HMS Rodney and HMS Nelson were the only battleships of the Nelson class. HMS Rodney was built at Birkenhead Shipyards. She was launched on 28 December 1922, took the sea on 17 December 1925 and was commissioned in November 1927, three months behind Nelson.
The USS Lexington (CV-2) was the second aircraft carrier of Lexington class built by the United States, but the first used operationally; in fact the first was the USS Langley, but as an aircraft carrier she served only as an experimental ship. The history of the USS Lexington was in fact it was designed in 1916 to be an atypical battle cruiser, as little armored, but with heavy cannons. Because of the Washington Treaty of 1922 about the reduction of naval armaments, she was reclassified and converted into an aircraft carrier, capable of carrying a flight of 85 aircraft.
The Japanese Fubuki class boasted twenty-four units and was the world's first modern and powerful destroyer class. Her lead ship was the Fubuki, previously named destroyer no. 35, who was a veteran of many battles in World War II in the Pacific Area. Fubuki class was part of a program intended to give the Imperial Japanese Navy a qualitative edge with the world's most modern ships.
Prince of Wales was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy. She was originally named King Edward VIII but upon the abdication of Edward VIII the ship was renamed even before she had been laid down. This occurred on New Year’s Day 1937 at Cammel Lairds at their Birkenhead shipyard, and hull took just over two years to build. She was launched on 4 May 1939 by the Princess Royal and she was fitting out when war was declared in September.
Z37 was a German destroyer built for the Kriegsmarine in Kiel during World War II. She was laid down on 2 January 1941, launched on 24 February 1941, commissioned on 16 July 1942 and became operational in December 1942, though while she was going from Kiel to Swinemünde to work up, she collided with a freighter and had to return to the repair yard.The post-World War I Reichsmarine continued to use the term “torpedo boat” for surface warships displacing less than 800 tonnes and carrying torpedoes as their primary armament, and it was not until the first true destroyers were under construction, from 1934 onwards, that the term Zerstörer (destroyer) came into vogue in Germany.At the outbreak of the Second World War, Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine had 21 destroyers in service, while another one was just being completed. These 22 vessels, including three classes (Type 34, 34A and 36) had all been built in the 1930s, making them modern vessels, as no destroyers remained in German hands following the close of the First World War. Including that final pre-war vessel, a further 19 were brought into service during the war and more were captured from opposing navies, included the Italian Navy (Regia Marina) after the Italian Armistice with the Allies in 1943.
Littorio was one of the three Italian Littorio class battleships operating during the Second World War, belonging to the Italian "Regia Marina". Littorio (Lictor), in ancient times, was the bearer of the Roman "fasces", which was adopted as the symbol of Italian Fascism.
S38b and S100 E-boats class were German fast attack craft (Schnellboot in German) built for the Kriegsmarine during World War Two. The E-boats (a British designation using the letter E for Enemy) were defined by many naval experts as the best carrying out of their category. Initially these units were called Unterseebot Zerstörer (Hunting Submarine) and Anti-Submmarine Motorboats or Armored Motorboats, as they had an important anti-submarine mission. Later the Kaiserliche Marine (imperial german navy) adopted the designation of Luftschiffmotorenboot (boat with an airship engine) or L-Boote and, therefore, from November 1917, the units became LM-Boote, with the same meaning, but their use, especially in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, was not particularly successful.
Musashi battleship was the second ship of the Yamato class of Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War. She and her sister, Yamato, were the heaviest and most powerful battleships ever constructed, displacing 72800 tons at full load and armed with nine 46 cm Type 94 main guns. Musashi was commissioned on August 1942 and assigned to the 1st Battleship Division. In early 1943 the ship was transferred to Truk, that was the Empire of Japan's main base in the South Pacific. During this year she sortied several times with the fleet searching for American forces, without success. In 1944 she was used to transfer forces and equipment between Japan and various occupied islands. In early 1944 she was damaged by an American submarine attack and was forced to return to Japan for repairs. In thiso ccasion she was strongly enhanced with antiaircraft armament. She was present during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June, but she didn't engage in combat with the American forces. On 24 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, after several hours of fighting, Musashi was sunk by a large number of torpedoes and bombs hit from the American carrier-based aircraft. The wreck was located in March 2015 by the team of Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, to a depth of about 1350 meters (4430 feet).
The Yamato Battleship was the lead ship of the Yamato class of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War. Named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province on the Kii peninsula, she was the first of four designed ships and was the heaviest, largest, and most powerful battleship ever built, displacing about 72000 tons at full load and armed with nine 46-cm Type 94 main guns. Yamato exceeded other country battleships not only by the displacement and the caliber of her guns, but also by the construction of her hull, armor protection, gunnery, and optics. The superiority of her optic equipment gave tremendous precision to her main gunfire. She was an incredible achievement for the Japanese naval engineering and shipbuilding industry by any international standard.