[COEXERJ145]

The Yamato was 65,027 tons displacement, with 460 mm (18.1") guns. It would have out gunned the Missouri 58,000 tons, 16" guns. The difference in caliber meant that the Yamato could have "stood off " from the Missouri and lobed shells with devastating effect.

The Iowa class weighted around 45,000 tons but in an emergency could be loaded up to 58,000 tons. At long range, the penetration power of the 16" and 18" shells was almost identical. Only at close range did the Yamato have the advantage. Since the Iowas could use its fire control radar to stay at long range and were 6+ knots faster, the odds would not favor the Yamato.

[Defender2]

The equalizers definitely would have been the U.S.S. Montana Class BB's had they been built with 12 of the same 16" guns that the Iowa Class carried. They were cancelled late in the war.