Hulls That Held the Sea: Galleys, U-boats, Carriers and Submarines

Start with the oar. The war galley moved by muscle power independent of wind and current, and the Wikipedia article on the galley says it remained the dominant type of vessel used for war and piracy in the Mediterranean until the start of the early modern period. Its long life is the point: shipboard cannon were added in the bow in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the type fought one of history's largest galley engagements at Lepanto in 1571.

The quinquereme shows the galley scaled up for a rival navy. Traditionally credited to Dionysius I of Syracuse around 399 BC as part of a buildup against Carthage, it carried a crew of about four hundred, including some three hundred rowers and marines for boarding. Rome built one hundred of them for the First Punic War, and Polybius used the word to mean a warship in general.

The leap from oars to the submerged hull comes with the Type VII, a medium German U-boat built from 1935 to 1945 to hunt merchant shipping on the North Atlantic convoy routes. More Type VII boats were built than any other submarine class in history, and the page records the first boat, laid down in November 1935 and commissioned in August 1936, and variants from the VIIA through the VIIC and VIIC/41.

The Essex class puts the aircraft at the center of the fleet. USS Essex was commissioned on 31 December 1942, and twenty-four ships were completed, more than any other aircraft carrier class in history. They formed the core of the American fast carrier task forces in the Pacific from 1943, and several were modernized for jets and fought again in Korea and Vietnam.

The Los Angeles class brings nuclear power under the sea. USS Los Angeles was commissioned on 13 November 1976, and sixty-two boats were eventually built, the most numerous class of nuclear-powered submarines any navy has constructed. A reactor gives effectively unlimited underwater range, and the boats were designed to hunt Soviet submarines and ships in the Cold War.

The Soviet answer to the American boats was built for deterrence rather than hunting. The Typhoon class, Project 941 Akula, is a retired class of ballistic missile submarines and, at roughly one hundred seventy meters, the largest submarines ever built by any navy. Each carried twenty R-39 missiles, and only six were built.

Not every modern submarine is nuclear. The Kilo class, designed by the Rubin Design Bureau in the 1970s, is diesel-electric, and Western navies noted how quiet it is when running on batteries. More than 70 have been built, and around 60 were in active service as of 2023 in Russia and in export customers such as Algeria, Vietnam and India.

On the surface, the Arleigh Burke class is built around the Aegis Combat System and the SPY-1D radar. The lead ship was commissioned on 4 July 1991, and the page records 75 ships active as of April 2026 with 24 more planned, making it the most numerous class of warships in the United States Navy.

The Virginia class is the replacement for the Los Angeles boats, closing a loop in this path. USS Virginia was commissioned on 23 October 2004 as a lower-cost successor to the planned Seawolf class, with modular construction so new technology can enter later hulls. Boats are to be acquired through 2043 and expected to serve until at least 2060.

End with the newest carrier, a distant descendant of the Essex class. USS Gerald R. Ford was delivered on 31 May 2017 and commissioned on 22 July 2017, and its Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System replaces the steam catapults every earlier American carrier class used. The page also notes early technical difficulties and delays with the new launch and arresting systems.