US and IJN heavy cruisers

Historical what if discussions, hypothetical operations, battleship vs. battleship engagements, design your own warship, etc.
paul.mercer
Senior Member
Posts: 1224
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 10:25 pm

US and IJN heavy cruisers

Post by paul.mercer »

Gentlemen,
if one put an IJN Takao class cruiser (10X8 + torpedoes) against a US Baltimore (9 x8") (or similar class) cruiser in a one to one, who would win/
Fatboy Coxy
Member
Posts: 116
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2018 5:18 am

Re: US and IJN heavy cruisers

Post by Fatboy Coxy »

The Takao's are ten years older, give or take a bit, than the Baltimore's, bit unfair I think

The armour on the Baltimore's is thicker in most parts
The American gun is better, giving a AP penetration of 6 inch belt armour at 20,000+ yds, while the Japanese gun is only penetrating 4.7 inch at just under 20,000 yds

The Japanese ship is slightly quicker, but not enough imo to matter tactically.

So the Baltimore should win hands down, however
She only has three turrets, meaning losing one hurts her far more that the Japanese ship, who has five

Secondly, there is the big question over the type 93 oxygen torpedoes. They can reach the Baltimore at 20,000 yds easily, but the accuracy given they will take about 12 minutes at 50 knots to reach the Baltimore is very doubtful, and secondly, the Japanese captain would want to fire these off soon, a hit on loaded torpedo tubes may well sink her.
Regards
Fatboy Coxy

Currently writing https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/ ... if.521982/
paul.mercer
Senior Member
Posts: 1224
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 10:25 pm

Re: US and IJN heavy cruisers

Post by paul.mercer »

Many thanks for your reply,
I didn't realise that the Japanese ships were that much older, did they have any more modern heavy cruisers that might have made a worthwhile opponent to the US ships?
User avatar
marcelo_malara
Senior Member
Posts: 1847
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:14 pm
Location: buenos aires

Re: US and IJN heavy cruisers

Post by marcelo_malara »

The Baltimore class is quiet unique in being the only (AFAIK) cruiser class that has adequate protection against its own caliber, making it a kind of a scaled down battleship. Friedman´s British Cruisers mentions that the RN commissioned a study to know how big would be a cruisers with this kind of protection, it concluded in a 20.000 t monster which was out of reach for the British war economy. Well, the Baltimores are just that monster.
Post Reply