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In naval history, battleships were the most heavily armed and armored warships afloat. In the mid- 20th century they were made obsolete by the aircraft carrier. Although some continued to be used for shore bombardment and as missile platforms, the last battleships were decommissioned in the late 1990s.
The name "battleship" was initially given to first-, second-, and third-rate ships of the line during the age of sail. These ships were called the "main line of battle ships", or battleships for short as they were expected to fight there.
Fourth and fifth-rates were frigates, and sixth-rates were sloopsUSS Constellation, a United States Navy sloop-of-war. In the 18th and 19th century, a sloop-of-war was a small sailing warship with a single gun deck which carried between ten and eighteen cannons. A brig sloop had two masts and a ship sloop had three, be (strictly sloops-of-war). These vessels were used for communications and reconnaissance and did not usually fight in fleet actions.
Although this scheme worked well in the 18th Century, from the middle of the 19th Century the terminology become confused by introduction of large steam-powered armoured single-deck ships with a small number of very powerful guns. These were called frigates because they had a single gun deck but were designed as ships of the line.
The line of battle was first used by EnglandEngland is the largest, the most populous, and the most densely populated of the four " Home Nations" which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). Occupying the south-eastern portion of the island of Great Britain, England and SpainThe Kingdom of Spain is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. It inc in the early 17th century16th century 17th century 18th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601- 1700. During this period, the power of England and the United Provinces increased; while that of, although ships of similar type, generally called "Great Ships" had existed in several EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sean countries since around 1410Events July 15 Battle of Grunwald (a. Tannenberg or Zalgiris). Polish- Lithuanian forces under the cousins Wladyslaw Jagiello of Poland and Witowt of Lithuania decisively defeat the forces of the Teutonic Knights, whose power is broken Jan Hus is excommun. For over 500 years battleships were the main instrument of naval warfare, particularly in Europe where they allowed nations such as the Netherlands, Spain, and particularly Britain, to create and maintain trade empires.
In the 17th Century fleets could consist of almost a hundred ships of various sizes, but by the mid 18th Century, battleship design had settled on a few standard types: older two-deckers (ie. with two complete decks of guns firing through side ports) of 50 guns, which were too weak for the battle-line but could be used to escort convoys, two-deckers of between 64 and 84 guns which formed the main part of the fleet, and larger three- or even four-decker s with 90-144 guns which were used as admirals' command ships. Fleets consisting of perhaps 10-25 of these ships kept control of the sea-lanes for Britain and its allies while restricting sea-borne trade of Britain's enemies.
Although Spain, the Netherlands, and France built huge fleets they were rarely able to match the skill of the British crews, who spent much more time at sea. In the North Sea and North Atlantic Ocean the fleets of Britain, the Netherlands, France and Spain fought numerous battles in support of their land armies and to deny the enemy access to trade routes. In the Baltic Sea, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Russia did likewise, while in the Mediterranean Sea Russia, Ottoman Turkey, Venice, Britain and France battled for control of the Balkans, Egypt and Malta.
After the Napoleonic Wars Spain, Denmark and Portugal largely stopped building battleships. In around 1855, with the advent of reliable steam power and iron hull s, wooden sail battleships were quickly redesigned or fitted with engines. In the 1860s many nations built "armored frigate" type ships, which, although having only one gundeck, were used as battleships, not frigates. Soon after, however, turreted guns began to be used, notably by the designer John Ericsson. These allowed the guns to fire on both beams, so fewer guns needed to be carried. In the 1870s the armored frigate type, with its side-ported guns, dropped out of fashion. Armored cruisers, which were first built with broadside guns, did the same. The transition from smoothbore cannon to Rifled Muzzle Loaders and Rifled Breech Loaders greatly affected the design of the ships.
From 1870 to 1890 battleship design was in a wildly experimental phase, as different navies experimented with different turret arrangements, sizes and numbers, with each new design rendering the previous ones largely obsolete overnight. The main battleship nations during this period were Britain, France and Russia, plus newcomers Germany, Austria and Italy, while Turkey and Spain built small numbers of armored frigates and cruisers, and Sweden and the Netherlands built smaller "coastal battleships" ( pantserschip) of up to 5,000 tons.
The first warships resembling modern battleships were built in Britain around 1870 with the Devastation class of low- freeboard turret ships, a few years after the first battle between ironclad warships (the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia), fought at Hampton Roads, Virginia. It wasn't until around 1880 that battleship design became stable enough for larger classes to be built to a single design. Later in the period battleship displacement grew rapidly as more powerful engines and more armor and minor guns were added. Apart from some experimental types, battleships built in the period 1870-1905 usually had a displacement of 9,000-16,000 tons, a speed of 13-18 knots, and an armament of four big guns, usually 12" (305mm) in bore diameter, in two centreline turrets, fore and aft, plus secondary and smaller guns. Turrets, armor plate, and steam engines were all improved over the years, and torpedo tubes were introduced. It was this type of battleship that made up the " Great White Fleet", as well as the main battle fleets of many nations.