28 of the Biggest Battleships Ever Built

Published: February 28, 2024 by 24/7 Tempo Staff

Battleships had been a significant part of militaries for centuries. These large armored warships started in the 19th century, with the first steam-powered battleship, the Napoléon, followed by the first iron-clad battleship, the Gloire (both were developed by the French). The United States followed suit with the launch of its first iron-clad battleship in the early 1860s, the USS Monitor. These ships had a great impact on early wars.

For centuries, the battleship was the symbol of a nation’s naval might. These vessels were hundreds of feet long, displaced tens of thousands of tons, bristled with massive guns, and were sheathed with the thickest armor. Within the battleship class, some were larger than others. The modern armored ship dates from the ironclad warships of the Civil War era.

The United States flexed its maritime muscle in 1907-1909 when President Theodore Roosevelt sent the so-called Great White Fleet of 16 American battleships around the world. It was the largest and most powerful flotilla to ever circle the globe.

The British and German empires were locked in a naval arms race that culminated in 1916 with the inconclusive Battle of Jutland during World War I (one of the biggest naval battles of all time).

In the aftermath of that war, the world’s most powerful nations tried to limit the size of fleets, restricting capital ships (battleships and battlecruisers) and battleships to exceed a displacement of 35,000 tons and guns with no more than a 16-inch caliber.

Following violations of the treaty by the French, Italians, and Japanese in the mid-1930s, it was allowed to lapse in 1936, and battleships reached their zenith during World War II – with legendary ships such as Germany’s pair of Bismarck-class vessels and Japan’s two titanic 71,659-ton Yamato-class ships, the largest battleships ever constructed by far.

The battleship eventually surrendered its naval preeminence to aircraft carriers, submarines, and amphibious warships after World War II. The United Kingdom’s HMS Vanguard, commissioned in 1946, was the last battleship ever built by any nation. Not only were they too costly to maintain, but they were also more susceptible to attack from both aircraft and subs. Many of these WWII-era battleships remain today as museums, like the USS Iowa, currently docked in Los Angeles, and the USS Massachusetts docked at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts.

24/7 Tempo consulted sources including Navy General Board, Largest.org, Militaryfactory, PearlHarbor, and others to compile a list of the biggest battleships ever built, using displacement tonnage as a measure. Note that with three exceptions, the list is ordered not by individual ship but by battleship class, each class including two or more ships with different names. The exceptions are the U.K.’s HMS Agincourt, HMS Hood, and HMS Vanguard.