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Victory at Sea is the game of naval combat during the Second World War. Throughout 1939–45, the nations of the world duelled across the oceans across the globe, only to discover the fundamental nature of naval warfare changing in the face of rapidly developing...
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Originally laid down as an Amagi-class battlecruiser, the stipulations of the Washington Treaty resulted in her conversion to an aircraft carrier. As a result, Akagi (赤城, "Red Castle") was one of Japan’s first large aircraft carriers. Akagi and her near-sister Kaga straddled the line...
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At one time, the HMS Hood was the largest and possibly most famous ship in the world, representing the supremacy of British sea power. Though attached to Home Fleet, the Hood took part in the sinking of the French fleet at Oran. She was...
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Witnessing massed airpower at the Battle of Taranto, the Japanese were quick to master the tactic, as seen in their infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. Later in the war, having suffered from terrible attrition and facing defeat, the Japanese turned desperately to kamikaze attacks....
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Submarines: The Kaidai-7-class, or KD-7, was developed in the late 1930s, following on from the preceding KD-6 class. With a surface range of 8,000nm at 16kts, and a submerged endurance of 50nm at 5kts, they possessed a slightly better underwater performance to the late-model...
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Submarines: A long-ranged submersible, the Type IX was the most successful U-boat of the war, with each vessel averaging over 100,000 tons of shipping sunk. One Type IX, U-107, made the most successful convoy mission of the war, with nearly 100,000 tons of shipping...
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Preventing attacks on defenceless merchant ships is the other main role of the navy, and it was here that the war was fought, day in and day out, by the humble corvette, frigate and destroyer escort, and later by escort carriers. Commerce raiding formed...
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Submarines: Compared to a German Type VII C submarine, the Marcello-class were much larger, displacing 1,060 tons versus 769. Speed and range between the two classes were almost similar, but the Marcello-class had more torpedo tubes than the famous U-Boat. The Marcello-class should be...
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Submarines: Designed for use in North European and Mediterranean waters, the S-class was manoeuvrable with a noted ability to crash dive extremely quickly. Combined with a large salvo of torpedoes, this was a successful design of pre-war years that was soon updated and put...
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After the devastation of Pearl Harbor the Americans relied heavily on the aircraft of their carrier fleets. By the Battle of Midway, the US Navy had substantial numbers aircraft operating in theatre. The age of the battleship had passed, air power now dominated. Grumman...
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Submarines: The Gato-class of submarine was the first mass production US submarine class of the Second World War, forming the majority of the United States Navy’s submarine fleet of the war. It was the Gato-class, and the successors of her design that were largely...
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The Yorktown-class of aircraft carrier were built in a series of three. Of those, only the USS Enterprise survived the war, with the USS Yorktown sunk during the Battle of Midway, and the USS Hornet during the Battle of Santa Cruz. USS Yorktown was...
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[countdown]2020/08/29 0:0:00[/countdown] For centuries, Japan's policy of seclusion (sakoku) saw it concentrate on coastal defences in order to repel foreign vessels. However, with the advances other maritime nations were making, it eventually became obvious that no longer would Japan be able to ignore the...
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[countdown]2020/08/29 0:0:00[/countdown] The Kriegsmarine had to be virtually rebuilt after the First World War. Forbidden to own capital ships and submarines, Germany nibbled away at first one clause of the Treaty of Versailles, then another, until a powerful navy force existed. At the outbreak...
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At the time of Italy’s entry into World War Two, she possessed a modern and – on paper at least – highly effective fleet. Four battleships and eight heavy cruisers were available, with three more battleships being fitted out. However, there were no aircraft...
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[countdown]2020/08/29 0:0:00[/countdown] The Royal Navy of Great Britain was the world’s greatest navy at the outbreak of the Second World War. However, Britain went to war with mainly First World War-vintage vessels. Since the Royal Navy already possessed many powerful units, construction of the...
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[countdown]2020/08/29 0:0:00[/countdown] Although the United States of America contains a vast area of land, almost all of its allies and trading partners are overseas, and those interests require a powerful navy to support them. The US Navy possessed some of the largest and most...
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[countdown]2020/08/29 0:0:00[/countdown] Two Bismarck-class battleships were built for the Kriegsmarine. Bismarck was the first, named for the Chancellor (Otto von Bismarck). The battleship was laid down in July 1936 and launched February 1939. She and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were two of the largest...
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The Deutschland-class of warships were relatively small, by battleship standards, but were well armoured and carried the type of armament traditionally seen only on battleships. This led to them being nicknamed ‘pocket battleships’. Superb commerce raiders, the Admiral Scheer successfully plied the Atlantic and...
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One of the most famous carriers of the war, the HMS Ark Royal received many battle honours in its service. The first enemy aircraft shot down by the Fleet Air Arm was with one of her Blackburn Skuas, while her bombers sank the German...