Posted on 07/29/2016 7:43:59 AM PDT by C19fan
Despite the vast scope of the Second World War, the navies of the United States and Nazi Germany fought few, if any, direct surface engagements. By the time of America’s entry into the war the Royal Navy had already sunk or neutralized the lion’s share of Hitler’s Kriegsmarine, with only Hitler’s U-boats remaining a substantial German threat.
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Ask Kirishima how important that was ...
More powerful guns
Nine 16" guns vs eight 15"
Heavier shells. 2700 lbs vs 1800 lbs
More speed. 33knts vs 30 knts.
Basically, in every category the Iowa out classed the Bismarck.
A better head to head would have been Iowa vs Yamato
Iowa is 6 knots faster and has Star Wars quality electronics compared to Yamato.
It's much more likely to land it's shots than Yamato.
When Yamato shot up the 'Gambier Bay' at Samar, Gambier Bay's machinery had been badly damaged and it could hardly move yet Yamato had to close to point blank range.
No comparison. Hitler ordered the construction of the H class ships which would have been real contenders but they were never finished.
One problem with his scenario, he has the Iowa class battleships fighting it out with the Bismark (assuming it wasn’t sunk) in 1942. The Iowa class ships did not come on line until 1943 and 1944.
Bismark was sunk by the RN four years before there was a USS Missouri. No contest actually.
Fire control radar was decisive in battleship engagements between the U.S. and Japanese navies in World War II. It gave very accurate range to target, and splash detection gave rapid and accurate range and azimuth corrections, besides which U.S. ships, even destroyers, had analog computer fire control systems.
The armament was close to a tie.
The Iowa Class had 9 x 16 inch naval rifles had a 24 mile range, with a rate of fire of 2.0 rpm.
The Bismarck had 8 x 38 cm (15) naval rifles with a 22.7 mile range and 2.5 rpm rate of fire.
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The biggest and most powerful battleships of all time.
The Japanese had a bigger and more powerful class of battleships.
Bismarck was a tough ship with good guns but she was essentially, IIRC, an enlarged Bayern-class dreadnought of WW1. Germany missed out on a lot of practical battleship development after WW1 which may have greatly benefitted mad scheming but left some things, like awareness of the need for better rudder protection (the thing that actually brought her down).
Imagine if the resources to build and man the largely unsuccessful surface raiders, if you discount the disguised freighters, had gone into more Uboats?
Ironically, half of the Bayern’s four planned ships were not completed so that more Uboats could be built.
Bismark had surface search RADAR only. Iowa class had fire control RADAR as well.
Their real effective range was restricted to the range of their radar. The Iowa had superior radar that allowed them to see farther than the Bismark and also gave them feedback as to where their rounds were landing.
I saw a Hollywood Documentary from a couple years ago, featuring the singer Rhianna, about how the Battleship Iowa destroyed a whole bunch of alien space-ships off the coast of Hawaii.
So certainly, the Iowa would have no trouble with the Bismarck.
Bismark’s Fire Control was so far ahead of it’s time that Bi-Planes were able to sink it because the Bismark’s guns overshot at them.
Iowa, better design, better sailors, bigger guns, better fire control.
“The biggest and most powerful battleships of all time”
The Yamatos still had bigger guns.
How would the Graf Spee fared in a battle?
Iowa class.
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