Canada will build 15 Global Combat Ships, a Canadian version of the British-designed Type 26 Frigate, to replace its aging fleet of frigates and destroyers. These, together with other types of vessels, constitute a multi-billion dollar rejuvenation of the Royal Canadian Navy. The Type 26 Frigate, fully loaded, displaces 8,000 tons and is a far more lethal fighting machine than the battleships of the previous century that, in one instance, was 10 times its displacement. There is more than one century of history behind the present international rush to launch new armed vessels into the oceans and seas of the world.
When Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States (1901-1909), one of his favourite adages was 鈥淪peak softly but carry a big stick.鈥� As assistant secretary of the Navy, he had been actively involved in increasing the size of the United States Navy. Part of his 鈥渂ig stick鈥� was the battleship USS Maine which blew up in Havana harbour in February of 1898. A Spanish mine was blamed for the explosion. (Researchers have since concluded that spontaneous combustion in a coal bunker ignited explosives.) The Spanish-American War lasted 13 days. Cuba became independent; Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam eventually became American Territories. For Spain, the dream of empire was over.
In the Age of Fighting Sail, battleships were called Ships of the Line, typically carrying from 74 to 100 heavy cannon on three decks. Lighter ships with lighter armament, which sailed with the fleet and often ranged ahead of it, were Frigates and Sloops of War. The Frigate, which carried from 32 to 40 lighter cannons was smaller, faster and more maneuverable than a battleship. The sloop was meant for inshore work and for carrying messages. A naval sloop might carry 20 cannon, which could fire a nine-pound ball, whereas cannonballs on a battleship typically weighed 32 pounds.
Early in the 19th Century, the navies of the world began to abandon wooden hulls and towering sails.聽 A battleship of the period was an armoured vessel propelled by coal-fired triple-expansion steam engine and armed with guns that fired explosive shells rather than cannonballs.
A significant development in naval warfare was the invention in 1866 of the Whitehead torpedo, propelled under water by a compressed air motor. Together with mines, it posed a threat to all types of surface ships. It was the major threat to HMS Dreadnaught, launched in 1906, the first all big gun battleship and the first to be driven by steam turbines. She displaced 18,410 tons and carried 10 turreted 12鈥� guns and her top speed was 21 knots. She was the most powerful battleship in the world.
Dreadnaught was threatened by mines and by small, steam-powered torpedo boats. This gave rise to the construction of Torpedo Boat Destroyers, a term, which survives only as Destroyer. Other maritime nations built their own all big gun battleships. They grew larger, faster and more heavily armed. There were notable ship-with-ship battles. They are in the history books.
The term Capital Ship was coined in 1909. It came to include both battleships and battle cruisers, as heavily armed, but more lightly armoured than battleships. When WWII began, the capital ships were battleships and battle cruisers. There were notable ship-with-ship engagements, but, increasingly, naval vessels were sunk by bombs and torpedoes from aircraft. The terminology of naval warfare was battleship, cruiser, destroyer, frigate and corvette and aircraft carrier.
In 2019, the capital ships are aircraft carriers and only a few maritime nations can afford them. The corvette is the Littoral Combat Ship, designed to operate in coastal waters. No modern vessels have open decks and weaponry is remotely controlled. The distinction between big destroyers and lighter frigates has become blurred.
All the information in this column is in the public domain, having been aggressively reported by both electronic and print media. Technology and terminology change. Maritime nations are still carrying big sticks to protect their own sovereign shores and extend their own spheres of influence. More than this, they are employed in fighting pirates, apprehending smugglers of contraband substances such as drugs and ivory. There is still a slave trade 鈥� white slavery 鈥� to prevent and refugees to rescue. In many ways, the work of the navy is to defend and interdict, as it was in the Age of Sail. If wisdom prevails among nations, naval power will never again be used to fight aggressive wars. The unknowable future is in the secret intentions of leaders who could misuse naval power in new acts of imperialism.
