Best World war two warships?

[Lucky13]

Accuracy During World War II......

A Naval War College study performed during World War II estimated that an Iowa Class (BB-61) battleship firing with top spot against a target the size of the German battleship Bismarck would be expected to achieve the following hit percentages.

Range Percentage hits against a broadside target Percentage hits against an end-on target Ratio

1: 10,000 yards (9,144 m)
2: 20,000 yards (18,288 m)
3: 30,000 yards (27,432 m)

Percentage hits against a broadside target

1: 32.7%
2: 10.5%
3: 2.7%

Percentage hits against an end-on target

1: 22.3%
2: 4.1%
3: 1.4%

Ratio

1: 1.47:1
2: 2.56:1
3: 1.92:1

Suddenly I feel soooo much safer on my ol' mountaineer battle wagon.

[syscom3]

So even though the Iowa, S Dak and NC class battleships were faster, better armed for both surface and aerial threats, better armor and had more advanced damage control designs, were inferior to the West Virginia?

[Lucky13]

USS West Virginia Radar:

1941 : CXAM /
1944 : SK /
1945 : SK-2 /

USS Iowa Radar

1943 : SK, SRa /
1945 : SK-2, SC-2 /


To be good, you first need to HIT something when you shoot...Speed is usually good when you try to catch up or run away...

West Virginia: 8 dual 5"/38cal DP, 10 quad 40mm AA, 1 quad 20mm AA, 1 twin 20mm AA, 58 single 20mm AA
Iowa: 10 dual 5"/38cal, 18 quad 40 mm AA, 52 single 20 mm AA

West Virginia: Armor: 8-13.5 inch belt, 3.5 inch decks, 4.5-13 inch barbettes, 5-18 inch turrets, 4-16 inch CT
Iowa: Armor: 1.6-12.1 inch belt, 6 inch deck, 11.6-17.3 inch barbettes, 2.5-17.3 inch turrets, 7.25-17.3 inch CT...

Good way of learning....

[Lucky13]

Just showing some CLASSY ladies here.....

USS Nevada BB-36


USS Pennsylvania BB-38


USS Mississippi BB-41

USS Maryland BB-46


USS West Virginia BB-48


And of course USS Yorktown CV-5.


Now, what was it that Stevie Wonder sang again...... Isn’t She Lovely?

[delcyros]

Originally Posted by Lucky13

Accuracy During World War II......

A Naval War College study performed during World War II estimated that an Iowa Class (BB-61) battleship firing with top spot against a target the size of the German battleship Bismarck would be expected to achieve the following hit percentages.

Range Percentage hits against a broadside target Percentage hits against an end-on target Ratio

1: 10,000 yards (9,144 m)
2: 20,000 yards (18,288 m)
3: 30,000 yards (27,432 m)

Percentage hits against a broadside target

1: 32.7%
2: 10.5%
3: 2.7%

Percentage hits against an end-on target

1: 22.3%
2: 4.1%
3: 1.4%

Ratio

1: 1.47:1
2: 2.56:1
3: 1.92:1

Suddenly I feel soooo much safer on my ol' mountaineer battle wagon.

These datas have been disproved mathematically recently and back then by ww2 combat records. The hit percentage for end on targets indeed is better than for broadside targets due to the dispersion field of the salvos and because it is easier to correct deflection than range. No US BB achieved 10% hit ratio (sustained) at 20.000 yards, nor 30% at 10.000 yards nor even a single hit at more than 25.000 yards against BB-sized targets, radar or not.
The closest You could come with ww2 era firecontroll is a straddle and the tighter the salvo dispersion field, the better the hitting chances.

[Lucky13]

So delcyros, are you actually saying that it's worse!? Or am I just thick....Oi! Don't bother answer that.....

[Glider]

I admit that I have been under the impression that the Bismark and the Nelson had better hit rates than these.

[Lucky13]

USS West Virginia (BB-4 Action Report: Leyte Gulf/Surigao Straits Is great reading. 13 salvos in 41 seconds.....hurts my ears just thinking about the noise!

[Lucky13]

Battleship Bismarck, German Kriegsmarine The Battle of the Denmark Strait.

Do you agree with this? Battleship Comparison

[syscom3]

Originally Posted by Lucky13

Battleship Bismarck, German Kriegsmarine The Battle of the Denmark Strait.

Do you agree with this? Battleship Comparison

Delycros found some mistakes in the methodology used in this comparison, especially in the armor protection.

[delcyros]

It appeared to be a difference betwen peacetime trials against towed targets and wartime gunnery records.


The exact number of hits is not certain for Surigao Street. But with some probability the number of hit´s did not exceed 30 and could be as low as 20.
Which is - don´t take me wrong- an excellent display of gunnery averaging 10%.

Bismarck at Denmark street achieved a close to 10% hitting rate (at distances between 16.000 and 20.000 yards), which also is excellent.

KGV and Rodney achieved ~30 major calibre hits each on Bismarck during the final battle at distances between 2.500 and 15.000 yards but they only achieved 8% hitting rate against an almost immobilized target. Nobody says this was a bad performance. (the actual hitting rate could exceed 10% as the correct number of hit´s is a matter of debate)

DoY at Northcape achieved at least 13 hits against Scharnhorst but fired more than 300 rounds (4.3%) at distances between 5.000 yards and 21.400 yards in force 9 gale.

As You see, an ~10% hitting rate is what the best gunnery allowed in ww2 for distances up to 20.000 yards. A higher hitting rate was possible (at least for point blanc range) but in no case sustainable.

[Lucky13]

Thanks a bunch mate.....

[delcyros]

If You want to spend some time reading the discussion regarding combinedfleet:

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/ww2...ng-2817-3.html (German Battleships and convoy hunting.)

It´s a long one. We had a good discussion.

[renrich]

In order to justify my sentimental choices my criteria for best WW2 WARSHIPS will require that the ship had to be available for all or most of the war, had to have a good war record in action with the enemy, had to survive the war(helps to be lucky) and the ship must be cost effective(gets extra points if built well before the war because it was cheaper to build) CV- no contest--Enterprise(should have been preserved instead of Intrepid) BB--Washington(Ching Lee knew why)(honorable mention-Warspite) BC-Renown CA---Pensacola and Salt Lake City( both had good war records, both damaged more than once, both were lucky)( besides they had lots of guns) CL-Sheffield(good record, almost sunk by Swordfish, like her looks) DD-Onslow(she and Sheffield did good work on Murmansk run) DE-England- (Not much to look at but gave the IJN fits)

[Glider]

Like your approach. Following that I would make the following changes

BB - Warstpite (upgraded from Hon Mention)
DD - Ushio Served the entire war including nearly all the major battles and survived