Battleships in World War II

Battleships In World War II

The Second World War saw the end of the battleship as the dominant force in the world's navies. On the outbreak of the War, large fleets of battleships—many inherited from the dreadnought era decades before—were one of the decisive forces in naval thinking. By the end of the War, battleship construction was all but halted, and almost every existing battleship was scrapped within a few years of its end.

The battleship's obsolescence occurred because the offensive power of the aircraft carrier reached maturity during the War. In 1939 the relative status of battleship and carrier were controversial. While some naval planners and commanders saw the carrier as the capital ship of the future, it was still possible to plan for a naval war to be dominated by the battleship. By the end of World War II, this was impossible. Battleships remained the most heavily protected ships afloat. However, in spite of their massive protection schemes, 16 were sunk or crippled by bombs or torpedoes delivered by aircraft. To make matters worse, the war had seen the development of the first guided bombs, which would make it much easier for aircraft to sink battleships in the future.