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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 the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand was paid for

One of the many mythologies surrounding the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand – the gift that the New Zealand government made to Britain in April 1909 – is that she was unaffordable. According to legend, New Zealand was too small to afford her, had no money and the ship...

How battleship secondary armament evolved

The mastless steel battleship essentially emerged from the engineering chaos of mid-nineteenth century technological change and evolved – fairly steadily, but with occasional jumps – through to the end of the classic battleship era after the Second World War. One...

The loss of Prince of Wales and Repulse – Part 3: the 70-year mystery

The loss of Prince of Wales and Repulse off the Malayan coast on 10 December 1941 – described in the previous two articles - set alarm bells going in Britain. It marked the first time heavy ships had been lost to air attack, while fully operational and manoeuvering at...

Navy General Board Naval History Questions: Volume 1

Over the years, I have been asked a great many naval history questions by curious readers. It's actually quite an honor to have people reach out to me and I love getting to chat to people and answering the questions that I can. Even those that escape me are no problem...

The Battle of the River Plate and USS Salem

Today's article will go a little off track compared to our typical articles. That's because we are looking at the American Des Moines class heavy cruiser USS Salem (CA-139) and her portrayal of the German raider Admiral Graf Spee in the classic 1956 film The Battle of...

Admiral Sir John Jellicoe and the Battle of Jutland

It is easy to declare that the Battle of Jutland – to the Germans, the battle of the Skagerrak[1] - fought over a hectic afternoon and night on 31 May-1 June 1916, was a tactical German victory and a strategic British one.  The idea has become a trope in historical...

Oddities at Sea : A Foreword to the Suicide Club

We are honoured to present a piece by our contributor Andy South! Andy touches on a few of the naval oddities at sea, specifically the infamous K class submarines of the Royal Navy. Andy has been hard at work putting together a book on these submarines. This article...

Russia’s Massive Typhoon

Read about the history of the largest submarines ever to put to sea

Project 877 & Project 636 The Kilo Class

With more than 75 boats built the Kilo class is one of the most numerous submarines in service

Return of the Russian Navy

Table of Contents Executive Summary IntroductionRussia: The Economic factors The Russian Navy: Fleet overviewVessel classes in the fleet and numbersRussian Navy Strategy and ConclusionsAppendicies and Citations  Executive Summary This document serves to provide a...

The Washington Treaty and the Royal Navy’s scrapping programmes

The naval treaty of 6 February 1922 negotiated in Washington – technically the ‘Five Power Treaty’, but afterwards simply called the ‘Washington Treaty’ - included lists of the ships that signatories were required to dispose of. The longest was British. A significant...

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...

Rise of the United States Navy Part One: The Virginius Affair

Following the Civil War, the United States Navy had languished as funding was diverted to efforts aimed at rebuilding a wounded nation. Only a small handful of ships were kept to serve as a coastal defense force. Elsewhere, nations had observed the power of Ironclads...

HMS Agincourt – The Gin Palace

HMS Agincourt, the one ship class dreadnought, was affectionately known amongst her crew as 'The Gin Palace', in a reference to her luxurious fittings and as a corruption of her name, 'A-Gin-Court', pink gin then being a popular drink amongst Royal Navy officers. She...

Warships of Mare Island Shipyard during World War 2

Of the many shipyards used by the United States Navy during the Second World War, few were as busy as the Mare Island Shipyard in California. Famous as the first United States Naval Base on the Pacific Ocean, Mare Island was a hive of activity during World War 2....

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...

Canada’s Next Generation Submarine

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

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...

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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