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World at War Forum

Fear God and Dreadnaught: The Battleship in the 20th Century

The World at War Forum, in partnership with WPPL, presents monthly meetings about the world in conflict. This meeting (rescheduled from January) will be about the role of the battleship.

At the dawn of the twentieth century and for several decades afterwards, a nation measured its greatness, power and prestige based on its battleship fleet. In 1908, Teddy Roosevelt sent “The Great White Fleet” around the world. This was America’s answer to the navies of the old world and represented all of the new battleships built over the last decade. At the same time, the British and Germans were in an all-out naval arms race and not to be forgotten, the French and Italians were trying to keep up with each other, and not to be outdone, South American navies were also getting in the act. Last but not least, Japan had emerged as a great power with its defeat of the Russian Navy in 1905. Into all of this, Britain built a dramatically improved and revolutionary version of the battleship – HMS Dreadnaught, which was launched in 1906 less than a year after it was started. It made every battleship in the world, including TR’s ships, obsolete. It set off a frenzied race between Germany and Britain that helped start World War I. Battleships remained the final arbiters of naval strength until well into World War II.

Join the World at War Forum at 7pm on January 4 for a lively discussion of the history and impact of the battleship on the history of the twentieth century. Besides a presentation and discussion, you can get involved and captain your own battleship in a series of fast paced naval games that will ask the audience to take over their favorite battleship and fight it out with their nemesis. Other questions we will try and answer:

• Who built the best battleships?
• Yamato versus Missouri – who wins?
• Was the Bismarck the really “the mightiest” battleship built?
• Did Warren G. Harding pull off the greatest diplomatic coup in US History?
• Was November 1942 the highpoint of American Battleships?
• Which Battleship had the longest and most effective career?
• Where are the surviving battleships located?
• Which country has the oldest battleship in existence?

Sign up and be ready to ship out with us at 7 pm, January 4, 2022!

Jim Mann will also be leading demonstrations about naval war-gaming, for more information about the World at War Forum or war-gaming rules please email wawfsp@gmail.com.

The World At War Forum is a group of local people interested in the history of the first fifty years of the twentieth century and the cataclysmic World Wars and associated events that helped shape our current world.  Following meetings will discuss a range of topics about both World War I and World War II, and other events encompassing the years generally from 1900 to 1950.  More information about the World at War Forum by emailing wawfsp@gmail.com. At this time the Westlake Porter Public Library is requiring that masks be worn while attending in person events in meeting rooms.

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