List of battleships of World War II
This is a list of battleships of the Second World War. All displacements are at standard load, in metric tonnes, so as to avoid confusion over their relative displacements. [Note: Not all displacements have been adjusted to match this yet]. Ideally displacements will be as they were at either the end of the war, or when the ship was sunk.
The battleship was a capital ship built in the first half of the 20th century. At the outbreak of war, large fleets of battleships—many inherited from the dreadnought era decades before—were considered one of the decisive forces in naval warfare. There were two engagements between battleships in the Pacific theatre and three in the Atlantic theatre. Battleships were the most heavily protected ships afloat, nonetheless sixteen were sunk or crippled by bombs or torpedoes delivered by aircraft, while three more were sunk by submarine-launched torpedoes. Guided bombs developed during the war made it much easier for aircraft to sink battleships. By the end of the war, battleship construction was all but halted, and almost every existing battleship was retired or scrapped within a few years of its end. The Second World War saw the end of the battleship as the dominant force in the world's navies.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
The List of ships of World War II contains major military vessels of the war, arranged alphabetically and by type. The list includes armed vessels that served during the war and in the immediate aftermath, inclusive of localized ongoing combat operations, garrison surrenders, post-surrender occupation, colony re-occupation, troop and prisoner repatriation, to the end of 1945. For smaller vessels, see also List of World War II ships of less than 1000 tons.
Ship | Operator | Class | Type | Displacement (tons) | First commissioned | End of service | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alabama | ![]() |
South Dakota | fast battleship | 35,980 | 16 August 1942 | 9 January 1947 | Decommissioned 9 January 1947; museum ship |
Almirante Latorre | ![]() |
Almirante Latorre | super-dreadnought | 28,550 | 1 August 1920 | 1 October 1958 | Scrapped 1959 |
Andrea Doria | ![]() |
Andrea Doria | fast battleship | 25,920 | 13 March 1916 | 16 September 1956 | Scrapped 1956 |
Anson | ![]() |
King George V | fast battleship | 39,100 | 22 June 1942 | 1 November 1951 | Scrapped 1957 |
Arizona | ![]() |
Pennsylvania | super-dreadnought | 31,900 | 17 October 1916 | 7 December 1941 | Sunk 7 December 1941; war memorial |
Arkansas | Wyoming | dreadnought | 26,100 | 17 September 1912 | 25 July 1946 | Sunk 25 July 1946 in A-bomb test | |
Asahi | ![]() |
pre-dreadnought | 11,625 | 28 April 1900 | Sunk 25/26 May 1942 | ||
Barham | ![]() |
Queen Elizabeth | super-dreadnought | 31,000 | 19 August 1915 | 25 November 1941 | Sunk 25 November 1941 |
Bismarck | ![]() |
Bismarck | fast battleship | 41,700 | 24 August 1940 | 27 May 1941 | Sunk 27 May 1941 |
Bretagne | ![]() |
Bretagne | super-dreadnought | 22,200 | 10 February 1916 | 3 July 1940 | Sunk 3 July 1940 |
California | ![]() |
Tennessee | super-dreadnought | 32,300 | 10 August 1921 | 14 February 1947 | Decommissioned 14 February 1947, scrapped 1959 |
Centurion | ![]() |
King George V | dreadnought | 25,500 | 22 May 1913 | 7 June 1944 | Scuttled as a Mulberry harbour breakwater off Normandy, 7 June 1944 |
Colorado | ![]() |
Colorado | super-dreadnought | 33,100 | 30 August 1923 | 23 July 1959 | Sold for scrap, 23 July 1959 |
Conte di Cavour | ![]() |
Conte di Cavour | fast battleship | 26,140 | 1 April 1915 | 11 November 1940 | Deliberately run aground November 1940, scrapped 1946 |
Courbet | ![]() ![]() |
Courbet | dreadnought | 23,200 | 19 November 1913 | 1 January 1941 | Scuttled as a "Gooseberry" breakwater 6 June 1944 |
Duilio | ![]() |
Andrea Doria | fast battleship | 25,920 | 10 May 1915 | 15 September 1956 | Scrapped 1957 |
Duke of York | ![]() |
King George V | fast battleship | 39,100 | 28 February 1940 | 1 November 1951 | Scrapped 1957 |
Dunkerque | ![]() |
Dunkerque | fast battleship | 26,500 | 15 April 1937 | 1 March 1942 | Scuttled 27 November 1942 |
Fusō | ![]() |
Fusō | dreadnought | 34,700 | 18 November 1915 | 25 October 1944 | Sunk 25 October 1944 |
Giulio Cesare | ![]() |
Conte di Cavour | fast battleship | 26,140 | 10 May 1914 | 29 October 1955 | Ceded to Soviet Union 1948, renamed Novorossiysk, sunk by abandoned mine |
Gneisenau | ![]() |
Scharnhorst | fast battleship | 32,000 | 21 May 1938 | 1 July 1942 | Sunk as block ship March 1945 |
Haruna | ![]() |
Kongō | fast battleship | 37,187 | 19 April 1915 | 28 July 1945 | Sunk at her moorings on 28 July 1945, raised and scrapped in 1946 |
Hessen | ![]() |
Braunschweig | pre-dreadnought | 13,208 | 19 September 1905 | Ceded to USSR as Tsel 2 January 1946, scrapped 1960 | |
Hiei | ![]() |
Kongō | fast battleship | 37,187 | 21 November 1912 | Sunk following the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on November 14, 1942 | |
Howe | ![]() |
King George V | fast battleship | 39,100 | 28 September 1942 | 1 January 1951 | Scrapped 1958 |
Hyūga | ![]() |
Ise | dreadnought | 35,560 | 30 April 1918 | 28 July 1945 | Sunk 28 July 1945 |
Idaho | ![]() |
New Mexico | dreadnought | 32,514 | 24 March 1919 | 3 July 1946 | Broken up at Newark, 1947 |
Impero | ![]() |
Littorio | fast battleship | 40,992 | Launched during war 15 November 1939, broken up at Venice, 1948 to 1950 | ||
Indiana | ![]() |
South Dakota | fast battleship | 35,980 | 30 April 1942 | 15 November 1945 | Decommissioned 11 September 1947, scrapped 1963 |
Iowa | Iowa | fast battleship | 55,770 | 22 February 1943 | 26 October 1990 | Decommissioned 1990; museum ship | |
Iron Duke | ![]() |
Iron Duke | dreadnought | 25,400 | 1 March 1914 | 17 October 1939 | Paid off March 1946 |
Ise | ![]() |
Ise | dreadnought | 35,560 | 15 December 1917 | 1 March 1945 | Sunk 28 July 1945 |
Jean Bart | ![]() |
Richelieu | fast battleship | 37,850 | 16 January 1949 | 1 August 1957 | Launched during war 6 March 1940, Scrapped 24 June 1970 |
Kilkis | ![]() |
Mississippi | pre-dreadnought | 13,209 | 1 February 1908 | 23 April 1941 | Sunk 23 April 1941, wreck was refloated and scrapped 1950s |
King George V | ![]() |
King George V | fast battleship | 39,100 | 11 December 1940 | 1 June 1950 | Scrapped 1957 |
Kirishima | ![]() |
Kongō | fast battleship | 37,187 | 19 April 1915 | 15 November 1942 | Sunk 15 November 1942 |
Kongō | fast battleship | 37,187 | 18 May 1912 | Sunk by USS Sealion in the Formosa Strait, 21 November 1944 | |||
Lemnos | ![]() |
Mississippi | pre-dreadnought | 13,209 | 1 April 1908 | 23 April 1941 | Sunk 23 April 1941, wreck was refloated and scrapped 1950s |
Littorio | ![]() |
Littorio | fast battleship | 40,724 | 6 May 1940 | 1 June 1948 | Renamed Italia 30 July 1943, scrapped 1948 |
Lorraine | ![]() ![]() |
Bretagne | super-dreadnought | 22,200 | 27 July 1916 | 17 February 1953 | Scrapped January 1954 |
Malaya | ![]() |
Queen Elizabeth | super-dreadnought | 31,000 | 1 February 1916 | 1 December 1944 | Scrapped 1948 |
Marat | ![]() |
Gangut | dreadnought | 23,000 | 5 January 1915 | 4 September 1953 | Sunk 23 September 1941, later rear part refloated, renamed Petropavlovsk 31 May 1943, scrapped September 1953 |
Maryland | ![]() |
Colorado | super-dreadnought | 33,100 | 21 July 1921 | Decommissioned 1947, scrapped 1959 | |
Massachusetts | South Dakota | fast battleship | 35,980 | 12 May 1942 | Decommissioned 27 March 1947; museum ship | ||
Minas Geraes | ![]() |
Minas Geraes | dreadnought | 19,200 | 18 April 1910 | 16 May 1952 | Scrapped 1954 |
Mississippi | ![]() |
New Mexico | dreadnought | 32,514 | 25 January 1917 | Decommissioned 1956 (for scrap) | |
Missouri | Iowa | fast battleship | 55,770 | 11 June 1944 | Decommissioned 1992; museum ship | ||
Moreno | ![]() |
Rivadavia | dreadnought | 27,720 | 26 February 1915 | 1 October 1956 | Sold for scrap 11 January 1957 |
Musashi | ![]() |
Yamato | fast battleship | 65,000 | 5 August 1942 | 25 October 1944 | Sunk 25 October 1944 |
Mutsu | Nagato | dreadnought | 32,720 | 24 October 1921 | 8 June 1943 | Sunk in harbor by internal explosion 8 June 1943 | |
Nagato | dreadnought | 32,720 | 25 November 1920 | Sunk as target 29 July 1946 | |||
Nelson | ![]() |
Nelson | treaty battleship | 34,000 | 10 September 1927 | 20 October 1947 | Decommissioned February 1948, scrapped March 1949 |
Nevada | ![]() |
Nevada | dreadnought | 29,000 | 11 March 1916 | Decommissioned 29 July 1946, sunk as a target 31 July 1948 | |
New Jersey | Iowa | fast battleship | 55,770 | 23 May 1943 | Decommissioned 1991; museum ship | ||
New Mexico | New Mexico | dreadnought | 32,514 | 20 May 1918 | Scrapped November 1947 | ||
New York | New York | dreadnought | 27,000 | 15 April 1914 | Decommissioned 29 August 1946, sunk as target 8 July 1948 | ||
North Carolina | North Carolina | fast battleship | 37,200 | 9 April 1941 | Decommissioned 27 June 1947; museum ship | ||
Océan | ![]() |
Courbet | dreadnought | 23,475 | 5 June 1913 | Captured by Germany 27 November 1942, sunk 1944, scrapped 14 December 1945 | |
Oklahoma | ![]() |
Nevada | dreadnought | 29,000 | 2 May 1916 | Sunk 7 December 1941, raised and sunk under tow 1947 | |
Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya | ![]() |
Gangut | dreadnought | 23,000 | 3 June 1909 | 17 February 1956 | Scrapped 1959 |
Paris | ![]() ![]() |
Courbet | dreadnought | 23,475 | 5 June 1913 | Captured by Britain 3 July 1940 used as depot ship, scrapped 1956 | |
Parizhskaya Kommuna | ![]() |
Gangut | dreadnought | 23,000 | 30 November 1914 | 17 February 1956 | Renamed Sevastopol 31 May 1943, scrapped 1956–1957 |
Pennsylvania | ![]() |
Pennsylvania | super-dreadnought | 31,900 | 12 June 1916 | 29 August 1946 | Decommissioned 29 August 1946, sunk as target 10 February 1948 |
Prince of Wales | ![]() |
King George V | fast battleship | 37,300 | 31 March 1941 | 10 December 1941 | Sunk 10 December 1941 |
Provence | ![]() |
Bretagne | super-dreadnought | 22,200 | 1 March 1916 | 27 November 1942 | Scuttled 27 November 1942 |
Queen Elizabeth | ![]() |
Queen Elizabeth | super-dreadnought | 31,000 | 22 December 1914 | Decommissioned and scrapped 1948 | |
Ramillies | Revenge | super-dreadnought | 29,150 | 1 September 1917 | 31 August 1945 | Decommissioned 31 August 1945, scrapped 1949 | |
Resolution | super-dreadnought | 29,150 | 7 December 1916 | Scrapped 1949 | |||
Revenge | super-dreadnought | 29,150 | 1 February 1916 | Scrapped 1948 | |||
Richelieu | ![]() ![]() |
Richelieu | fast battleship | 37,850 | 15 July 1940 | 30 September 1967 | Scrapped 1968 |
Rivadavia | ![]() |
Rivadavia | dreadnought | 27,720 | 27 August 1914 | 1 February 1957 | Sold for scrap 30 May 1957 |
Rodney | ![]() |
Nelson | treaty battleship | 34,000 | 10 November 1927 | Scrapped 1948 | |
Roma | ![]() |
Littorio | fast battleship | 40,992 | 14 June 1942 | 9 September 1943 | Sunk 9 September 1943 |
Royal Oak | ![]() |
Revenge | super-dreadnought | 29,150 | 1 May 1916 | 14 October 1939 | Sunk 14 October 1939 |
Royal Sovereign | ![]() ![]() |
super-dreadnought | 29,150 | 1 February 1916 | Transferred to USSR as Arkhangelsk 30 May 1944, returned to UK 4 February 1949, scrapped 18 May 1949 | ||
São Paulo | ![]() |
Minas Geraes | dreadnought | 19,200 | 12 July 1910 | 2 August 1947 | Sunk while under tow 4 November 1951 |
Scharnhorst | ![]() |
Scharnhorst | fast battleship | 32,000 | 7 January 1939 | 26 December 1943 | Sunk 26 December 1943 |
Schlesien | Deutschland | pre-dreadnought | 14,218 | 5 May 1908 | 4 May 1945 | Blown up 4 May 1945 | |
Schleswig-Holstein | pre-dreadnought | 14,218 | 6 July 1908 | 25 January 1945 | According to Polish sources expended as target in 1948 by Soviets; according to other sources: scrapped after 1946 | ||
Settsu | ![]() |
Kawachi | dreadnought | 16,390 | 1 July 1912 | 29 July 1945 | Scrapped 1946–1947 |
South Dakota | ![]() |
South Dakota | fast battleship | 35,980 | 20 March 1942 | 31 January 1947 | Decommissioned 31 January 1947, scrapped 1962 |
Sovetskaya Rossiya | ![]() |
Sovetsky Soyuz | fast battleship | 65,150 | Laid down 22 July 1940, 0.97% complete by the end of the war, scrapped 27 March 1947 | ||
Sovetskaya Ukraina | fast battleship | 65,150 | Laid down 31 October 1938, 17.98% complete by the start of the war, scrapped 27 March 1947 | ||||
Sovetsky Soyuz | fast battleship | 65,150 | Laid down 15 July 1938, 21.19% complete by the start of the war, scrapped 29 May 1948 | ||||
Strasbourg | ![]() |
Dunkerque | fast battleship | 26,500 | 15 March 1938 | 27 November 1942 | Scuttled 27 November 1942 |
Tennessee | ![]() |
Tennessee | super-dreadnought | 32,300 | 3 June 1920 | 14 February 1947 | Decommissioned 14 February 1947, scrapped 1959 |
Texas | New York | dreadnought | 27,000 | 12 March 1914 | 21 April 1948 | Decommissioned 21 April 1948; museum ship | |
Tirpitz | ![]() |
Bismarck | fast battleship | 42,900 | 25 February 1941 | 12 November 1944 | Sunk 12 November 1944 |
Turgut Reis | ![]() |
Brandenburg | pre-dreadnought | 10,013 | 14 October 1894 | Scrapped 1950–1957 | |
Utah | ![]() |
Florida | dreadnought | 22,175 | 31 August 1911 | 5 September 1944 | Sunk 7 December 1941; war memorial |
Valiant | ![]() |
Queen Elizabeth | super-dreadnought | 31,000 | 13 January 1916 | 1 July 1946 | Scrapped 1950 |
Vanguard | fast battleship | 45,200 | 15 October 1946 | 9 October 1959 | launch during war 30 November 1944, paid off 7 June 1960 | ||
Vittorio Veneto | ![]() |
Littorio | fast battleship | 40,517 | 28 April 1940 | 10 September 1943 | Scrapped 1948 |
Warspite | ![]() |
Queen Elizabeth | super-dreadnought | 31,000 | 8 March 1915 | 1 February 1945 | Scrapped 1950 |
Washington | ![]() |
North Carolina | fast battleship | 37,200 | 15 May 1941 | 27 June 1947 | Decommissioned 27 June 1947, scrapped 1960 |
West Virginia | Colorado | super-dreadnought | 33,100 | 1 December 1923 | 9 January 1947 | Decommissioned 9 January 1947, scrapped 1959 | |
Wisconsin | Iowa | fast battleship | 55,770 | 16 April 1944 | 30 September 1991 | Decommissioned 30 September 1991; museum ship | |
Wyoming | Wyoming | dreadnought | 26,000 | 25 September 1912 | 1 August 1947 | Sold for scrap 30 October 1947 | |
Yamashiro | ![]() |
Fusō | dreadnought | 34,700 | 31 March 1917 | 25 October 1944 | Sunk 25 October 1944 |
Yamato | Yamato | fast battleship | 65,000 | 16 December 1941 | 7 April 1945 | Sunk 7 April 1945 | |
Zähringen | ![]() |
Wittelsbach | pre-dreadnought | 11,800 | 25 October 1902 | 18 December 1944 | Scuttled 26 March 1945, scrapped 1949–1950 |
See also[]
- List of battleships
References[]
- ^ Sondhaus (2001).
- ^ Gardiner (1980).
- ^ Parkes (1990).
- ^ Stilwell (2001).
- ^ "Hulls Listed by Name". Naval Vessel Register. Archived from the original on 30 June 2007.
- ^ "Royal Navy operations in the Second World War". The National Archives. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ^ "US Navy Inactive Classification Symbols". Naval Vessel Register. NAVSEA Shipbuilding Support Office. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ^ "Index". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
Bibliography[]
- "NavSource Naval History".
- Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2007). "Allied Warships". Uboat.net.
- "Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk". Cranston Fine Arts. 2001–2007.
- Burr, Lawrence (2006). British Battlecruisers 1914–18. New Vanguard No. 126. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84603-008-0.
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Gray, Randal (1985). Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921. Naval Institute Press. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922–1946. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Gibbons, Tony (1983). The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers - A Technical Directory of all the World's Capital Ships from 1860 to the Present Day. London, UK: Salamander Books Ltd. p. 272. ISBN 0-517-37810-8.
- Ireland, Bernard; Grove, Eric (1997). Jane's War At Sea 1897–1997. London, UK: Harper Collins Publishers. p. 256. ISBN 0-00-472065-2.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (1960). Victory in the Pacific. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Volume Fourteen. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-07065-8.
- O'Connell, Robert L. (1991). Sacred Vessels: the Cult of the Battleship and the Rise of the U.S. Navy. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-1116-0.
- Parkes, Oscar (1990). British Battleships. United States Naval Institute Press (first published Seeley, Service & Co., 1957). ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
- Preston, Anthony (Foreword) (1989). Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II. London, UK: Random House Ltd. p. 320. ISBN 1-85170-494-9.
- Russel, Scott J. (1861). The Fleet of the Future. London, UK.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (2001). Naval Warfare, 1815–1914. London, UK: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-21478-0.
- Stilwell, Paul (2001). Battleships. New York, USA: MetroBooks. p. 160. ISBN 1-58663-044-X.
- Lists of World War II ships by type
- World War II battleships
- Lists of battleships