Changes

The only major encounter between British and German battleships took place during the [[Battle of Jutland]] on May 31, 1916, when 99 Germans fought against 151 British warships.  Other notable missions of large combat ships occurred in the sea battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914 and in the Battle of Moon Sound in 1917.  It was also noteworthy that battleships were used as gunfire support during the battles of the Dardanelles.  However, it was shown that the battleships were not the decisive weapons they were meant to be; rather, there was a reluctance to use them at all, Jutland not withstanding. The German deep-sea fleet spent most of their time during the war in their bases as a fleet-in-being, while the British fleet on the other side of the North Sea waited in vain for a thrust of the German navy. It did not, however, undertake a separate advance in the direction of the German coasts. The British blockade of Germany, the German submarine war and the use of mines were of much greater influence on the course of the war. In the armistice of 1918, the most modern ships of the German deep sea fleet, including eleven battleships and five battle cruisers, were handed over to the victorious powers for internment at the British naval base at Scapa Flow; these ships in turn were deliberately scuttled by their own crews in 1919.

The only major encounter between British and German battleships took place during the [[Battle of Jutland]] on May 31, 1916, when 99 Germans fought against 151 British warships.  Other notable missions of large combat ships occurred in the sea battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914 and in the Battle of Moon Sound in 1917.  It was also noteworthy that battleships were used as gunfire support during the battles of the Dardanelles.  However, it was shown that the battleships were not the decisive weapons they were meant to be; rather, there was a reluctance to use them at all, Jutland not withstanding. The German deep-sea fleet spent most of their time during the war in their bases as a fleet-in-being, while the British fleet on the other side of the North Sea waited in vain for a thrust of the German navy. It did not, however, undertake a separate advance in the direction of the German coasts. The British blockade of Germany, the German submarine war and the use of mines were of much greater influence on the course of the war. In the armistice of 1918, the most modern ships of the German deep sea fleet, including eleven battleships and five battle cruisers, were handed over to the victorious powers for internment at the British naval base at Scapa Flow; these ships in turn were deliberately scuttled by their own crews in 1919.

==Interwar==

==Interwar period==

At the [[Washington Naval Conference]] in 1921, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States established a ten-year moratorium on the construction of battleships as well as a limitation on the building and sale of other types of vessels. The primary purpose of the conference was to restrict competition among the Great Powers in the production of large warships. The moratorium was successful but it was not renewed in 1931, and all the Great Powers began a new battleship race, this time with Germany participating too.  President [[Herbert Hoover]], a pacifist, would not allow naval construction as a means to fight the [[Great Depression]]. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] reversed course and used recovery money (from the [[PWA]]) to build 17 new battleships, and many other warships.<ref>William M. Mcbride, "The Unstable Dynamics of a Strategic Technology: Disarmament, Unemployment, and the Interwar Battleship." ''Technology & Culture'' 1997 38(2): 386-423</ref>

After the end of the First World War, the leading Great Powers attempted to prevent a new naval arms race, both in terms of the number of battleships and their size. The reason for this step was also the fact that Japan committed itself with the so-called "Eight-Eight" Program in June 1920, which stipulated the construction of eight battleships and eight heavy cruisers.  Oppositely, Great Britain had to cope with the economic and financial consequences of the war and its own massive naval armaments, while the United States mistrusted Japan's growth in the Pacific.  To this end, the Washington Naval Conference was launched in November 1921, which envisaged a 10-year agreement to limit battleship size and numbers; the maximum tonnage for a single ship was set at 35,000, with total tonnage was set at 525,000 tons each for the United States and Great Britain, and 315,000 tons for Japan.  In addition, the gun caliber was limited to a maximum of 15 inches.  All major naval powers also committed themselves to a drastic reduction in their existing tonnage of large combat ships. For example, Great Britain would have had to reduce its battleship tonnage from 1,296,450 tons to 525,000 tons by 1934.  What was not sent to the scrap yard was "auxiliaries", and in naval parlance auxiliaries included a new type of ship called an aircraft carrier; the U.S. Navy realized this and converted two of the ''Lexington''-class battlecruisers into carriers.

 

The subsequent conferences in London in 1930 and 1936 (in which Japan and Italy were no longer participating) did not produce any significant and binding results. According to the bilateral German-British naval treaty of 1935, which met the decisive resistance of France (Germany would have the same fleet size as France), a reinforced Italian naval armament, and the growing US opposition to Japanese ambitions in the Far East, would effectively end any further efforts at naval arms control from the mid-1930s onward.  Even isolationist America would leave the treaty behind; President [[Herbert Hoover]], a pacifist, would not allow naval construction as a means to fight the [[Great Depression]], but his successor President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] reversed course and used recovery money (from the [[PWA]]) to build 17 new battleships, and many other warships.<ref>William M. Mcbride, "The Unstable Dynamics of a Strategic Technology: Disarmament, Unemployment, and the Interwar Battleship." ''Technology & Culture'' 1997 38(2): 386-423</ref>

 

==World War II==

==World War II==

===Atlantic===

===Atlantic===