Portal:Battleships

The Minas Geraes class, spelled Minas Gerais in some sources, consisted of two battleships built for the Brazilian Navy by the British company Armstrong Whitworth. In 1904, Brazil began a major naval building program that included three 11,800-long-ton (12,000 tonne) small battleships. Designing and ordering the ships took two years, but these plans were scrapped after the revolutionary dreadnought concept rendered the Brazilian design totally obsolete. Two of these dreadnoughts were ordered instead, making Brazil became the third country to have ships of this type under construction, before traditional powers like Germany, France or Russia. As such, the ships caused quite a stir among the major countries in the world, many of whom incorrectly speculated the ships were actually destined for a rival nation. Soon after their delivery in 1910, both Minas Geraes and São Paulo were embroiled in the Revolt of the Lash, in which the crews of four Brazilian ships demanded the abolition of corporal punishment in the navy. The ships surrendered four days after it began, when a bill was passed granting amnesty to all involved. In the 1920s and 30s, they participated in multiple revolts. Minas Geraes was modernized in the 1930s, but both battleships were too old to actively participate in the Second World War, and instead were employed as harbor defense ships in Salvador and Recife. São Paulo was sold in 1951 to a British shipbreaker, but was lost in a storm north of the Azores while being towed to her final destination. Minas Geraes was sold to an Italian scrapper in 1953 and towed to Genoa the following year.

Konteradmiral Erich Bey (23 March 1898 – 26 December 1943) was a German naval officer who most notably served as a commander of the Kriegsmarine's destroyer forces and died during the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst at the Battle of North Cape. Joining the Kaiserliche Marine on 13 June, 1916, he served on destroyers and earned the Iron Cross during World War I, and continued through the transformation into the Reichsmarine and Kriegsmarine. As a commander at the outbreak of World War II, he commanded the 4th Destroyer Flotilla under Friedrich Bonte, and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during the Battles of Narvik. Promoted, he succeeded Bonte (who had been killed in the battle), and successfully screened for Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen during the Channel Dash.

Promoted to rear admiral on 25 December 1943, Bey led a task force, consisting of Scharnhorst and the destroyers Z29, Z30, Z33, Z34, and Z38 out of Alta Fjord in Operation Ostfront. Intending to intercept the Allied Convoy JW-55B en route to Murmansk, he encountered a superior Royal Navy force led by HMS Duke of York (17). In the ensuing battle, Scharnhorst was sunk with only 36 of 1,968 of her crew rescued. His British counterpart, Admiral Bruce Fraser, later told his officers, "I hope that if any of you are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today".

The "Baker" explosion, part of Operation Crossroads, was a nuclear weapon test by the United States military at Bikini Atoll on 25 July 1946. 95 target vessels were positioned in various places within the two blast zones, including four battleships. USS Arkansas (the large black spot at the base of the pillar) survived the Able blast with little damage, but was devastated by Baker and capsized. USS Nevada was the target for Able, but a 1,700 yards (1,600 m) miss allowed her to survive, be exposed at Baker, used as a decontamination testbed, and sunk as a gunnery practice target two years later, a fate also shared by USS New York. The Japanese battleship Nagato was spared significant damage at Able, but the underwater explosion at Baker damaged her enough to capsize and sink five days later.

The "Baker" explosion, part of Operation Crossroads, was a nuclear weapon test by the United States military at Bikini Atoll on 25 July 1946. 95 target vessels were positioned in various places within the two blast zones, including four battleships. USS Arkansas (the large black spot at the base of the pillar) survived the Able blast with little damage, but was devastated by Baker and capsized. USS Nevada was the target for Able, but a 1,700 yards (1,600 m) miss allowed her to survive, be exposed at Baker, used as a decontamination testbed, and sunk as a gunnery practice target two years later, a fate also shared by USS New York. The Japanese battleship Nagato was spared significant damage at Able, but the underwater explosion at Baker damaged her enough to capsize and sink five days later.

• ... that an attempted British-Norwegian attack on the German battleship Tirpitz was abandoned after two Chariot manned torpedoes were lost due to bad weather?

• WikiProject Military history

• Maritime warfare task force
• Operation Majestic Titan

• WikiProject Ships