by Ray Peters

Created on: November 30, 2009

Battleship - the very name conjures up images of mighty steel monsters brisling with guns, the queens of the sea and the symbol of a nation's naval might. Even today, decades after the strategic importance and even the concept of the battleship has become obsolete, and no nation still fields these magnificent vessels, the average person still understands what the term means.

But where did the modern battleship originate? The first ships which could properly be called "battleships" were the sail-driven warships known as Ships of the Line. These formidable vessels, often with over one hundred muzzle-loading guns arrayed on three or more gun decks were the strategic weapons of their day and dominated the naval battlefields of the Age of Fighting Sail.

The name "battleship", in fact, is thought to have been derived from these ships; through Ship of the Line to Line of Battle Ship, and finally shortened to Battleship. But the Ship of the Line, like all sailing warships, was eventually doomed by the advent of steam propulsion and metal hulls after the turn of the 19th Century.

Many hold that the modern battleship originated with the ironclads; such as those which came to dominate the navies of both the United States and the Confederacy during the Civil War. And while these vessels did contribute to the advancement of naval technology with their armored iron hulls, steam propulsion, and in the case of Union ships; the turreted main gun, they were actually a limited technology totally unsuited for the ocean environment.

It was the ironclads advantages, when coupled with the speed and range of the armored cruiser - built first of iron, and later steel - that produced what for many years was the ultimate warship. By the beginning of the 20th Century, these vessels had evolved into a standardized design that was remarkably consistent with all the naval powers of the time.

The standard battleship of this period was an armored vessel displacing around 15,000 tons with a speed of between 15-18 knots provided in most cases by two or three massive triple expansion steam engines. They were almost universally armed with four 12" (305mm) guns in two twin turrets located fore and aft - with Germany being the only major exception by arming their ships with 11" (279mm) guns. These ships were also armed with a secondary battery of 6" (152mm) guns - although calibers ranging from 4" (102mm) to 9.2 (234mm) were used.

Toward the end of this period some nations built battleships with

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