WW1 Warships

Royal Sovereign as part of the 1st Battle Squadron. Four other ships of her class were completed but others were suspended at the start of war then cancelled and their gun turrets used in two battlecruisers, two "large light cruisers" and two monitors.

Disclaimer time. This section is limited to the warships that feature in other areas of this site, and is not a comprehensive list of warships that served in WW1. Likewise the information is very brief and intended to give a rough idea of the ships involved, not to be a good technical reference.

The information is in the format: - Class, ship name (year commissioned), displacement, length, beam, draught, propulsion, top speed, thickest belt or deck armour, primary guns, secondary guns, torpedo tubes.

Displacements should be taken as approximate as they varied between ships of the same class and depended on how much fuel, ammunition etc was carried, in general standard displacements are given but the definition of this varied between nations.

Speed again varied between ships of the same class and varied during a ships life dependent on many factors included fuel quality, hull fouling and location.

Just giving thickest belt armour is a very narrow view of a ships protection but an easy rough guide.

The line drawings are from contemporary publications and so should be taken as a rough overall layout of the ships rather than being exact.

SMS = Seiner Majestat Schiff = His Majesty's Ship
QF = Quick Firer, BL = Breech-loader, oa = overall, TT = torpedo tube, RAN = Royal Australian Navy

 

Emden was the last German cruiser to have triple expansion engines, her sister Dresden had steam turbines.  Early turbines generally gave higher top speeds and were more reliable but less economical at lower speeds.  Emden, along with the submarine U9 were the only ships to be awarded the Iron Cross.