Super-Battleships of World War I

Super-Battleships of World War I by Angus Konstam takes you back to a pivotal moment in naval history, when the victors of World War I were developing a formidable new generation of 'hyper-dreadnoughts' and battlecruisers. This book, fully illustrated, delves into the big-gun warships that were conceptualised but never realised.

In 1918, naval warfare was on the brink of significant transformation. Although Britain boasted the largest fleet globally, its ships lagged behind the latest innovations from American and Japanese battleships. The stage was set for an impending arms race between the victorious nations of the war.

Konstam, a naval expert, explores and contrasts the battleships designed during the period 1918 to 1922. These designs harnessed the learnings from World War I. Britain was on the drawing board with four G3-class 15-inch-gun battlecruisers, alongside four N3 'hyper-dreadnoughts' equipped with colossal 18-inch guns. Meanwhile, the US Navy planned six new South Dakota battleships, each carrying an astounding twelve 16-inch guns, in addition to six Lexington-class battlecruisers. Japan was also advancing similar projects, and by 1920, they commenced work on the first of four Amagi-class battlecruisers.

This costly arms race, however, was curtailed in 1922 by the Washington Naval Treaty, which halted new battleship construction and imposed limitations on the major naval fleets. Consequently, most of these battleships and battlecruisers were either cancelled or scrapped, though a few, such as Lexington and Akagi, were repurposed as aircraft carriers. With new colour reconstructions of the G3, H3, South Dakota, Lexington, and Amagi classes, this is the first book that extensively studies these unbuilt, colossal warships.