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!