Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 39:43-42:53

Choosing exhibits for a museum of bad warship design

A deliberately unflattering museum lineup uses real ships and design studies to show how experiments, poor arrangements, and over-ambitious weapons can go wrong.

German DestroyersHMS FuriousNaval HistoryNormandie Class BattleshipsNurnberg Class CruisersWarship Design
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Question

Which carrier, dreadnought, cruiser, destroyer, and other vessel belong in a naval museum of bad design?

Short answer

The panel nominates Furious, the Normandie class, the Nurnberg cruisers, oversized-gun German destroyers, and a Soviet recoilless-gun experiment.

Notes

HMS Furious is chosen for the carrier exhibit because of its succession of conversions and the changes imposed on the ship. The French Normandie class receives the dreadnought nomination as a later design the panel considers worse than its predecessor. Dreadnought itself is proposed separately for its fire-control position and wing turrets, then spared because judging the first example against its successors seems unfair. The Nurnberg cruisers attract criticism for topweight, poor seakeeping, and their firing arrangement. German destroyers carrying guns considered too large for their hulls fill the destroyer slot. A Soviet destroyer experiment with recoilless guns receives an honourable mention, with its experimental status acknowledged.