The World's Most Famous Naval Ships
These naval ships made history, either through the technical advances they represented or their particular role in a historical event.
The Monitor and the Merrimac
In 1862, the American Civil War witnessed the birth of a new naval technology, the ironclad. The U.S.S. Monitor and the Confederate States' Virginia (originally a Northern-built wooden freighter called the Merrimac, but repurposed by the Confederate navy) did battle outside Hampton Roads, Virginia. The Virginia had already torn through two Union ships by the time it encountered the Monitor, and attacked it with hopes of breaking the Union blockade cutting the Confederacy off from international trade. The ships fought to a draw, with neither navy gaining ground that day, and the Confederacy later blew up the Virginia to prevent the Union from capturing it.
The H.M.S. Dreadnought
This ship, built in only one year and launched in 1906, so changed the world's idea of what a battleship should be that all ships of the era became classified as either "dreadnoughts" or "pre-dreadnoughts." At 21 knots, no ship of the time could match its speed, and the firepower provided by its 10-gun battery was unsurpassed as well. It sank a German submarine during World War I, but, as times changed again, became obsolete shortly thereafter.
The U.S.S. Arizona
This battleship, with 1,177 personnel aboard who lost their lives, sank in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, as the result of a Japanese attack. It has not been brought up from the harbor and remains underwater as a memorial to the dead. Before this infamous attack, it was already a distinguished ship, having hosted President Herbert Hoover in 1931.
The Yamato
The Yamato, flagship of the Japanese fleet during World War II, was the largest battleship ever to be built, according to Bukisa.com. Since battleships are now considered obsolete by modern navies, it is likely to maintain that distinction. It sported nine 18-inch guns and displaced 72,800 tons of water.
It was sunk in Operation Ten-Go on April 7, 1945, shortly before Japan's surrender. The idea was that in order to defend Okinawa, the Yamato and eight destroyers would beach themselves on the island and, when destroyed, their crews would fight to the death as infantry. This operation was regarded as not only suicidal but wasteful by many Japanese commanders, since no air cover was available to protect the ships. True to their prediction, Yamato was destroyed by U.S. bombers and torpedoes before it ever reached the island. Since the name "Yamato" was symbolic of the nation of Japan, it was a tremendous blow to Japan's morale when it was defeated.
