![]() The Bismark hit a 2 foot section with no armor on the Hood and ignited the magazines. Then again, as we all know, anything could happen. They did not have more ships of different similar classes later to iron out problems they found.Ģ: Superior damage control and perhaps even more importantly, superior fire control. The Yamato was Japan's North Carolina class on a larger scale. ![]() ![]() I think they were near the perfect battleship. Then with the Iowa class they had 10,000 tons to build bigger engines, slightly heavier and more extensive armor and fix any problems. Problems found in the design were ironed out and fixed in the South Dakota class. I personally think the Iowa would have won out doing the math for two reasons:ġ: There was a vast jump in tech when the American's built the North Carolina class. We know the Iowa's could fire accurately at flank speed which was substantially faster than the Yamato (33 kts vs 27.5). ![]() The Iowa had better damage control, but the Yamato did have thicker armor and more powerful guns. They would likely have tried to close knowing that the Iowa's vitals were armored against 16" AP shells out to (if memory serves) about 12000 yards. (Radar is an amazing thing).īut the fact remains the American's didn't know the Yamato had 18" guns. This was shown by the USS North Carolina being able to hold a firing solution while making a 450 degree turn hard over followed by a 100 degree hard over while at flank speed in 1946. The Iowa could, at flank speed, and that would have been a tremendous advantage. Jane's Fighting Ships was reporting it as 16" until 1946.I think if the American's knew the Yamato was carrying 18" guns they would have kept their distance knowing at closer ranges the shells would be able to penetrate the Iowa's armor. ![]() The key is that the Americans believed the Yamato was armed with 16" guns up until the war was finished. I believe it's questionable which would have won out in the end. But I thought I'd post my opinion but see what others thought. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |