Aircraft 4: Junkers Ju 87 'Stuka' Sturzkampfflugzeug

Aircraft 4: Junkers Ju 87 'Stuka' Sturzkampfflugzeug


“The Germans are coming in an absolutely steep dive, and you can see their bombs actually leave the machines and come into the water. You can hear our guns going like anything now. I can hear machine-gun fire but I can't see our Spitfires. They must be somewhere there.” - BBC radio reporter Charles Gardner.

Nationality: German (Third Reich)
Year of Production: 1933-1944.
Number built: 6500, estimated.
Weight (empty): 3.93 tons
Wingspan: 13.8 metres
Length: 11.5 metres
Height: 3.9 metres
Crew: 2
Speed: 410 kph, could handle diving speeds of 600 kph, reports of 835 kph attained.
Engine: Junkers Jumo 210A, 602 hp, replaced by other variants of Jumo engine, maxing at 1401 hp.
Armament: 4x 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns, 1x 7.92 MG 15 machine gun, 250 to 500 kg bomb, 'Jericho trumpets', later variants had dual-barrel 7.92 mm MG 81Z machine gun replacing MG 15, 500-1200 kg bomb load, planned torpedo from 750-905 kg, and 2x 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon, with tank killer variant using 2x 37 mm Flak guns.

Background: I daresay most of you will recognise this aircraft from it's nickname. The dive bomber that helped the Germany army's blitzkerig across Europe, with the sirens of the devil or the banshee.

First used in the Spanish Civil War as part of the Condor Legion, the role of a dive bomber is simple. From height, it dives on you at a very fast speed, releases it's bomb, and pulls away. The screaming part was optional.

Also, did I mention the noise it made? I'll touch on that first, and include one video of it in the sources. From the video, it's this droning noise, which increases by a lot, and then the screaming of whatever the hell it is that's screaming, then there's the explosion, and one assumes the plane pulling away. Now, that's just one plane, I think that and a few others would be as scary as all goddamn hell.

The noise is by a thing called a Jericho trumpet, which are propeller driven sirens, which, although slowing the aircraft down by 20 to 25 kph, did the screaming noise that the aircraft was known for. After the trumpet was withdrawn, some bombs were fitted with whistles on the fin to try to emulate the noise.

And from that was born the vuvuzela.

Alright, not really. The aircraft itself was designed before 1928, with the view that the dive-bomber design had to be simple and robust, which lead to many features like the retractable undercarriage being removed.

After the events that lead to the rise of the Third Reich, the RLM, the German Aviation Ministry, of which I refuse to use the overly long name, gave it the go ahead, and in 1932, the double vertical stabilizers were introduced to assist the rear gunner.

Originally, the Ju 87 was fitted with a BMW engine, producing 600 hp, as well as dive brakes, which slow an aircraft when it's in a dive. When trials were done in 1934, Ernst Udet began diving at 1000 metres, and released his 1 kg bombs at 100 metres, barely escaping turning the aircraft into an additional 4 ton bomb. Despite the concerns held that such an aircraft might be too risky to be used by the average pilot in the Luftwaffe, Udet advocated that all medium bombers have dive-bombing capabilities.

Initially, the Ju 87 were powered by Rolls-Royce engines, and on a test flight, a failure in the twin fins and rudder ended up killing the chief test pilot and his engineer, after which, modifications were made to avoid that. Despite that, the RLM were not really interested, until Junkers offered to fit it with a Jumo 210 engine, and in early 1936, the testing continued. With joyous news from the RLM, who were so impressed that... they cancelled the development... Udet overrode the order, and development continued.

The Ju 87, in 1937, could take off in only 250 metres, and climb to 1.875 km in 8 minutes with a 250 kg bomb load, with a cruising speed of 250 kph. Despite that, there were pushes for a stronger engine, wanting the speed to be over 350 kph. The Jumo 210 Da engine was fitted, which boosted the speed to 290 kph.

Among other features, there was an automatic dive recovery system, and the bomb swung clear of the propeller before being released, with the aircraft generating 6 gs while pulling out. Development continued to reduce the g forces put on the crew, to prevent them blacking out.

Of course, this is mostly meaningless to some of the readers. So, let's move on.

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

“At lunch time we were in the thick of it again and Junkers dive-bombers appeared all over the sky. We engaged one by shrapnel control, but out fuse was too short. Then one came, sensationally straight at us, dived to a few feet off the ground and went clean through our position with machine guns blazing.” - Kenneth Rankin, on a Junkers 87 attack in Tobruk.

As explained above, the role is simple, to dive and bomb you, while killing morale.

Unfortunately, while preparing for the invasion of Poland, during a dive bombing demonstration for high ranking officials, 13 aircraft smashed into the ground, unaware that the cloud cover was lower then expected.

Despite that, the invasion went ahead, with the Stuka claiming the first air to air kill of the war, shooting down a Polish PZL p.11c fighter while it was taking off. In addition, a destroyer and a minelayer were also destroyed, not to mention the other events. Enemy aircraft were light, the Stukas losing only 31 aircraft

During the invasion of Norway, they were used to take out ground and naval targets, including the Oscarsborg Fortress, the French destroyer Bison, and the HMS Bittern and Afridi.

In France, the small headquarters in a village was destroyed in only four direct hits, allowing the German army to continue. Unfortunately, where enemy aircraft were organised, the Stuka suffered, at one point losing 11 out of 12 aircraft to 6 French fighters.

During the events of Dunkirk, the French destroyer Adroit, a paddle steamer, Crested Eagle, and many other ships were destroyed, the Royal Navy having only one destroyer out of 40 still operational. In the Battle of Britain, despite early success, the aircraft couldn't function properly without air superiority, the very thing being fought over..

It's interesting reading, but for the most part, if there's no other aircraft, or friendly aircraft around, the Stuka would get the job done. If there were hostile aircraft around, the Stuka would be mincemeat.

Also, be careful with the Youtube link, that sound is fairly frightening.

Sources used:
Junkers Ju 87 – Wikipedia
14th July 1940 – WW2Today
11th April 1941 – WW2Today
HowStuffWorks – Junkers Ju 87 Stuka
Junkers Jumo 210 – Wikipedia
BK 37 – Wikipedia
BBC Archive – News Report: Air Battle off Dover (audio)
Stuka Ju 87 siren – Youtube

The image is from the German Federal Archive. This image has not been altered, except for being resized.

Ship 3: The Battleship Bismark

Ship 3: The Battleship Bismark



“I'm not letting my ship get shot out from under my arse. Open fire!” - Captain Ernst Lindemann, in response to the requests from First Gunnery Officer Adalbert Schneider.

Nationality: German (Third Reich)
Year of Production: 1936. (Launched 1939.)
Number built: 2.
Weight: 41,700 tons. (42,900 tons for sister ship Tirpitz)
Length: 251 metres
Beam: 36 metres
Draught: 9.3 metres
Complement: 2065 to 2608.
Speed: 30 knots (55 kph). (29 knots, 54 kph, for sister ship).
Armament: 8x 38 cm naval guns, 12x 15 cm naval guns, 16x 10.5 cm flak cannons, 16x 3.7 cm flak cannons, 12x 2 cm flak cannons (to 20 for Bismark, 78 for Tirpitz), 4x Arado Ar 196 aircraft. (2x torpedo tubes for Tirpitz)

Background: In the mid 1930s, the main threat to Germany was interestingly enough, France, with their Richelieu-class battleships, and their announcement to arm them with their own 38 cm naval guns. In response, Germany also armed the two battleships, then under construction, with their own large guns. The other concern was for the battleships to have sufficient range to reach the Atlantic without the crew having to get out the oars and paddle, since that would be fairly humiliating.

The Bismark-class was limited by the infrastructure and the Kaiser Wilheim Canal that they would have to pass through, being unable to be built much heavier than 43,000 tons, or risk getting stuck.

Despite that, the battleships were completed, with over 150,000 horsepower to thrust them along, with the guns firing 800 kg shells over 36 kilometres, three rounds per minute for each of their 8 main guns. The smaller naval guns fired shells a fairly nice 23 km, at a rate of six rounds per minute.

Anti-aircraft consisted of a variety of guns, with some being added over the original, such as the extra 8 for the Bismark, and an extra 66 for the Tirpitz, since the Allies were bent on bombing the heck out of it.

I could go on, and I'm tempted to, but that would lead to a vast amount of political intrigue, so I'll just settle for some links at the bottom.

Instead, we'll go into the combat, a most interesting tale.

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

“The objective of the Bismarck is not to defeat enemies of equal strength, but to tie them down in a delaying action, while preserving her combat capacity as much as possible.” - Grand Admiral Erich Raeder's orders regarding the Bismark.

After the Bismark had been commissioned and joined the fleet, a small sortie was planned for the North Atlantic, planning to consist of Bismark, Tirpitz, and the members of the Scharnhorst/ Gneisenau-class, unfortunately, the Tirpitz was not ready, and Scharnhorst was being overhauled, so instead, Bismark was sent out with the cruiser Prinz Eugen, the Gneisenau having been damaged by Allied bombing.

As they were heading through the Denmark Strait, they encountered the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Hood, leading to the Battle of the Denmark Strait.

10 minutes into the battle, a shot from Bismark struck Hood near one of her ammunition magazines, causing her to blow up three minutes later. Prince of Wales continued to exchange fire, but suffered from malfunctions in the main armament and broke off. Bismark and Prinz Eugen continued onto the Atlantic, the three hits on the Bismark destroying the catapult, flooded a generator room, damaged a bulkhead and cut access to the forward fuel tanks.

The damage reduced speed to 28 knots, as well as leaving a trail of oil which helped the Allies shadow the two ships. Prinz Eugen broke off to the Atlantic while Bismark set out to return to France to repair. Bismark was attacked by a group of Swordfish torpedo bombers on the 24th of May, with minimal damage, before losing the British, who were highly annoyed over the sinking of the Hood.

Not realising they had lost the British, a 30 minute radio call was made to Germany, allowing the British to pick up on the signal and continue the pursuit.

More Swordfish from HMS Ark Royale attacked the cruiser HMS Sheffield by mistake, but no major damage was done, and the faulty torpedos were replaced. The next time they attacked, Bismark's rudder was damaged, and ignored all attempts to repair it. After, they were attacked by torpedos from British and Polish destroyers, causing no further damage.

After the Bismark ran into the King George V and the Rodney, the game was up, and the Bismark was sunk.

The Tirpitz was went to Norway, where the British invested a fair amount of time in destroying it, with no less then 10 operations from midget subs to chariot boats to bombing, before it was finally sunk.

I'm not sure about you, but if I had a ship that took that long to sink, and caused that much headache for my foe's air and naval forces, well, who knows.

Sources used:
German battleship Bismark
German battleship Tirpitz
Operation Rheinburg
Bismark-class battleship
Battle of the Denmark Strait
Last battle of the Bismark
Anglo-German Naval Agreement
Plan Z

Vehicle 4 – Schwerer Gustav and Dora

Vehicle 4: Schwerer Gustav and Dora

No quote, sorry.

Nationality: Germany (Third Reich)
Year of Production: 1941
Number built: 2-3
Weight: 1,350 tons.
Length: 47.3 metres, 84 metres potentially.
Width: 7.1 metres
Height: 11.6 metres
Crew: 250 to assemble gun, 2500 to lay track and digemplacements.
Engine: None.
Armament: 1x 800mm cannon, firing 7.1 ton to 11 ton shell.

Background: After World War One, France had started work on the Maginot Line, a massive line of fortifications along the French/German border that would prevent any attacks launched by Germany, or at least significantly slow them down.

In response to this, the German High Command commissioned a company called Krupp, a large German munitions, well, company, to design a gun powerful enough to crack the Maginot Line. More specifically, seven metres of reinforced concrete, or a full metre of steel plate. Oh, and the gun had to fire at beyond the range of French artillery, to prevent it being blown to bits.

That was in 1934. In 1936, the leader of Germany asked about the viability of such a gun, and no commitment was given by him, however, design work began on the 800mm version.

Unfortunately, in 1937, it was discovered that they couldn't quite get the gun done by Spring 1940, however, the test gun was completed in 1939, and sent to the firing range for testing with the 7.1 ton shell ripping through the desired amount of concrete and steel. As testing finished in 1940, the Gustav Gun was formerly accepted by the German leader, who was so awe struck by the weapon that he ordered that the 11 ton shell only be fired under his command. As such, the 11 ton shell was never fired.

Ammunition for the two guns, Schwerer Gustav (Heavy Gustav), and Dora (named after the senior engineer's wife) consisted of a concrete (and logically, armour)-piercing shell, and a high explosive shell. A rocket launcher variant was planned, with a 150 km range, which would have required the barrel to be lengthened to 84 metres, thereby compensating for every man on the continent, but was never used or completed.

Gustav went into modern day Ukraine, on a train of 25 cars, and had to be held while additional track was laid so it could traverse. After that, it only took a further month to get the railway gun ready to fire, at a port city called Sevastopol.

By the 4th of July, Gustav had roared out 48 rounds, and had ruined the original barrel, but among other targets, it had destroyed a storage facility called White Cliff, located 30 metres under the sea, protected by 10 metres of concrete. It only took nine shells to ruin the ammunition dump.

After that, Gustav was sent to Leningrad, or St Petersburg, where it did nothing, spending the winters of 1942 and 1943 there. After that period of excitement, it was sent back to Germany to be refurbished, and then destroyed before May 1945.

Dora did even less, being sent to Stalingrad, before being withdrawn.

A variant, an alternate rocket artillery model, Langer Gustav, was damaged during construction and abandoned, while the P1500 project is something I'll touch on in another article.

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

No quote, sorry.

The two guns were designed, and developed, for one simple reason. To rip the hell out of France's Maginot Line. 7 metres of concrete is not a small amount, and these guns cracked that amount with one hit, from a range of 38 to 48 kilometres, depending on ammunition.

They're huge, unwieldy, and need track specially built to carry them, being unable to rotate by themselves. They also came with 2 Flak batteries as escort, as protection from aircraft, and potentially vehicles as well.

As of 2011, they are the largest guns in the world to have been used in combat, and are only beaten by Mallet's mortar and Little David in terms of calibre.

They could rip apart a fortress, and to even think, my limited knowledge, of what would happen to a tank, is horrifying. And this is a weapon so powerful that the largest shell, the 11 ton version, was never used. Thankfully.

Sources:
Schwerer Gustav – Wikipedia
List of the largest cannon by calibre - Wikipedia

Aircraft 2: Supermarine (Sea Spitfire) 'Seafire'

Aircraft 2: Supermarine (Sea Spitfire) 'Seafire'

“To affirm that the aeroplane is going to 'revolutionize' navel warfare of the future is to be guilty of the wildest exaggeration.” - Scientific American, July 1910.

Nationality: English
Year of Production: 1938 (proposed), 1941 (produced)
Number built: 2669
Weight (empty): 3.9 tons
Wingspan: 11.2 metres
Length: 10.4 metres
Height: 3.9 metres
Speed: 578 kph (Merlin engine), 727 kph (Griffon engine)
Engine: Rolls Royce Merlin 55M V12, developing 1585 hp. Later, the Griffon 88 V12 would be used, developing 2350 hp.
Armament: 2x 20mm cannon, 4x 0.303 machine guns, later on, 4x 20mm cannon. (The Seafire F. Mk 47 had up to 8x rocket launchers, firing RP-3 air to ground rockets. They all could carry bombs, from 110 kg to 250 kg.)

Background: I daresay most people know about the beautiful little Spitfire, the aircraft that flew during the Battle of Britain, and during World War Two as a whole.

This story relates to the Seafire, trust me. Or not. Anyway, in 1931, the British Air Ministry was calling out for a new fighter plane capable of going at 404 kph. A man called Reginald Joseph Mitchell, of the Supermarine Aviation Works responded, with the Supermarine Type 224, which was rejected, as well as the later Supermarine Type 300, but eventually got accepted with the F7/30.

In 1936, the first prototype Spitfire flew, causing the RAF to squeal like schoolgirls and immediately order 310 of them, before the trials had been completed. Over 20,000 Spitfires, and the variants, would be built.

Unfortunately, while the RAF was enjoying their brand spanking new toy, the Fleet Air Arm were stuck with Blackburn Rocs and Gloster Sea Gladiators, of which, although they were decent aircraft... weren't quite as magnificent as the Spitfire.

The FAA got turned away from having their own Spitfires by Winston Churchill, but that's sort of understandable since that was during the Battle of Britain, and your own country's defense is more important then anything else, in my view.

However, in 1941, the Admiralty had a look at the Spitfire again, and 48 Spitfire Mark Vb aircraft were converted to have hooks on them, since a plane's not much good if it can't actually land. The new Seafires were used to get the Navy used to using their new toys, with modifications being constantly made, to make them more useful for general defense and attack purposes.

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

“The air fleet of an enemy will never get within striking distance of our coast as long as our aircraft carriers are able to carry the preponderance of air power to sea.” - Rear Admiral W. A. Mofflet, Chief of US Bureau of Aeronautics.

It's role was to hang around aircraft carriers, and to teach anything that isn't on it's side that the Royal Navy only wants pretty pictures and words taken when it damn well wants you to, and not whenever you want to.

The Seafire mainly operated in the Far East campaign against Japan, on the aircraft carrier HMS Indefatigable (R10), where they took on the kamikaze attacks, at one point taking out eight aircraft for the loss of only one of their own.

Post-World War Two, the Seafire was upgraded to the Mk47, and served in the Korean War, helping to blunt North Korean offenses in the skies and on the ground, with only two lost, one to friendly fire, and the other when the grappling hook failed to extend. Unfortunately, by the end of it, all but 3 of the Seafires in the 800 squadron were declared unservicable.

The Canadians and the French also used Seafires, the latter on the Arromanches (formerly HMS Colossus), which fought against the Viet Minh in the First Indochina War, before being withdrawn in 1949.

The Irish used the Seafire as well, but they didn't really seem to do anything much with them.

Ultimately, the Seafire, while in some ways a strong aircraft, was also a fragile thing, however, by all accounts it served magnificently. Then again, when you come from the same stock as the Supermarine Spitfire, how could you not?

Sources used:
Supermarine Seafire: Wikipedia
Fleet Air Arm Archive: Supermarine Seafire
Supermarine Seafire: Classic Warbirds
Supermarine Spitfire variants: specifications, performance and armament: Wikipedia

Vehicle 2 – T-35 multi-turreted heavy tank

Vehicle 2 – T-35 multi-turreted heavy tank

“If the tanks succeed, then victory follows.” - Heinz Guderian, German general, author of Achtung – Panzer!

Nationality: Soviet Union (Russia)
Year of Production: 1933 to 1938
Number built: 61
Weight: 45 tons
Length: 9.72 m
Width: 3.20 m
Height: 3.43 m
Crew: 11
Engine: 1x Mikulin M-17M petrol engine, developing 500 hp, for a speed of 30 kph.
Armament: 1x 76.2 mm gun, 2x 45 mm guns, 5 to 6 7.62 mm machine guns

Background: After World War 1, many things had changed. A wide variety of these strange new, almost alien, weapons, called tanks were becoming more and more popular. Crushing wire, preventing infantry from being shot, causing enemy troops to run from these invulnerable new weapons, that spat death and ignored bullets.

Tsarist Russia, under Tsar Nicholas II, had fallen during 1917, with the Bolsheviks having taken over, after fighting against the White Russia movement, and becoming the Soviet Union in 1922, under Lenin.

Stalin took over in 1924, after a power struggle, and Russia began to advance (ish), under the First Five Year-Plan and Second Five-Year Plan, and started to develop new weapons, like this cute little toy.

This weapon was developed by the OKMO design bureau of the Bolshevik Factory, as two teams began to work on two different designs of multi-turreted tank, the other tank being the TG-5, which weighed in at 100 tons and had a 107 mm naval gun, which was soon cancelled. In July 1932, a 35 ton prototype was rolled out with a 76.2 mm gun and was given four smaller turrets, for 37 mm guns, and machine guns.

It was too complex and expensive for mass production, so a simpler prototype was built, with a new engine, gearbox and new turrets, as used on the T-28, which had 3 turrets. Production began in 1933 at a locomotive factory, and two batches of ten vehicles were built, with 35 being built by 1938, with some examples reported to have flamethrowers instead of one of the 45 mm guns. Probably to try to set fire to snow or something.

Anyway, the final batch was six more T-35s, putting the total at 61, since it was fairly expensive.

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

“Tanks come in two forms: the dangerous, deadly kind and the 'liberating' kind.” - Robert Fisk, journalist.

This tank immediately showed how it could crush and annihilate it's enemies by serving in parades in Moscow until 1940. Oh yes.

After Operation Barbarossa, the decision was made to use the T-35 in combat, instead of repurposing them as heavy artillery, of which 90% were lost due to mechanical problems or by being abandoned and blown up.

The last recorded action of the T-35 was during the Battle of Moscow, although I have not been able to find how it fared.

Some sources state that it did not fight in Talvisota, the Winter War, against Finland, instead, the tank was a SMK prototype, which was disabled by a landmine, and was believed to be another variant of the T-35, but other sources say that it did see action there, so yeah.

Despite the lackluster combat record and the fact that if you cut out some of the turrets, you could put more normal tanks on the battlefield, you have to admit that they look impressive, and that the idea of machine guns blazing as cannons roar from a single tank would look magnificent on TV.

For a reason to be afraid of it, the SU-7 tank, not to be confused with the SU-7 jet fighter, was planned to have a 254 mm gun, a 305 mm howitzer and a 400 mm mortar while clocking in at over 106 tons.

And finally, the T-35 tank has it's own Facebook page, but only 4 people like it so far. Pity.

Sources used:
Wikipedia: T-35
Soviet Empire.com: The Soviet T-35 tank
Heavy Soviet Tanks - Tank Museum
WWII Vehicles - Soviet Union's T-35 Heavy Tanks

Concept 2: Design A-150 'Super Yamato'

Concept 2: Design A-150 'Super Yamato'

“If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a “peace conference”, you can be sure his government has already placed it's orders for new battleships and airplanes” - Joseph Stalin

Nationality: Japanese
Year of Concept: 1938, design near complete in 1941
Number built: 0, 2 planned.
Weight: 70,000 tons, approximately
Length: 263 metres
Beam: 39 metres
Speed: 30 knots (55.5kph)
Complement: Unknown. Yamato had approx 2760 crew.
Armament: 6x 510 mm (45 calibre guns), lots of 100 mm (65 calibre) guns

Background: Ah, battleships. The obsolete, but still remembered, queens of the sea. Having been around in some form since the late 1800s, to provide naval superiority to any fleet, they started to fade out in use after World War 2, after, well, aircraft and missiles started to be developed and improved on.

Now, of course, their role has been taken over by aircraft carriers, but that doesn't mean we can't take a look at what would have been a true wonder produced by Imperial Japan... two years after World War 2 ended. Must take a bit of time to bang those things together.

The battleship came about as the Age of Sail ended, because a metal ship with a flimsy little sail on the top looks ridiculous, and because the ironclad looked cooler. As any Civilization player knows, the step up from wood to iron to steel is an amazing one to undergo, and it was the same in the real world, with many innovations coming into play, from explosive and incendiary shells, to the French navy's Redoutable, which was the first battleship to use steel as it's main material.

Then there was the Dreadnaught era, named after the HMS Dreadnaught, and the two world wars.

But eh, if I wanted to ramble on, I'd fill this article full of battleship pictures and fawn over them like some sort of schoolgirl.

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

“The more evil the regime, the more ludicrous the planned and designed weapons and equipment.” - Myself. Although I can replace it with an actual quote if needs be.

Now, of course, everyone knows the Battleship Yamato, despite it's lack of actually being used in anger, only firing at American forces during Leyte Gulf in 1944, and at American forces again at Kyushu while en route to Okinawa where she was sunk during Operation Ten-Go while on a suicide mission that involved beaching herself and her escort ships, and blowing anything that moved to hell.

However, she had magnificently large cannons, the largest guns fitted on a warship, of which I'll avoid using that term again, since it makes me feel like I'm talking about a woman with ample assets. She was bristling with lots of shot and shell, along with her sister ship, Musashi, which would have made taking one on in head to head combat interesting to say the least, since she could throw a 1.36 ton shell over 40 kilometres.

The Japanese wished to top this, by countering the American's reply to the Yamatos with the Super Yamato, which was planned to hurl a 2 ton shell with her main armament, and a bunch of smaller shells with her secondary 100mm anti-aircraft guns, with armour so vast that Japan would not have been able to make it in single plates.

Unfortunately, in 1941, the design work went from battleships to alternate ships, like aircraft carriers, cruisers, etc, and the two Super Yamatos were never rolled out, nor were the other two Yamato class ships. The third Yamato-class, Shinano, was converted to an aircraft carrier during construction, and became the dubious honour of being the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine, 10 days after she was commissioned.

Imperial Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces on the battleship USS Missouri, after the atomic bombings, after which, the navy set fire to almost everything Yamato related, which is a shame.

In a sense, the end of the war was an end to the battleship class as well, and the name Yamato faded from memory.

If you exclude the anime, the diesel engine manufacturer, the transport company, the the toy manufacturer, the... let's just say that the name hasn't really faded from use.

There may not be many, or any, battleships serving today, but that doesn't mean that the very idea of a huge ship, crewed by thousands, blasting everything from the air, the water, and the land, isn't a majestic one, unless you're the ones being blasted.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Yamato-class battleship
Wikipedia: Design A-150 battleship
Wikipedia: Dreadnaught
Wikipedia: Battleship
Wikipedia: 40 cm (45 Type 94 naval gun)
Wikipedia: Japanese battleship Yamato
Wikipedia: Japanese battleship Musashi
Wikipedia: Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano
Wikipedia: Operation Ten-Go

Concept 1: Tesla's Teleforce

Prototype 1: Tesla's Teleforce

“He has perfected a method and apparatus, Dr Tesla said yesterday in an interview at the Hotel New Yorker, which will send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes, at a distance of 250 miles from a defending nation's border and will cause armies of millions to drop dead in their tracks.” - New York Times, July 11, 1934.

Nationality: American
Year of concept: Mentioned in 1934 to American media.
Produced: No.

Weapon: Charged particle beams, firing at approx. 48 times speed of sound (16,333.92 metres per second).
Range: 321 to 402 km (200 to 250 miles)
Engine: Fixed position, unable to move.
Power: Requires own dedicated power plant, estimated to be large.

Background: Dr Tesla, or, Nikola Tesla, was born in 1856, in modern day Croatia, he emigrated to America a fair few years later, and had some dealings, and competition with a little known man called Thomas Edison and invented a wide variety of things, 700 or so, like alternating current, which is what most countries of the world use today.

Now, there currently wasn't any world wars going on at the moment, not even the Spanish Civil War, which was 2 years away, but one suspects that some countries were rearming, which is why this little beauty was proposed, on his 78th birthday, to the American media.

Now to actually explain a bit more about the Teleforce, which is most definitely not a death ray. At all. The good Dr Tesla said so, to quote: “I want to state explicitly that this invention of mine does not contemplate the use of any so-called "death rays." Rays being absolutely useless apart from cooking bacon using all the power in New York City.

He tried to sell England on it, and the US, and Russia was interested (to defend their border against the Japanese), but countries either refused or it never got built, which is kinda obvious, given the lack of huge giant death particle cannons currently standing guard on the coast lines, or the power shortages when it fires, if the country doesn't build the power plant for it.

It required 60,000,000 volts to fire, also. That's a fair few lightbulbs.

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

“An exception, however, he added, must be made in the case of battleships, which, he said, would be able to equip themselves with smaller plants for generating the death-beam, with enough power to destroy any airplane approaching for attack from the air.” - New York Times, July 11, 1934, again.

You... need me to explain that? Really? Alrighty.

This is a four hundred kilometre ranged death particle beam gun. Dear lord, that's... scary. For an estimate of it's range, we'll say that one is set up in London, it could hit Paris, 340 kilometres away. And it could rip apart an army that was approximately 62 kilometres further from Paris. This is the Paris Gun.

That is a nasty weapon. Darth Vader should have used the sucker on his Deathstar.

Tesla believed it would be a peace gun, since every country having it's own 400 km ranged superweapon would be kinda scary. Go and get a map, and check. There's probably some large city within any area you pick, unless it's Australia. Now, go imagine a gun that makes the speed of sound it's slave (stronger word can be substituted),, reaching 400 kilometres away in about... 25 seconds.

Oh, and it could have been constructed in a few months by his estimates.

At the moment, the US navy is experimenting with lasers. Which, presumably, could be fitted on a ship, and fired at aircraft. Only decades, generations, since Tesla's proposal, and may not be able to quite match the specifications of Teleforce, which penetrated 2 metres of armour with a third of the full charge.

Now, 6 metres (19 feet) of anything is a lot to get through.
Go imagine swift, invisible death coming towards you and a million others in under half a minute, if someone accidentally hit the fire button.

On the plus side, after you die, you'd get great television, since it could be used to broadcast TV signals. So that's reassuring.

Nikola Tesla died in a hotel room at the age of 86. an eccentric genius, or a mad scientist.

No picture of it, sorry.

Sources used:
"Beam to Kill Army at 200 Miles, Tesla's Claim On 78th Birthday:" New York Herald Tribune
Nikola Tesla: Wikipedia
Teleforce: Wikipedia
Own personal knowledge, which was even less of a help this time.