This video will tell you about
how the composition, number, and ratio of primary ship types that belonged to the rival
superpowers of World War II changed— battleships, cruisers, destroyers,
aircraft carriers, and submarines. The British Royal Navy
had 328 ships in their service at the point that war broke out. Combat-ready ships
grouped into task forces were distributed
across the entire world. In the European waters, the Royal
Navy was allied with the French Navy, which was the second largest in the world
and comprised 174 ships. The Force de Raide
squadron included the most modern battleships,
cruisers, and destroyers. Their task was to fight against
enemy raiders in the Atlantic Ocean, and the squadron was based in Brest. Another task force was deployed
in the Mediterranean Sea. Some ships were also moored at bases on the shores
of the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, in Dakar,
and in the Indian Ocean. The main adversary
of Great Britain and France in the European naval
theater of war until June 1940, was the German Navy—
the Kriegsmarine—comprising 103 ships. To grow the number of ships
in service and enhance them, the shipbuilding
industries of the countries that took part in the conflict
had shifted to a prolonged work day by the start of the war, and worked tirelessly
to supply their countries’ navies with new ships
throughout the entire war. The balance of naval
forces was also affected by the changing nature
of ground warfare. In June 1940, France capitulated,
and its Navy ceased all active combat. The same month, Italy
joined the war with its navy, which was primarily based
in the Mediterranean Sea and comprised 261 ships. Great Britain had to fight against
them with their Mediterranean Fleet, based in Malta and Egypt,
and with Task Force H in Gibraltar. This task force replaced
the French Navy, which had ceased
fighting in the war. Their objective was to control
the western part of the Mediterranean Sea. By that time, Germany had commenced mass production of submarines
to combat the British Navy. In the spring of 1941, the U.S.A.
approved a lend-lease program. To facilitate this,
the government organized large-scale construction of transport
ships to carry goods to Great Britain. In August 1940, brand-new battleship
Bismarck joined the Kriegsmarine. The ship set off on her first combat raid
against enemy transport communications together with heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen at the end of May 1941. The British dispatched 65 ships
to intercept and destroy her. Battlecruiser Hood was lost
during the course of action. During the second half
of 1940 and for the entirety of 1941, the Royal Navy singlehandedly battled against the German
and Italian navies across a vast area that stretched
from Iceland to the Cape of Good Hope. In June 1941, the U.S.S.R.
joined World War II. In June 22, 1941, the Soviet
Navy had 272 ships in service, grouped into four fleets. Due to the fact that the war
between the U.S.S.R. and Germany was primarily ground-based, the main objectives
of the Soviet Navy were supporting the coastal
flanks of their ground troops and intercepting
enemy communications. Soviet warships were also involved
in protecting military cargo convoys crossing from Great Britain to
the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk in close cooperation
with the Allied navies. At the cost of tangible losses, the Soviet Navy ensured
the safety of maritime trade routes and the success of ground operations. In December 1941,
the Japanese aviation offensive on the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor forced the Americans
to join World War II. On December 7, 1941, the Imperial
Japanese Navy comprised 238 ships. The U.S. Navy had
345 ships in service at the moment they joined the war. Three days after
the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese aviation sent British
battleship Prince of Wales to the bottom, as well as battlecruiser Repulse,
in the South China Sea. Great Britain declared war
on Japan in response to this. The commencement
of warfare in the Pacific Ocean defined the importance
of naval aviation. At first, Japan had more aircraft
carriers than the U.S.A.—6 vs 3. As soon as May 1942, the first battle involving aircraft
carriers took place in the Coral Sea, during which the Japanese
sank one of the two U.S. carriers involved in the battle. However, the losses
of the Japanese in the Coral Sea— one destroyed aircraft
carrier and one damaged— stopped them from
attacking New Guinea and played a major role
in the next battle near Midway Atoll. That battle would determine
the tide of the war in the Pacific Ocean. The combatants from
the Japanese side were: four aircraft carriers,
two battleships, two heavy cruisers,
one light cruiser, 12 destroyers, 248 deck
aircraft, and 16 seaplanes. The U.S. forces comprised: three aircraft carriers,
seven heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, 15 destroyers, 16 submarines, 233 deck aircraft,
and 127 ground-based airplanes. During the 3-day battle, the Imperial Japanese Navy
lost all of their aircraft carriers, 248 airplanes, and a heavy cruiser. The Americans lost aircraft carrier
Yorktown, 150 airplanes, and a destroyer. The year 1942 was
marked in European waters by Allied naval
activities focused on protecting convoys in the Northern
Atlantic Ocean, including Arctic convoys, fighting along communication
lines in the Mediterranean Sea, and landing troops in North Africa. Germany had increased their
number of submarines over that period, which allowed them
to attack allied convoys in the Northern Atlantic
Ocean successfully. In 1942, German
submarines sank 1,245 ships, while just 84 submarines were lost. In 1943, the war at sea changed in favor of the Allies
in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans— the main naval
theaters of World War II. Several key factors facilitated that. First of all, the colossal
industrial machine of the U.S. It was mobilized for military needs
and reached its full capacity, which provided a massive
scale of production. Second, mass implementation and usage of state-of-the-art military and
technical equipment in the navy, such as radar and sonar. Finally, the Allies—
and the U.S. in particular— achieved absolute
supremacy in the air, thus confirming naval aviation
to be the main naval strike force. Until 1943, German high command was sure that they were
destroying Allied ships faster than the Allies
were constructing them. That was true; during the initial
stages of the Battle for the Atlantic, the efficiency
of submarines was very high. A single submarine could
destroy four ships on average during a single combat raid, and submarine construction
rates were quite high in Germany. Germany had 57 submarines
by September 1, 1939, and 1,099 more
submarines of various types came into active service
for the Kriegsmarine during the war. On average, a new submarine
entered service every 2 days. At the same time, the construction
rates of new transports— primarily in the U.S.A. and
Canada—had also increased. By 1943, an average of three
ships were put afloat every day. Convoy protection
had been also improved. Special escort
and anti-submarine ships were mass produced in
Great Britain, the U.S., and Canada. In 1943, Italy capitulated, and
their Navy ceased to pose a threat to the British forces
in the Mediterranean Sea. In December of the same year, German battleship
Scharnhorst attempted an attack on a convoy traveling to the U.S.S.R. She was destroyed by British ships. From that moment on, the Kriegsmarine were left with
just a single battleship, Tirpitz, which was destroyed
by British aviation in 1944. The Americans launched their
offensive on the islands occupied by the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. Their navy took an active
part in the landing of troops and suppressing enemy
coastal defenses with artillery fire. The Imperial Japanese Navy made
numerous attempts to hamper the advance of the American troops, but they suffered significant
losses in battles both large and small. In June 1944, the Battle of
the Philippine Sea took place. It resulted in the total destruction
of almost all Japanese naval aviation. In October of the same year, the
Japanese Navy suffered a devastating defeat in the largest naval battle
of World War II—Leyte Gulf. The outcome of that dramatic
battle, which lasted almost 4 days, was the destruction of all
four Japanese aircraft carriers; three battleships, including
Yamato's sistership, Musashi; eight cruisers;
and 12 destroyers. The U.S.A. lost three
carriers and three escort ships. In a desperate attempt to withstand
the assault of the U.S. Navy, the Japanese employed
the kamikaze tactic for the first time. The final large-scale
battle—if it can be called that— between the Japanese and U.S. navies, resulted in the sinking
of Yamato in April of 1945. The battleship, escorted
by a cruiser and eight destroyers, was tasked with preventing
the American forces from landing on Okinawa island. The U.S.A. sent 11 aircraft
carriers to destroy the battleship. Three aviation groups,
with a total number of 394 planes, participated in Yamato's destruction. By the spring of 1945, the German
Navy had basically been destroyed. The majority of their primary
surface ships had been sunk in battles, and the remaining badly damaged
ships were no longer useful in combat. On May 4, 1945,
the Kriegsmarine high command gave the order for all of their
submarines to cease combat. 156 submarines
surrendered to the Allies. World War II ended
on September 2, 1945, with the Japanese signing
the act of capitulation on board U.S. battleship Missouri. Japan had lost
almost their entire Navy by competing against
the U.S.A. and Great Britain in terms of the number of ships
in service prior to the war, and trying to surpass these
countries in the quality of their ships. The same happened
to Germany in Europe— the dream of becoming a worthy opponent
to Britain by outdoing Italy and France turned out to be a complete disaster. The U.S.A. became
the main naval superpower, while Great Britain
preserved their second spot with a great lead over
all other contestants. But there was no need to keep
such huge navies after the war, so both naval superpowers
placed their ships into reserve, sent them to be mothballed, or scrapped them for metal
due to economic reasons. By contrast with the first
two naval superpowers, the naval forces of the U.S.S.R. had played only
a secondary role during the war, and their numbers
hadn't changed a lot. The Soviet Union launched
a large-scale program for creating a great navy
after the conclusion of the war. Many of the ships that took part and had key roles in
the sea battles of World War II are presented
in World of Warships today. Create your own unique fleet and stand at the helms
of the world's most famous warships!
