Naval History Forums

From another very old thread that was under discussion before we had the Battleship Top Ten that, more or less, everybody reckoned as an agreement: Most powerfull BBs: 1. YAMATO and MUSASHI 2. Iowa Class BBs 3. South Dakota Class 4. North Carolina 5. Bismarck Class 6. Richelieu Class 7. Nelson Clas...

I also fly the Challenger as a professional pilot for Rockwell, you can congratulate me on that also; and actually yes I know many of those on this site have been studying this for a long time; but because I have put my eggs on the Bismarck against the RN ships it seems many of you do not like that...

Scharnhorst was defeated by shear numbers of ships not by ships that were superior and it was not just the duke of york there were several other british ships that had surrounded the scharnhorst another combat historical fact that you my friend are not recognizing! The only other ships relevant in ...

Well the Yamato was never proved in combat was it.! The Bismarck and Scharnhorst were; you must accept that as fact my friend. The yamato never was engaged by another battleship so I would say to you that labaling the yamato as the most powerful battleship afloat is also unrealistic. On those groun...

Going by historical precedent, the Italians turn and run after the first hit by either of the British battleships. Hopefully at some point we'll get past the misunderstanding that characterized the British view of the RM in wartime. The Italians didn't fight the way the British expected--that is, t...

Going by historical precedent, the Italians turn and run after the first hit by either of the British battleships. But that means no battle, so lets assume that since the Italians made up their minds to fight they also have a brave enough commander to stay in the battle. Vittorio Veneto and Littorio...

British tests of Tirpitz armour showed the German KC to perform within 1 or 2 percentage points of the British KC, and the Wh required about 10% more energy than the same thickness of British homgenous armour, for the British 15" APC to penetrate, at the same striking angle. According to Natha...

Using Navweaps for armour penetration, Rodney can penetrate Bismarck's belt out to 23,000m, and Bismarck's deck from 26,000m outwards, so you have an IZ of 3,000m. The barbettes and conning tower can be penetrated out to 20,000m. The turret face is 16.9in and should so be proof beyond 12,000m but be...

The Bismarck Vs. Rodney one on one if the Bismarck was able to steer the Rodney would be destroyed and sunk hands down; end of story. The rodney was part of a gang up force that the british directed at Bismarck after Bismarck was unable to steer and turned back at the oncoming enemy. With no rudder...

Repulse is more lightly armoured, but despite only having 6 guns she has a heavier broadside than Mackensen. The British 15"/42 has better armour penetration than the 13.78"/45 and also outranges it. The Repulse has 9in belt armour to the Mackensen's 12in and the Repulse has better deck ar...

Looking at the other contemporary battlecruisers, Hood is beginning to look better again. For all the condemnation of Hood and her weak deck armour, Hood was more powerful and generally better armoured than any of her contemporaries, and was a decent match in a fight for any of the WWI battleships. ...

2) Position POW as lead ship. This has been discussed at length in other threads, and while other forum members contend that Bismarck would still have targetted Hood second in line I am not so sure given that Lutjens mistook POW for the Home Fleet flagship KGV. Here the role of KGV is entirely diff...

Wouldn't it be easier for the RN to be loaned the Des Moines class cruiser Newport News in the first place? Newport News had only been decommisioned in 1975, and had been maintained in working order until striken from the naval register in 1978, and it would be much easier to bring her back to full ...

Belfast was decommisioned in 1963 and made into a museum ship ten years later so to get her down to the Falklands would have required a major overhaul. She would probably recieved modern radar and ECM plus a surface to surface missile system, so Belgrano would barely stand a chance.

For the sake of simplicity lets keep the Belgrano and Belfast their unmodernised condition. If we get started on what weapons could have been fitted then we won't get anywhere. Belfast is 11,553 tons, has 12x6in guns, 8x4in guns, 4.5in belt and 3in deck armour. Belgrano (ex USS Pheonix) is 12,242 to...