Battle of the Battleships

[godofthunder9010]

Ultimately, the very best choice would be the Dreadnaught IF only encountering battleships from the same time period. If we are looking at a situation where there is no limitation on time-period, Iowa or Yamato class is the only good choices IMO.

 

[Animal Mother]

Iowa class for me at least, best combinaton of speed, protection, range, firepower and FCS.

 

[A Can of Man]

I prefer to keep myself feet dry.

 

[curious]

What? No mention of the Warspite!

Present at:

Jutland (1916) - at "Windy Corner", and hit 13 times by the German High Seas Fleet
Narvik (1940) - helped sink U64 and 8 German destroyers
Calabria (1940) - hit Italian flagship Guilio Cesare at a range of 14 miles
Matapan (1941) - helped sink Italian cruisers Zara, Pola and Fiume
Salerno (1943) - hit by German radio-controlled bomb
Normandy (1944) - close inshore bombardment (e.g. in support of Canadians at Juno)

Now, that's an interesting life!

 

[battery]

I've no idea what has happened in this thread, but i'd choose the Bismarck. It was the greatest battleship of it's time.

 

[godofthunder9010]

Bismarck was tiny compared to the Yamato or an Iowa Class, but that ship was made of damn good steel.

 

[KAMIKAZI]

Ill give you a little fact, the Germans could have won the war if they didnt build the Tirpits and the bizmark, bacause I cant remember the exact figures but its something like they could have made 20,000 panzers out of both of them! and that would have been a massive impact on allied landing forces! meaning the Germans would be able to build more aicraft which could cripple ships, harbours and other aeroplanes meaning the Germans could have built a navy given enough time! funny huh

 

[godofthunder9010]

Well, they were suckers for the whole glorious Battleship thing. Everyone was in WW2. Also, if they were hoping to win, they needed to take on the Royal Navy eventually. U-boats weren't going to achieve that victory on their own. Moreso, they needed to stick to task and not leave a hostile enemy at their backs. Poor Donetz was told he wouldn't have to take on the Royal Navy till '45.

 

[Doppleganger]

Ill give you a little fact, the Germans could have won the war if they didnt build the Tirpits and the bizmark, bacause I cant remember the exact figures but its something like they could have made 20,000 panzers out of both of them! and that would have been a massive impact on allied landing forces! meaning the Germans would be able to build more aicraft which could cripple ships, harbours and other aeroplanes meaning the Germans could have built a navy given enough time! funny huh

The Tirpitz and the Bismarck were both the first 2 ships of the Bismarck class of battleship, built and laid down as part of the Kriegsmarine Z-Plan. According to this plan, the Kriegsmarine would have grown to about 800 units, consisting of 13 battleships and battlecruisers, 4 aircraft carriers, 15 Panzerschiffe, 23 cruisers and 22 so called "Spähkreuzer" which were basically large destroyers. In addition to this many smaller vessels would have been built. Here's a good link:

http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/zplan/

A very ambitious programme and one which they never could have completed. They even had to abandon the completion of their one aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin.

However, had they conquered the Soviet Union who knows what may have happened. Such a fleet would have frightened the living sh*t outa the UK that's for sure.

 

[godofthunder9010]

Well, the UK was probably doomed if the Soviet Union fell. After all, who is the #1 producer of steel in the world today? Lots of "what if's" for that war, aren't there?

 

[Patriot_1989tobeyond]

The Bismark all the way.

 

[redcoat]

Also, the Bismarck got kinda lucky will killing the Hood that fast. But damn was that thing hard to sink!! Fact is, the Germans scuttled it.

By the time the Germans scuttled it, it had long ceased being a battleship, it was just a floating scrap-yard.
The major reason British fire in itself didn't sink it, was that the RN battleships quickly closed to close range, so the Bismarck was not subjected to a lot of long range plunging fire. Nearly all the shells hit at a shallow angle and didn't cause any damage below the water-line, but reduced the upperworks to scrap

 

[ltdave]

i guess i would have to go with the Iowa class since its on the list, but i like the South Dakota class (BB57-BB60 S.D., Indiana, Alabama and Massachussetts)...

they ran 27kts, weighed in at 35,000 tons, had 9 16"/45 main battery.

they were all commissioned by the end of 42 so they did alot of work until the Iowa came on board...

Massachussetts fired the last 16" shells of WWII...

david

 

[Mark Conley]

Also, the Bismarck got kinda lucky will killing the Hood that fast. But damn was that thing hard to sink!! Fact is, the Germans scuttled it.

By the time the Germans scuttled it, it had long ceased being a battleship, it was just a floating scrap-yard.
The major reason British fire in itself didn't sink it, was that the RN battleships quickly closed to close range, so the Bismarck was not subjected to a lot of long range plunging fire. Nearly all the shells hit at a shallow angle and didn't cause any damage below the water-line, but reduced the upperworks to scrap

all of these are good points but if you read on the history of the battle, you'll find that the british cruiser Dorshetshire actually gave the Bizmark its Coup De Grace with a spread of torpedos. it did hurry the process along quite nicely.

http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/history/bisfinalbattle.html

In the timeline, 20 minutes after the detonation of the explosives..Dorshetshire fires the first set of torpedoes and a few minutes late fires a last. Im not saying that left to herself, the Bizmark would not have gon down. But it is this ship that is often given the final credit for the Bizmarks demise.

For those that are interested..the last pre 1914 classified as an actually Dreadnaught class battleship still in existance that is acknowledged as such is the USS Texas. She is moored as a permanent memorial at the San Jacinto battlefied in Houston texas.

 

[Charge 7]

Iowa class battleship. Most of the others are fish farms now.

I'm with 03 on this one. They're all fish farms except the Iowas and USS Texas. The Texas did contribute a great deal though in WWII and to some extent in WWI when it sailed with the Brits. Still, if I was on an Iowa my chances of coming home would be the best.

 

[tomtom22]

I agree with Charge 7 & 03USMC.

 

[LeEnfield]

Each generation brought newer and better Battleships, so you can only really compare those of similar age. When the Dreadnought first came out there was nothing to touch her. 50 years on and it would not have stood a chance against a more modern ship with radar controlled guns with a greater range.

 

[phoenix80]

What category USS Missouri falls in?

 

[mmarsh]

Phoenix

USS Missouri is an Iowa class Battleship. (USS. New Jersey, USS. Iowa, USS. Missouri and USS. Wisconsin).
___________________________________________________________________________________

Back to Question. I going to disagree with 03; Tomtom and PJ24

I'm going to say the IJN Yamato. It had the biggests guns (18.1 in) and thinkest armor of all WWII Battleships and she was only 5 knots slower than the Iowa class (27 vs 32). She was one of the few Japanese ships to have fire control rader (although it was not as good as its American counterpart, her only real weakness).

Since I know somebody will ask "if she go great why is she at the bottom of the Phillippean sea"? The answer is she was stupidly sacrificed by the Japanese Admirality and was sunk by aircraft while having no fighter protection of her own. It took 8 bombs and 10 Torpedo hits to sink her. I would point out that most WWII battleships that were sunk with roughly HALF the ordinance used to sink Yamato, a testiment to her durability.

 

[Fox]

I voted USS Texas. I have been on it before. It was cool.