Fortship

The term fortship describes a large warship designed to replicate many of the roles of a fort. The concept of a fortship was first mooted in the mid 19th Century as the development of high quality steels allowed the development of larger vessels. The first fortships were gunned in a similar manner to battleships, but with much larger stores capacity so as to support other vessels. Vessels were typically equipped with a combination of a number of large 12-in guns and a much larger number of secondary weapons, generally between 6-in and 11-in in calibre. Early vessels were fitted with a rig with up to six masts, but this was soon removed. Stays and guys proved to be a disadvantge in battle as they interfered with fire for the guns, and the whole rig was in danger of falling on the guns if damaged.

The development of destroyers led to many fortships being used to provide destroyer support, which increased the popularity of the type greatly. Fortships of the beginning of the 20th Century grew in size, with some having twenty main turrets. With the development of the Dreadnought, the armour and weaponery used by fortships was greatly increased, but the basic role remained much the same.

However, by the mid 20th Century, fortships were generally looking very old fashioned. The combination of the replacement of gun with aircraft and missile, the widespread use of nuclear power and the increased use of dedicated support vessels and Battle Islands led to nations retiring almost all the fortships.

The revival of Super-Dreadnoughts at the end of the 20th Century has led to some reawakening of the idea of fortship-like vessels. However, no navy has yet launched such a vessel.