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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!

Who won the Battle of Jutland?

On the afternoon of 31 May 1916, and on into the early hours of 1 June, the British Grand Fleet and the German fleet came to blows off the Denmark coast in a battle known to the British as the Battle of Jutland, to the Germans as the Skagerrak.[1] It was the first –...

The Fastest Warships of World War 2

Do you have the need for speed? The warships in this article certainly do! We have previously done articles about the largest cruisers and the biggest battleships. For this article we are breaking the fastest warships of World War 2 based on class. We will examine the...

The Inverted Bow and Warships

The traditional raked bow as seen on the Soviet nuclear powered cruiser Frunze. This type of bow has been typical on most warships of the 20th century. When one thinks of the bow on a warship, they typically think of the traditional raked bow that overhangs the water....

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...

High quality pictures of British battlecruisers

A range of pictures of British battlecruisers in New Zealand waters during the inter-war period have been doing the rounds on social media. Most were taken by professional or semi-pro photographers using high-end equipment of the day. However, the identity of the...

12″/50 Mark 8: How Powerful were the Alaska Class Cruisers?

How powerful were the Alaska class cruisers? That question could not be answered without first looking at its weapons. Serving as the primary armament for the Alaska class large cruisers, the 12"/50 Mark 8 naval gun was one of the most advanced naval guns developed by...

The Armoured Conning Tower on Battleships

Even the mightiest warship, with its intimidating guns and thick armor, would be severely handicapped without a conning tower. The conning tower served as the control center for a warship, allowing officers to observe everything around the ship and direct it. What Is...

Alaska Class : America’s (Not Quite) Battlecruisers

The warships of the Alaska class are perhaps one of the more confusing ships ever put to sea by the United States. Designed to prowl the oceans and hunt down enemy commerce raiders, they possessed high speed and considerable firepower. Vastly more powerfully than...

How Britain gained two new battleships from the Washington conference of 1921-22

Between 12 November 1921 and 6 February 1922 the world’s major powers met in Washington to resolve a wide range of international issues. Outcomes included a naval treaty – the ‘Five Power Treaty’, afterwards known as the ‘Washington Treaty’ – which ended a naval race...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Japanese Attack on the United States Coast

Over the course of the Second World War, the continent of North America was largely spared the destruction seen elsewhere. Just as a moat protects a castle, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans protected the United States. American industry was able to support the war...

History by influence: Winston Churchill, HMS Indomitable and Force Z

"For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself." - Winston Churchill in speech to the House of Commons, 23 January 1948.[1] In October 1941 Britain’s new...

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. 

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...

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...

Canada’s Next Generation Submarine

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

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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