For sometime, I've been wondering why did those British pre-dreadnought battleships sunk like stones? Was their underwater protection too weak or did they just see much more action than Grand Fleet? After all, about quarter of British PD's were sunk by enemy action (mines and torpedoes) while only 1 of 35 Dreadnought battleships were sunk by enemy action.
I think it was mostly a case that they tended to be put in harms way a lot more. Also they were generally significantly smaller than dreadnoughtd so they would have less bulk to soak up the hits. Finally I believe underwater protection only really started to appear on the scene with the dreadnoughts.
IIRC most of our Dreadnaught-types were kept hanging about as a deterrant to the German fleet, while the PD's were sent in to protect convoys, bombard shorelines, etc etc. (I assume you are talking WW1 here?)
Well, name all British PD battleships fighting WW2 And thank to your answers, both, they just strenghtens my assumptions. Edit: both -> all
I think the Americans had a Pre Dred kicking around into the fifties. It was used as a floating crane.
I believe you are referring at the only US battleship which was not named after a state. And there was also two other US PD battleships around during WW2, BB-3 and BB-7.
Someone could also mention BB 23 and BB 24. The only truly active predreads in WWII were the German pair.
BB-23 was the USS Mississippi. sold to greece and renamed the Lemnos, sunk by greman air april 1941 BB-24 was the USS Idaho. also sold to greece and also sunk by german air april 1941 both had 4- 12" 8-8" 8-7" main guns built 1903 to 1908 sold to greece 1914 for use as coast defence ships sunk in the salamis harbor 1941 scrapped after the war
