Battleship

This article deals with Battleship as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject.

A Battleship is a powerful, heavily armored naval vessel primarily armed with high caliber guns; in NationStates, this includes in practical terms large surface combatants that mount alternatives to the old-fashioned naval guns. See also Dreadnought and Ridiculously Huge Superbattleships.

Examples of NS battleship-sized ships are the Ondeugd-class Battleship and the Joanna Von Sachshausen-class Battleship.

The first chapter of the history below deals with the Real Life history of the battleship. This history may not be recognised by all players as some nations may have developed battleship-like vessels in alternative ways. The second chapter deals with the differences between RL and NS when it comes to battleships.

Understanding the History

Early History

The term Battleship was coined in the Age of Sail to refer to the most powerful ships in the fleet, the "Ships of the Line (of battle)" or Line of Battle Ships which could expect to see combat. In early form, they were used in a line of battle, in which the fleet formations would form broadside lines to levy firepower on the opponent, much like a conventional musket line. By the dawn of the Steam Age, the Battleships would mount up to 144 guns on four decks - though 74 guns on three decks was the most common - designed to fire en masse. The Royal Navy, in particular, was dominant on the high seas from 1588 until the end of the era, often sending fleets of dozens of such ships to areas from the West Indies to the East Indies.