Missouri and Wisconsin instead of POW and Repulse!

[Nellie]

I talking about the aircraft attack when both Repulse and Prince of wales was sunk, i think with iowas better aircraft defense and better protection with a higher speed it would really test the japanese pilots, it´s hard to predict the outcome of the battle but i do think the japanese would have an uncomfortable operation.

[turlock]

Interesting.
They certainly would have knocked down more planes. More, and generally better guns, as well as the most effective AA fire control. They were also considerably more maneuvreable than the British ships. Stll, I'd rather take bombs with them than torps, as their underwater protection left much to be desired. That problem wasn't solved until the Montana design.
I wish the Brits had run into Kongo and Haruna. POW should have been able to handle them.

[Dave Saxton]

I think the result is the same. The big problem is lack of air cover. Freindly fighters were essential in the face of determined, extensive, and prolonged air attack in the survival of surface ships by 1941. No matter the capabilties of the ships. RAF fighters were only 150 miles away, but nobody informed the RAF of the crisis in time. The big American ships would have done better but the end result is the same.

[Dave Saxton]

I wish the Brits had run into Kongo and Haruna. POW should have been able to handle them.

It would have depended largely on the visabilty and sea conditions, ignoring the possible impact of Kondo's additional screening forces, and their long lance torpedoes, and just looking at a long range gun battle between the battle wagons. Force Z passed with in 5 miles of Ozawa's cruisers on the evening of the Dec 9th but were unaware. The visabilty was poor, and POW's radars were nonfunctional. On the long trip to Singapore, most of the radars had broken down and the needed spare parts had not yet arrived in the far east when Force Z sailed. Those radars that may have been partly functional may have been hampered by high humididy. At any rate, Force Z was totally unaware of the close proximity of Ozawa's cruisers.

The Japanese were aware of Force Z, however. Ozawa was preparing for a night long lance attack, but land based torpedo bombers had also started a dusk air attack. They began lining up to attack a large surface ship and dropped flares over their target. The target was actually Chokai. The Japanese quickly cancelled all attack plans that night. British lookouts seen the flares a few miles away, but didn't make out Ozawa's warships in the darkness and haze. Phillips prudently turned away to the west. I can't help but think that this saved Force Z temporarily, as any night battle early in the war favored the IJN. Particularly with British radars not working.

Kondo prepared to fight Force Z with his battleships, early the next morning, should Phillips advance further toward the transports. A day light, good visabilty battleship engagement, is rather interesting to speculate on....

[Wordy]

Interesting.
They certainly would have knocked down more planes. More, and generally better guns, as well as the most effective AA fire control. They were also considerably more maneuvreable than the British ships. Stll, I'd rather take bombs with them than torps, as their underwater protection left much to be desired. That problem wasn't solved until the Montana design.
I wish the Brits had run into Kongo and Haruna. POW should have been able to handle them.

Hope no one minds me bumping an old thread.

I agree they would've shot down more planes, but as to being more maneuverable....is that right? Iowa was ony 1.5 knots faster but 15,000 tons heavier and I can't see either(or any other capital ship for that matter) being handled as well as HMS Repulse was on that day.

[dunmunro]

Interesting.
They certainly would have knocked down more planes. More, and generally better guns, as well as the most effective AA fire control. They were also considerably more maneuvreable than the British ships. Stll, I'd rather take bombs with them than torps, as their underwater protection left much to be desired. That problem wasn't solved until the Montana design.
I wish the Brits had run into Kongo and Haruna. POW should have been able to handle them.

Hope no one minds me bumping an old thread.

I agree they would've shot down more planes, but as to being more maneuverable....is that right? Iowa was ony 1.5 knots faster but 15,000 tons heavier and I can't see either(or any other capital ship for that matter) being handled as well as HMS Repulse was on that day.

If we take two Iowa class BBs and outfit them with 1944 era AA systems, then I think it's fair to say that they would do somewhat better than PoW and Repulse (if we take a KGV and Renown with 1944 AA systems then they would probably do somewhat better as well). However, if we equip them with Dec 1941 USN AA systems, then I would suspect that they would do worse than PoW and Repulse. In Dec 1941 Washington and North Carolina only carried 10 x twin 5in but with no radar AA FC systems, and 4 or 5 x quad 1.1" plus about a dozen .5in HMGs versus 8 x twin 5.25in with radar AA FC, ~40 x 40mm pom-poms with radar AA FC and about a dozen 20mm guns on PoW and 6 x 4in HA guns, aprox 24 x 40mm pom-poms on Repulse along with 8 or so 20mm and 8 x .5in MGs.