Single ship
A single ship ( English : unique ship , or unique vessel or one-off ship ) is generally a single built ship without sister ships for civil or military use, which may also be the only one built in a ship class . Other watercraft that are not standard ships, such as catamarans , trimarans , hydrofoils , SWATHs or submarines or sub-cruisers , if built as a single copy, are also considered to be single ships.
description
A single ship is usually an individually built ship, after which no other sister ships of the same type or design follow. In the event that the individual ship is also the only one in the class , then it is both a type ship (also called a class ship or lead ship) and a series ship at the same time. However, only in a few cases did single ships establish a ship class that was named after them, so that a number of "unclassified" single ships existed and still are. In addition, only in very few exceptional cases did individual ships belong to a class not named after their own name, for example the great British battle cruiser HMS Hood from 1920, which was ultimately the only ship of the Admiral class to be completed. In general, it can be said that various individual ships often had particularly innovative features or even founded completely new types of ship .
In civil shipping, the large passenger ships were often single ships . There were also some individual merchant ships and cargo ships (including general cargo ships ), but mostly these were increasingly built in series in order to reduce construction costs and therefore remained rather rare with the exception of the large tankers , bulk carriers or container ships . However, there were also some single civilian ships, which were often built for special purposes. These were mostly work boats that did not serve the transportation such as icebreakers , lightships , pilot boats , fighting boats , tenders , supply ships , push boats , crane ships , hydraulic engineering vehicles / dredgers , drilling vessels , survey vessels , Peilschiffe , weather ships , air traffic control ships , salvage vessels , floating workshops and power ships . There were also factory ships , dock ships , cable layers , semi-submersible ships and other specialized types. A number of tugs , research vessels and multi-purpose vessels were also built as single vessels. Ship types deviating from the standard design were or are built as single ships, for example hydrofoils in the past and recently also SWATH double-hull ships. Particularly noteworthy as single ships for civil ocean-going shipping are the two nuclear ships Savannah from the USA in 1962 and Otto Hahn from what was then West Germany in 1969 (also research ship), which, as a special innovation, were the first merchant ships to have a nuclear power drive, which, however, was found in ships of the Ultimately, the merchant navy could not prevail.
In the military field, the construction of single ships was much more common, which is why most of the history were warships . The reasons for this were varied, mostly economic reasons played a role when a lack of financial resources or changed political or strategic framework conditions no longer allowed the construction of a complete class or no longer made sense. A good example of this was the 1946 Vanguard , the last British battleship to be completed and at the same time the single ship of the Vanguard class. Sometimes, for various reasons, the originally planned construction of all sister ships was canceled, so that in the end only a single ship of the class was built. Examples of this are the Soviet Flotilla Leader (Great Destroyer) Tashkent from 1939 , built in Italy , of the Tashkent class of the same name, and the aforementioned British battle cruiser Hood from 1920 of the Admiral class. A far more frequent reason to build a single warship was its experimental character in order to test a new type of ship or, if successful, to introduce it into the navy . A famous case was the first designed battleship in the world ever to monitor the Union States from the American Civil War of 1862, a then brand new warship type, along with the recently completed and used Virginia of the Confederate States because of their armor the naval war to get away from should revolutionize wooden sailing ships . The construction of a single ship was often a cheap solution, especially for smaller navies, to replace obsolete or lost combat ships. For example, in 1936 the light cruiser De Ruyter of the De Ruyter class of the same name was commissioned in the Netherlands as the largest unit of the Royal Navy and the new flagship of the fleet . What is striking, however, is the high number of aircraft carriers among the individual ships, far more than, for example, cruisers, which is not surprising in view of the size and the enormous construction costs involved. Another groundbreaking single ship was the first US nuclear powered aircraft carrier Enterprise from 1961, which preceded a long line of nuclear and conventionally powered aircraft carriers and other ships. This one of the most famous ships of its kind was designed from the beginning as a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. With this type of ship, however, there were also special cases in which ships that were not actually designed as aircraft carriers or that were not yet completed were completed as aircraft carriers. The most famous example of this was the Japanese Shinano from 1944 , which arose from the third super battleship of the same name of the Yamato class , which was still under construction . A few other individual aircraft carriers were subsequently converted from passenger or merchant ships , such as the Italian Aquila from 1943, which had emerged from the large passenger steamer Roma from 1941 , but could no longer be delivered in the end due to the political events in the first year. One of the last ships of this type to be built is also a single ship, the French Charles de Gaulle from 2001, which also has a nuclear drive. The Italian Cavour was put into service in 2009 as the currently last conventionally powered individual aircraft carrier . Another special feature are aircraft mother ships, which were almost always single ships. In the vast majority of cases, these emerged from the conversion of merchant ships or, less often, from outdated warships. The German catapult ship Ostmark was also a single ship.
In addition, several submarines and U-cruisers have been built as single ships for military shipping throughout history, especially when these were test models that were used to test new technologies. These include well-known names such as the large Italian deep-sea submarine RS Ettore Fieramosca from 1930 (basically already a submarine), the smaller Finnish submarine Vesikko from 1933 (was the prototype of the later first series of the German U Boats from World War II), the great Italian deep-sea submarine RS Pietro Micca from 1935, the US nuclear submarine USS Nautilus from 1954 and the French submarine Surcouf from 1934, which is also the largest ever built underwater vehicle in the world.
Well-known single ships (civil)
- North River Steam Boat - also known as Clermont ( side wheel steamer ) - USA 1807
- Lexington (side paddle steamer, also cargo ship ) - USA 1835
- Great Eastern - Great Britain 1859
- Germany - Germany 1900
- George Washington - Germany 1909 (USA from 1919)
- Normandy - France 1935
- United States - USA 1952
- Hans Hedtoft - Denmark 1958
- France (later Norway ) - France 1962
- RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 - Great Britain 1969
- Nordlys - Norway 1994
- Polarlys - Norway 1996
- RMS Queen Mary 2 - Great Britain 2003
- Lexington (side paddle steamer, also passenger ship ) - USA 1835
- Savannah - USA 1962 (no longer in service)
- Otto Hahn (also research ship ) - Germany 1969 (no longer in operation)
- Sevmorput (also icebreaker ) - Soviet Union / Russia 1988
- Sprague ( stern wheel steamer ) - USA 1902
- Stettin - Germany 1933 (today museum ship)
- Lenin - Soviet Union / Russia 1959
- SA Agulhas (also research ship ) - South Africa 1977
- Polarstern (also research ship ) - Germany 1982
- Rossiya - Russia 1985
- USCGC Healy (also research ship ) - USA 1999
- Endeavor - Great Britain 1768
- Admiral Tegetthoff - Austria-Hungary 1872
- Gjøa - Norway 1872
- Vega - Sweden 1878 (built 1873)
- Endurance (ex Polaris ) - Great Britain 1912
- Meteor - Germany 1915/1924
- Cheliuskin (ex Lena ) - Soviet Union / Russia 1933
- Meteor - Germany 1964
- Alkor - Germany 1966
- Littorina - Germany 1975
- Senckenberg - Germany 1976
- SA Agulhas (also icebreaker ) - South Africa 1977
- Sun - Germany 1978
- Akademik Mstislaw Keldysch - Soviet Union / Russia 1981
- Polarstern (also Eisbrecher) - Germany 1982
- Meteor - Germany 1986
- Mercator - Germany 1990
- USCGC Healy (also Icebreaker ) - USA 1999
- Maria S. Merian - Germany 2005
Multipurpose vessels ( coast guard ship , buoy , tractors , Löschboot , icebreaker )
Well-known single ships (military)
galley
- La Real , Spain, flagship of Don Juan de Austria in the naval battle of Lepanto 1571
- Vasa - Sweden 1628 (now a museum ship )
- HMS Victory - Great Britain 1765 (now a museum ship)
- Santissima Trinidad - Spain 1769
Steam powered floating battery
- USS Fulton (also: Demologos , Fulton the First or US Steam Battery Fulton ) - USA 1816
- HMS Agamemnon - Great Britain 1852
- HMS Achilles - Great Britain 1864
- HMS Bellerophon - Great Britain 1866
- King Wilhelm - an armored frigate - Germany 1869
Steam-powered armored ships of the line
- La Dévastation - France 1879
- USS Texas - USA 1895 (First US battleship to be called Battleship )
- USS Maine - USA 1895 (operated as an armored cruiser until 1896 )
- USS Iowa - USA 1897
- Asahi - Great Britain / Japan 1900
- Mikasa - Great Britain / Japan 1902
- Retwisan - USA / Russia 1900,
- Zessarewitsch - France / Russia 1903, but five replicas
- HMS Dreadnought - Great Britain 1906
- HMS Agincourt - Great Britain (Turkey) 1914
- HMS Erin - Great Britain (Turkey) 1914
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HMS Canada - Great Britain 1915, 1921 to the original client Chile as Almirante Latorre
(sister ship HMS India completed in 1924 as aircraft carrier HMS Eagle ) - HMS Vanguard - Great Britain 1946 - last British battleship
- SMS Von der Tann (official name: Großer Kreuzer ) - Germany 1911
- SMS Seydlitz (official name: Großer Kreuzer) - Germany 1913
- HMS Tiger - Great Britain 1914 (sister ship HMS Leopard unfinished)
- HMS Hood - Great Britain 1920 (sister ships HMS Rodney , HMS Anson and HMS Howe unfinished)
- Esmeralda - Great Britain / Chile 1884
- Jiyuan - Germany / China 1885
- SMS Kaiserin Augusta - (Large Protected Cruiser) - Germany 1892
- USS Olympia - USA 1895
- Swetlana - Great Britain / Russia 1898
- Varyag - USA / Russia 1901
- Askold - Germany / Russia 1902
- Nowik - Germany / Russia 1902, but two replicas
- Boyarin - Denmark / Russia 1902
- Châteaurenault - France 1902
- Hamidiye - Great Britain / Turkey 1904
- Mecidiye - USA / Turkey 1904
- SMS Hela - Germany 1896
- Dupuy de Lôme - France 1890
- Brooklyn - USA 1896
- Rossiya - Russia 1897
- O'Higgins (ship, 1897) - Great Britain / Chile 1898
- Fürst Bismarck - ( Great Cruiser ) - Germany 1900
- Gromoboi - Russia 1900
- Yakumo - Germany / Japan 1900
- Azuma - France / Japan 1900
- Prince Heinrich - (Great Cruiser) - Germany 1902
- Bayan - France / Russia 1902, but 3 replicas
- Sankt Georg - Austria-Hungary 1904
- Rurik - Great Britain / Russia 1909
- Blücher - (Great Cruiser) - Germany 1909
- Georgios Averoff - Italy / Greece 1912
- Emden - Germany 1925
- Émile Bertin - (Fast Light Cruiser) - France 1935
- Mr. Ms. De Ruyter - also fleet flagship - Netherlands 1936
- USS Wichita - USA 1939
- Oyodo - Japan 1943 (sister ship Niyodo unfinished)
- USS Northampton - command and command ship, started as 4th Oregon City- class heavy cruiser (CA-125) - USA 1953
- Eritrea - Italy 1937
- USS Long Beach - world's first nuclear cruiser - USA 1961
- USS Bainbridge - USA 1962 ( classified as a frigate / destroyer until 1975 )
- USS Truxtun - USA 1967 (classified as a destroyer until 1975)
Flotilla Leader (Large Destroyer)
- Tashkent - Soviet Union 1939
- HMS Swift - Great Britain
- USS Norfolk - USA 1953
- HMS Cobra - Great Britain 1900
- HMS Arno - Great Britain 1915
- HMS Ambuscade - Great Britain 1927
- HMS Amazon - Great Britain 1927
- USS Nashville - USA 1897
- SMS Grille - Germany 1858
- Grille - Germany 1935
- USS Cascade - a destroyer tender - USA 1943/1951
- Quarnaro - Italy 1927
- Cristoforo Colombo - Italy 1928
- Amerigo Vespucci - Italy 1931
- HMS Furious - Great Britain 1916
- USS Langley - (ex 1913 USS Jupiter coal tender ) - USA 1922
- HMS Argus - (ex unfinished passenger ship Conte Rosso ) - Great Britain 1924
- Hōshō - Japan 1922
- HMS Hermes - Great Britain 1923
- USS Ranger - USA 1934
- HMS Ark Royal - Great Britain 1938
- USS Wasp - USA 1940
- HMS Audacity - Great Britain 1941 (loot ship - ex German cargo ship Hanover )
- HMS Indomitable - Great Britain 1941
- HMS Unicorn - Great Britain 1943/1949
- Aquila - (ex passenger ship Roma ) - Italy (not delivered in 1943)
- Sparviero - (ex passenger ship Augustus ) - Italy (not delivered in 1943)
- HMS Activity - Great Britain 1943
- Ryuho - Japan 1944
- Taihō - Japan 1944 (5 sister ships unfinished)
- Shinano - Japan 1944 (conversion of the not yet completed 3rd battleship of the Yamato class )
- USS Enterprise - USA 1961
- USS John F. Kennedy - USA 1968 (Heavily modified version of the Kitty-Hawk- class )
- Giuseppe Garibaldi - Italy 1985
- Príncipe de Asturias - Spain 1988
- Ulyanovsk - Soviet Union (construction canceled in 1991 at 40 percent construction progress)
- Charles de Gaulle - France 2001
- Cavour - Italy 2009
- Vikrant - India (expected entry into service 2018)
Aircraft mother ships / seaplane carriers
- La Foudre - France 1911/1913 (originally built in 1896 as a torpedo boat tender or workshop ship)
- HMS Ark Royal - Great Britain 1914 (originally laid down as a merchant ship)
- HMS Ben-my-Chree (ex 1908 fast ferry of the same name) - Great Britain 1915
- Dédalo (ex German merchant steamer Neuenfels from 1901) - Spain 1922
- Giuseppe Miraglia - (ex merchant steamer Cittá di Messina ) - Italy 1927
- HMAS Albatross - Australia 1929
- Zmaj - Yugoslavia 1929
- Commandant Teste - France 1932
- Ostmark - Germany 1936
- Turtle - USA 1776
- Brandtaucher - Germany 1850
- Pioneer - USA 1862
- Alligator - USA 1862
- American Diver - USA 1863
- Hunley - Confederate States of America (KSA) 1863
- USS Holland - USA 1900
- Dupuy de Lôme - France 1916
- USS M-1 - USA 1918
- Ettore Fieramosca (Deep Sea Submarine) - Italy 1930
- Vesikko - Finland 1933
- Pietro Micca (underground miner) - Italy 1935
- USS Albacore - USA 1953
- USS Nautilus - USA 1954
- USS Darter - USA 1956
- USS Seawolf - USA 1957
- USS Triton - USA 1959
- USS Tullibee - USA 1987
- USS Narwhal - USA 1969
- Project 661 Anchar - Soviet Union 1969
- K-278 Komsomolets - Soviet Union 1984
- Surcouf - France 1934