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HIJMS Sagami, 1949. A rather interesting departure from then-typical Japanese battleship design, the Sagami-class was a step back from the preceding Yamato-class in almost every way. In fact, Sagami had originally been planned for building during the 1930s, but her construction was delayed by the five far larger ships. However, her considerably higher speed of 32 knots made Sagami a valuable asset as a carrier escort, a role the vessels performed decently well. Sagami and Echigo were sunk in the devastating Battle of the Java Sea, while Tango was sunk by a rouge Chinese submarine off Taiwan in January 1950. Shimotsuke would perish to the guns of the USS New Jersey in the climactic battle of the Ryukyu Islands, and Dewa was sunk in Hiroshima during the nuclear strike on the city. Her remains still lie there to this day.

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François Truguet, 1949. The second “modern” light cruiser class of the French Navy, the Truguets were built on a revised version of the preceding Duguay Trouin-class cruiser’s hull. With armor thickened to 80mm and improved firepower, the vessels were easily the equal of any vessel of the time. François Truguet and her sisters would remain a crucial part of the French Navy’s scouting forces, even well into the 1940s. Though two sisters were sunk by the Luftwaffe in the opening days of WWII’s western front, Truguet and Denis Decrès would remain essential parts of the war in the South Atlantic, intercepting German and Japanese blockade runners. The pair would be sold to Indonesia postwar, and would be decommissioned and sold for scrap in 1989.

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HSwMS Stockholm, 1949. The appearance of the Sovetsky Soyuz in the Soviet Navy created a panic among the Scandinavian nations. Stockholm and her sisters Gothenburg and Malmö were the heaviest warships ever built by a Scandinavian state, and were designed as cost-effective responses to the rapidly expanding Soviet Navy. Their unusually long main guns developed very high muzzle velocities, which enabled them to penetrate the heavy armor of the Sovetskys. The Finnish Sisu-class battleships were heavily influenced by this design, but incorporated German technologies and experience into their construction. Stockholm would spend most of the war patrolling Swedish waters, but would finally see use in her intended role in 1953, when the Soviet Navy sent a task force to occupy key Swedish islands. Stockholm and Gothenburg focused their fire on the battlecruisers Kronshtadt and Sevastopol, driving both back to Leningrad. The trio would be retained in active service until 1972, when they were removed from service and converted into museums.

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The Friedrich Engels was the Soviet Navy’s first attempt at an aircraft carrier, converted from the incomplete battlecruiser Izmail.  As one of the first conversions of this type, Engels shared many of the same flaws of her inspired sisters- the Courageous twins and their ugly half-sister, HMS Furious. Though an adequate design for the late 1920s, her poor condition and lack of upgrades meant that she was wholly inadequate for the new type of war that was unfolding. Engels was sunk by Ju-87s launched from the DKM Graf Zeppelin at the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. Though raised after the war’s conclusion in 1954, the newly-formed Russian Republic declared her obsolete and she was scrapped in 1958.

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HIJMS Ibi, 1949. The lead ship of her class of antiaircraft cruisers, Ibi was the first purpose-built vessel of her type for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Her absolutely phenomenal number of main guns (twenty!) was undercut by their light shell weight and short barrel life. Ibi was sunk by the combined firepower of the USS San Francisco and Helena at the short-range Battle of the Bismarck Sea in 1950. Her four sisters had previously been sunk in the devastating Battle of the Java Sea, Japan’s worst early-war defeat.

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Well, I’m here.

If any of y’all are from iFunny, you may (probably don’t) know me as USS_Midway. I design ships in Shipbucket scale (2px-1ft), and am always willing to take requests. Provided, of course, you don’t make me design another ship with 8 800mm guns. But yeah, I’m here, and if you have a particularly amusing idea, just pass it along.