[Threadfin]

I expected a stiffer defense for other ships, particularly Yamato and Musashi.


When folks compare warships, and battleships especially, they tend to focus on speed, firepower and armor. Those are essential components of any battleship, and comparing these is useful. But it is far from the whole story.


Perhaps equally important are factors such as damage control, fire direction, armor quality, design and placement, intra-ship communication, optics, crew training, leadership, ordnance design and quality, underwater protection and tactics (both those actually used in the engagement as well as the range of tactical options available to the skipper).



All of this debate can be rendered moot with a single shell. A single naval rifle strike on a vital component can end the argument. All ships are capable of a first-salvo strike. But for the purpose of evaluating a hypothetical engagement between these ships it is more useful in my view to determine the probability of such things occurring.


Of the five ships mentioned in the article, two I think can be scratched off the list straight away. Warspite, and to a lesser extent, Hood, were not in the same class as Bismarck/Tirpitz, Yamato/Musashi or the Iowas. King George would have been a better choice for this list than either of those. But a King George was closer in fact to the American's North Carolina class than Iowa. As a 'treaty ship', the King George was naturally handcuffed.



So for me, this comes down to post-treaty Bismarck vs Yamato vs Iowa.


As I've already stated, I feel the Iowa is the clearly superior ship, and when the 'soft' factors such as construction quality, training, tactics, and damage control are considered, the Iowa stands even further in the lead. The Yamato used voice tubes for instance, which had questionable utility in the heat of battle compared to radios.



But what really separates the Iowas from their contenders is fire control. It's often mentioned, but under-appreciated how effective the fire control was on Iowa-class battleships. Folks may assume it made the ship's rifles accurate, which of course it did. But fewer know that the Iowas could hold that gunnery solution through all sorts of maneuvers.



In either a Iowa vs Bismarck or Iowa vs Yamato engagement, three factors settle the question in my mind. Speed, fire control and tactics.


The Iowa was faster than either of the other two. It seems that when folks debate these what-if scenarios, they assume the two ships are each within range and slugging it out. Unless the American ship is skippered by a moron, this type of battle is unlikely. A competent captain would take advantage of Iowa's speed to decide when battle was joined. And none of the Iowa captains were morons. There are other, non predictable factors that may influence it, such as available room for maneuver, weather, visibility and time of day. Battles don't occur in a vacuum. The closest the Iowas and Yamato came to meeting, at the eastern exit to San Bernardino Strait is an interesting case. By necessity the American ships, in open water would have been at an advantage until such time that the Japanese could emerge from the confined waters, assuming in the first place this could be possible at all.


The Center Force would have been steaming straight in to a crossing of the T, with all the attendant disadvantages that creates.




For our purposes though let's assume a one v one, open ocean meeting.


In such an engagement, the American ship can simply shadow the opponent until such time as conditions are right for battle, as was doctrine. The Iowa's speed advantage allows this to happen. That speed also allows the Iowa to fire accurately near the limit of her range, and maintain that distance, exposing the Yamato or Bismarck to plunging fire that neither ship could hope to match.


What I believe would happen though is that the Iowa would maintain that shadow until nightfall, where it's superior fire control would have been even more pronounced. Both Bismarck and Yamato would be at a severe disadvantage in such a scenario, despite the Japanese reputation for night actions.



Ultimately though it's the superior design, crew and capability of the Iowa over either challenger that allows the Iowa to best utilize it's advantages while mitigating those of it's opponents.


All three were (and in one case still is) amazing warships. The debate is an interesting one to me. As I mentioned, the fact Bull ran robbed us of the one opportunity to have two of these ships come face to face. The result of that engagement would have been enlightening, but alas.


Still, it's endlessly interesting to discuss.


Edit: OP did not write the list as best battleship, but favorite. I scratched the Warspite and Hood in the 'best' argument. But clearly that's not what the list was intended to be.