WW2 Cruisers and Battleships

This site is my small tribute to the men of all navies who served on ships in WW2. Never forget what they did!

So now you are here, what is there to see? What makes this site different is the war at sea is told by those who were there. Personal stories explain what is was like to be on a ship during World War 2.

A question for ship modellers; I am considering adding a gallery for modellers to add pictures of the ships they have built, and for visitors to the site to view and comment. Is this a good idea - please let me know via my email address in the Admin menu above.

Indianapolis, great photo Rate this photo

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Site Statistics
Photos - 1,936
Pages - 415
Page Votes - 4,272
Pages yesterday - 1,329
Pages viewed today - 1,282
Most pages viewed - 4,550
Photo Votes - 847,431
Last ship vote - Fury; OK
Most votes in a day - 2,100
Votes today - 179
Users Online - 32
Votes yesterday - 281
Votes per day - 249.69
Most Users per hour - 129
Most Today - 40

There is a lot of information about WW2 here, spread over 415 pages - so we have worked hard to make it easy to find what you want.

There are a number of ways of looking around :

use the drop down menu from the buttons above to get an idea of the information available
to read about experiences of World War 2 at sea follow the Stories menu
many of the photos link directly to a relevant information page
to find one of the 1,936 photos, use the Image search - and you can vote to decide which are the best
you can also vote for the best pages on the site
to see the photos with the highest votes go to Best Pics or Best Pic Gallery under Info
to have the Site Statistics on your desktop or Android device see Rainmeter skin under the Admin menu
to see recently added photos go to New Pics under Info
to see the pages with the highest votes go to Best Pages under Info
if there are pages with further information to the current page, there will be a 'Related' menu item containing links
information on each cruiser and battleship in WW2 is under the RN Ships, US Ships and Ships menus, every ship has photos, statistics and a war record
there is a regular competition to identify a mystery warship, see Unknown ship under Info
to see all the pictures use Photo Gallery under Info
a few pics in large format can be found under Info
to find out the location of a RN ship during World War 2 see Fleet Locator under Info
there is a growing video archive from the Info menu
Whats New and the FAQ are under the Admin menu, or you can right-click on any page
you can support the site by buying a book - see the Admin menu
to find out what other people are looking at see Popular pages from Info
or you can tour around part of the site from Todays Pages
Todays Pics under Info has random photos from the archive
You can use the IE8 Web Slice capability to keep in touch with the voting for your favourite pictures - More info here.
there is a growing portfolio of very detailed drawings showing how each cruiser evolved through its lifetime. Examples are shown above and below. They are very detailed and the result of immense research by Eric Leon and 'Nimitz', together with many helpers around the world. They are unique and only available on this site. We have started with the Kent class, the Southampton class is next up. Please see the Art menu.
to find all the information on a particular ship, action, or subject - use the Site search - every word on the 415 pages is indexed
to research a ship lost during WW1 or WW2, use the Ships Sunk search - information on 13,000 ships, Cruisers, Carriers, Battleships, Submarines, MTBs, Tanker, Cargo, Passenger etc, etc and for warships there will be a map to find out where it was sunk
to research a battle follow the Actions menu - D-Day, Savo Island, the Battle of the River Plate, Guadalcanal, Crete, Pedestal, Bismarck, Scharnhorst, and so on, are all there

The Guestbook is on the Admin menu. If you have a question please email me - my address can be found in the Admin dropdown menu above, or right-click, but check the FAQ page first.

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The following letters very nicely sum up what the site is about

I just read your article, my Dad, Leslie Bowes, was on HMS Arethusa for 7 years, 39-46, he never talked much about what happened on it, in fact as a kid I used to tease him about the ship having such a goofy name. He died some years ago, in fact one of the the few things I still have of my Dads are his war medals. It really hits home just what those men went through and the sacrifices they made.
Thank you
David Bowes
Thank you for the cruiser and battleship sites for WW2. My father served in Revenge and finding info on your site that totally relates to the stories he told us is amazing. Seeing other people's enquires too, is amazing as it confirms the pain and emotional conflict that so many veterans were left with, leaving us, as near relatives, unable to understand why so many would not speak or could not settle adequately back to civilian life.
Again thanks for all your hard work
Ian Size
This is a wonderful site. My father Charles Watters was a survivor of the Gloucester and died in 1981. It brought tears to my eyes viewing the photos and reading the stories of what he endured. If anyone knows of him please contact me at this site.
Thank you S Montgomery Canada

Please let me know if you, or someone you know, has memories or ship photos you would like to publish. I very much appreciate all the photos, suggestions, corrections and contributions sent to me, keep them coming. Much of the site is made up of your contributions. One request - if possible please send them as ZIP files. If you are interested in writing up a particular theme, ship or action for publication on the site, please let me know.
NOTE TO OTHER WEBMASTERS: please do NOT copy any part of this site for use in any other site! I and many others put time and effort into research, typing and design. Do your own work rather than copy mine.