How It Works-Amazing Vehicles

I

f you thought that the golden age of naval

combat came to an end 200 years ago, then

clearly somebody forgot to tell the national

navies of today. In fact, a wave of state-of-the-

art, armed-to-the-teeth battleships are

currently emerging from shipbuilding yards

with a singular aim in mind: total domination

of the seas.

From the brand-new and brutal Ty pe 45

destroyers being pushed out of British

dock yards, through to the almost sci-fi

Zumwalt-class battleships emerging in the

USA, and on to the cruising carrier vessels

sitting like small islands in Earth’s oceans,

battleships are being produced en masse and to

a more advanced spec than ever before.

Far from the basic heav y weights of bygone

centuries, required simply to go toe-to-toe with

each other in a deadly game of broadsides,

today’s warships need to take down a variet y of

threats, whether at sea, on land or in the air,

and they need to do so at extreme range. As

such, step onto a battleship today – be it a

frigate, destroyer or cor vette – and you’ll fi nd an

arsenal of insane weapons systems.

There are cannons that can fi re over

distances of 95 kilometres (60 miles) and deliver

a guided smart munition to a target with

pinpoint accuracy, as well as Gatling guns that

can automatically track a target mov ing at

hundreds of miles per hour and then fi re

explosive bullets at up to 1,100 metres (3,610 feet)

per second to take it dow n.

Missile launch systems not only increase the

vessel’s stealth but are capable of launching a

wide variet y of cit y block-levelling missiles

directly into the heart of enemy encampments

in minutes from a safe distance, while naval

guns are capable of subjecting a target to

continuous bombardment with high-explosive

shells with controlled abandon. All this is but a

taste of the weaponr y being fi tted to the most

advanced 21st-century warships.

The heav y armament of vessels currently

knows no bounds, with even coastguard fl eets,

convoy vehicles and civilian support ships

being outfi tted with some form of military-

grade offensive weaponr y. Clearly, controlling

the world’s waters is not as old-fashioned as the

history books would have us believe. In this

feature we take a look at the various t y pes of

battleship taking to the seas and the weapon

systems that are revolutionising not just naval

combat but warfare in general.

The fi repower on the latest battleships is mind-boggling. We

explore the technology transforming 21st-century naval warfare

The British Type 45 has

a displacement of 8,000

tons and can carry a

crew of around 190

MILITARY