Can you believe it? Now riding a three-jumper with relatively high power may run faster than a warship in the sea.
This is really not nonsense, some military fans have long compared modern warships with ships in World War II and even World War I. Among them, the biggest speed difference is actually the destroyer.
(Nanchang ship, a Type 005 destroyer)
Many destroyers of the Second World War era are much faster than the destroyers of the major powers today. From the point of view of technological progress, people will inevitably wonder, I don't know how much higher the technology is now than it was a few decades ago, so why has the speed of destroyers been reduced?
The reason behind this has to be slowly sorted out.
Let's start with the estimated speed of destroyers of modern countries
In June 2023, the U.S. Navy received a brand new destroyer, the USS Carl Levin. After the destroyer was launched, it was already sent to Hawaii for service.
(The Carl Levin destroyer launched by the United States is a Burke-class destroyer)
Judging from the public data, the Carllevin destroyer belongs to the Burke-class destroyer, the length of the whole ship is about 152 meters, and the speed per hour is the speed, and the published data shows that it is more than 30 knots, which is converted into a speed on land, that is, about 56 kilometers per hour.
The rest of the characteristics of the destroyer will not be explained much, the main concern is its speed. Because military secrets are involved, the various parameters of the destroyer are certainly not the most accurate.
This is not only true for foreign weapon systems, but also for a large number of parameters that are fuzzy when new types of weapons are announced in China. Some of them involve core secrets, and they will not even be made public.
In this way, the speed of the Carllevin destroyer said to be more than 30 knots may be an approximate range, and even this parameter is not necessarily accurate.
It seems that this can't be compared, but in fact, it can still be compared. Because the parameters of other countries, whether accurate or not, also give a range of values.
For example, the 055 destroyer launched by the mainland a few years ago, the relevant parameters have also been announced. And the same speed, like the data released by the new US ship, is also over 30 knots.
Therefore, from the perspective of horizontal comparison, even if the outside world cannot get the real parameters, the parameters published by various countries form an approximate numerical range. To put it simply, although there is no accurate data to be disclosed, the published values must be based on accurate values.
In this way, the open parameters known to the outside world are the regular speed range of modern destroyers. The speed of modern destroyers, including other types of destroyers, is in this range.
Knowing the regular speed of modern destroyers, let's take a look at how fast destroyers were during World War II.
Were destroyers from World War II really fast
World War II was a period of vigorous development of destroyers, especially the destroyers of various major powers, during which they all experienced the baptism of war. Let's start with the German Z-class destroyers.
From 1934 to 1939, the Germans developed a total of 3 major types of destroyers. The Germans built a total of 4 ships of the type developed in 1934.
Although the defeat in World War I and the Treaty of Versailles continued, the Germans were not prepared to see the construction of a new type of destroyer as a restriction.
Therefore, when designing and building, the size, weight and even speed of the destroyer were raised to the upper limit. The Germans wanted to use the British ships as the standard, but the technical skills were not up to par, resulting in the destroyer being built with only half the endurance of the British equivalent destroyer.
However, in terms of speed, the three models Z-1, Z-2, and Z-3 in 1934 all had a maximum speed of about 38 knots, which was indeed fast among destroyers of the same period.
Later, the Germans developed an improved version of the original model, and during 1935, the Z5- to Z-16 series were introduced one after another. The speed of the new model has not changed much, maintaining between 37 and 38 knots.
From 1936, the Germans introduced completely new models. Six destroyers of this series were built, the speed of which dropped to between 36 and 37 knots compared to the 1934 model.
By 1938, the Germans again began to develop a new model of destroyer, which was designed for a maximum speed of 36 knots. Due to the official start of World War II, there was only one destroyer of this type when construction began in 1942, and it was not completed in the end.
Judging by the above-mentioned German Z-class destroyers before and after World War II, its speed was between 36 and 38 knots at that time. Compared with the current types of destroyers, the speed is indeed faster.
Having seen the destroyers of the Germans, let's take a look at the models built earlier by the British. Destroyers were originally born in England, and the first destroyer, HMS Havoc, was officially commissioned in 1893.
The world's first destroyer reached a speed of 27 knots, which is quite fast compared to those large-tonnage cruisers and even battleships.
In other words, the minimum speed of the destroyer designed and built later would not exceed 27 knots, and this speed became the lower limit of the maximum speed of the destroyer in later generations. Since then, as more and more destroyers have been launched, it has also been designed to be faster and faster.
Therefore, in this comparison, the speed of modern destroyers is indeed reduced compared to the models from the 19th century to World War II.
So what's the reason behind this? Is it really about technology?
The reason for the birth of the destroyer
First of all, it is clear that the low speed of modern destroyers has nothing to do with technology, but with the role of destroyers.
Moreover, although modern destroyers still use the old names of more than 100 years ago, in fact, except for the same name as "destroyer", modern warships are completely different from the past.
And to understand the difference behind this, it is necessary to look at the process of the birth of the destroyer, that is, why it was invented.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the warships of the Western powers, steel replaced wooden ships, and giant cannons completely eliminated cold weapons. Since the second half of the 19th century, the Western powers, led by the United Kingdom, have not only completely upgraded their warships compared to other countries, but also made such distinctions as battleships and cruisers.
Yes, there was no such thing as a destroyer in the beginning. Because the main weapon of warships at that time was giant guns, and the main mode of combat was to bombard each other, so all countries wanted to build warships bigger and thicker decks, so that its ability to withstand artillery fire would be stronger.
In the process of technological development, the British took the lead in "not talking about martial virtues" - they were all thinking about how to bombard each other, and I wanted to create a weapon that could attack at close range.
In this way, in the 70s of the 19th century, Britain was the first to introduce underwater attack weapons in the torpedo type. Instead of artillery, torpedoes approach the ship from under the water and then attack, which is more lethal than shelling.
In order to deliver torpedoes, the British were the first to create torpedo boats. Not to mention the small size, the key is to run fast, just to attack such behemoths as battleships and cruisers.
For a time, other powers followed suit, and all built all kinds of torpedo boats with high speeds, which greatly reduced their advantages over huge ships such as battleships.
So from the 90s of the 19th century, the British began to find ways to develop weapons against torpedo boats, and this is when the destroyer appeared on the scene.
In 1892, Yarrow was the first company to design a new type of ship. It was armed with both artillery and could fire torpedoes, and its name was torpedo boat destroyers, or simply destroyers. The following year, the destroyer USS Havoc was launched.
With the destroyer, the torpedo boat was hoisted and completely "expelled" from the sequence of naval battles. At the same time, the tonnage and firepower of the destroyers are growing.
By the time of World War I, in addition to the role of the destroyer in the fleet, its main target changed from torpedo boats to submarines.
Especially after the beginning of World War II, the German submarines cruised on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean like ghosts, attacking allied merchant ships anytime and anywhere, so the role of destroyers escorting and attacking submarines was even greater.
Judging from the birth and development mileage of the destroyer, it is different from the goal of battleships and cruisers, and it does not exist for naval battles in which troops are arranged and artillery fire bombards each other.
First against torpedo boats, and later against submarines, the role of destroyers is cover. Therefore, its performance requires that it must be fast and maneuverable more flexible than battleships and cruisers. As a result, the destroyers of the First and Second World Wars also had an overall speed of higher and higher speeds. Only by running fast can you drive and dodge the enemy.
With the end of World War II, and especially with the upgrading of weapons, naval ships have also ushered in great changes since the second half of the 20th century.
Modern destroyers are only "in name"
If the destroyers were barely retained, the "stupid big guys" such as battleships and cruisers were completely eliminated from the ranks of the Navy after the start of the missile era.
In the 50s of the 20th century, the Americans were the first to introduce missile destroyers. All of a sudden, countries discovered that the previous model of bombarding each other with giant ships was not working. The other side throws you a missile from a distance of tens or even hundreds of kilometers, and your own ship can't even dodge it.
In this way, battleships and cruisers, such as live target ships, were completely eliminated, and artillery ceased to be the main weapon of warships, replaced by missiles and torpedoes.
Beginning in the 70s of the 20th century, destroyers of various countries entered an era of great development. From fire control systems to radar systems to aircraft mounting, countries are eager to turn destroyers into an all-round attack system.
In this context, the characteristics of the destroyer, such as tonnage and speed, have undergone a series of changes. For example, during the Battle of the Falklands, several British destroyers were sunk by Argentine missiles.
After the war, the British upgraded the destroyer's radar system, while strengthening its armor and air defense firepower. In this way, compared with the flexible body shape during World War II, the destroyer has also begun to "get lucky in middle age" since then.
In contrast, it can be seen that the first destroyer was born with a displacement of only 200 tons. Around the time of World War I, the displacement of destroyers was increased from a few hundred tons to about 1,000 tons.
At the beginning of World War II, the displacement of destroyers was increased from 1,000 tons to about 4,000 tons. To this day, the Continental 055 destroyer, whose displacement exceeds 11,000 tons.
Today's destroyers do not need to move flexibly, and they can attack from multiple angles at sea, underwater, in the air, and on the ground. So in essence, although it is still called a destroyer, it is no longer actually doing the work of a destroyer in the past.
In this way, it makes no sense to compare the current destroyers with the destroyers of the past. After all, no matter how fast the destroyers of the World War II era ran, can they outrun the missiles launched by modern destroyers?
Similarly, modern ships of all types no longer dodge strikes by running, but by relying on the air defense systems they carry. Especially after being locked by a missile, no matter how fast it runs, it will not help, mainly depending on whether its own radar detection and air defense system can kill the incoming missile.
So in this case, a modern destroyer only needs to maintain a regular speed.
epilogue
Judging from the development history of the destroyer, in the past, it belonged to an auxiliary ship, mainly to help large ships break the siege. The upgrade of the weapon system has made a completely different modern destroyer.
It can operate independently or in conjunction with aircraft carriers in large battle groups. In terms of combat methods, whether it is attack or protection, it is completely different from the past.
Therefore, although the destroyer is still called more than 100 years ago, it is really time to change the name to a new one.
Resources:
"The U.S. Navy's New Burke-class Destroyer Joins the List" Reference News June 26, 2023
"Destroyer: The Road to the Rise of the "Main Force of Naval Warfare" People's Liberation Army Daily, April 28, 2023