Dmitry Mironov Books

Nagato, named for Nagato Province, was a super-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1910s. The lead ship of her class, she carried supplies for the survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. The ship was modernized in 1934-36 with improvements to her armor and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. Nagato briefly participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and was the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto during the attack on Pearl Harbor. She covered the withdrawal of the attacking ships and did not participate in the attack itself.

The Battleship Fuso was laid down at Kure on 11 March 1912, launched on 28 March 1914, and joined the Navy on 8 November 1915. He was the second battleship bearing the name "Fuso" and he participated in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese war. The battleship Fuso was enrolled in the 1st division of the linear ships of the First fleet. Japan at this time was involved in the First World War, but the ship was tested and trained for combat in peacetime. The first long-range voyage of the new battleship was in Chinese waters in April 1917.

The story of one of the most famous combat vehicles of the 20th century, the German Panzerkampfwagen V "Panther" medium tank, would not have started without the confrontation of the Wehrmacht with the Soviet T-34. Following the alarming reports that began to be sent to Berlin from the fighting on the Eastern Front by Panzerwaffe units, the decision was made to build a completely new tank. It had to be capable of destroying almost any type of enemy armored vehicle. The Pz.Kpfw. V prototype, built by MAN, was ready at the end of 1942. Serial production started before the beginning of the following year, and it's quite unsuccessful combat debut took place in the summer of 1943 during the battle of Kursk.

The Type XXI U-boot was one of the few types of weapon that, despite being unable to take part in combat, completely changed the character of naval actions at sea. It was the first true submarine in history. The other types of vessels designed so far were basically "diving ships" that might have been underwater for some time, but most of the time they had to be on the surface because their underwater range was severely limited. Under water they were slow and not maneuverable, and often had to emerge onto the surface to charge their electric batteries. The Type XXI was designed from the outset as a true submarine whose natural environment was to be the deep seas.