought, these...

The pursuit of the Goeben and the battle of the River Plate

The Battle of the River Plate is one of the best known encounters of the Second World War. It was the first major sea battle of that conflict, and it came on 13 December 1939, a time when the so-called ‘phony war’ was in full swing – the brief period when the Second...

The Long March – Chinas First Nuclear Submarine

If you thought the Soviets were playing catch up the Chinese were also behind, learn about the type 091 submarine and its Long March to commission

Five Great Features of the Littorio Class Battleships

Fast, powerful, and well armed, the Littorio class were the most powerful battleships ever put to sea by the Italian Navy. As the most modern battleships, Italy lavished considerable input into their design, leading to several innovative features. From a triple rudder...

Coal Torpedo : Secret Weapon of the Confederacy

Throughout the entirety of the American Civil War, the Confederate Navy was hopelessly outmatched by the Union Navy. Union warships enacted a blockade of the Confederate coast that placed a stranglehold on Confederate trade. Though they attempted to counter the might...

The many names of the Washington Treaty of 1922

The term ‘Washington Treaty’ frequently appears in specialist naval books and even general histories of the inter-war period. There is no mistaking the meaning: it refers to the treaty signed on 6 February 1922 between the United States, Britain, Japan, France and...

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...

The origins of the American battlecruiser – 1902-1910

The United States Navy’s only planned battlecruisers, six Lexington class ships authorised by the Naval Act 1916,[1] were cancelled by the Five Power (‘Washington’) Treaty of 1922.[2] Two – Lexington and Saratoga - were completed as aircraft carriers instead.[3] The...

The First Submarine of the Civil War:The Story of “Alligator Junior”

Chuck Veit(www.chuckveitbooks.com) excerpted from the author’s bookNatural Genius:Brutus de Villeroi and the  U. S. Navy’s First Submarine We are taught that USS Holland (SS-1) in 1900 was the first modern submarine in the U.S. Navy. This is true—but this was not...

Did Admiral Sir John Fisher try to launch a battlecruiser revolution?

by Matthew Wright There is no question that Admiral Sir John Fisher, Britain's First Sea Lord from 1904 to 1910 and the effective head of the Admiralty, was instrumental in driving a sea-change in the nature of heavy warships. What has puzzled historians, though, is...

HMS Dreadnought and Admiral Sir John Fisher’s naval revolution – part 1

by Matthew Wright One of the received truths of naval history is the idea that HMS Dreadnought of 1905-06 was a game-changer, the ship that divided naval construction between ‘before’ and ‘after’.[1] And in many respects, that is true. She was the first all-big-gun...

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. 

Canada’s Next Generation Submarine

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

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...

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...

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...

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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