Questions?
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"Riamh nár dhruid ó sbairn lann!" |
I think the Iowa class also had radar something the Bismark did not have. Hands down the Iowa class destroys it unless it runs away IMO.
Iowa by a bunch.
IIRC the Bismarck was technically a heavy cruiser; not sure what the distinction is.
The Bismark barely beat the HMS Hood, a cruiser. Granted, the Hood had help but it was vastly overrated, especially in the tight quarters of the North Sea. In the open waters, who knows.
Iowa Class: 16 inch guns - Effective range = 42,345 yards = 22.8 miles
The Iowa class, by a mile. Make that almost TWO miles. {;^)
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"Riamh nár dhruid ó sbairn lann!" |
I can never hear that name without thinking of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KecIdlEAKhU
Bismark was sunk on its first outing, design flaw allowed a single torpedo hit to disable its ability to maneuver leaving it a sitting duck... its kind of hard to argue that the Bismark would win, given history of the Bismark...
But lets play this out, Iowa, faster speed, Better fire control, and Radar etc.... Bismark would have been at a vast disadvantage not only against an Iowa class but against South Dakota class as well.
The design “flaw” that cost the Bismark its life, is one that a nation more experienced with ship building and naval warfare would not have made.. Germany did not have vast experience compared to other naval powers, so there were fatal weak points in the Bismark’s design, that the designers probably never even thought about.
Iowa class, easily, given equal crews.
16 inch vs. 15 inch main guns
9 vs. 8 main guns
deck armor almost twice as thick.
top speed almost twice as fast (38 mph v. 22 mph)
The North Carolina class of battleships would be a better comparison as they preceded the Iowa class, being launched in 19441 and were the successors of the 1932 Colorado class
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina-class_battleship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado-class_battleship
Bismark - Zunk
Iowa - All still afloat
Hmm hard choice D’oh
Ask Kirishima how important that was ...
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.
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.
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.