The Bismarcks Ar 196 were not there for defense, they were on the ship for scouting and mail.
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Can you immagine a coordinated carrier-based attack (along with the land-based attacks) durring the Battle of britain?
And I guess the couldn't take off from the water either. (no wat to lower them)
How were the Ar-196's retreived after a mission. Was there a retrieval crane? If so it may have been possible to lower them into the water for take-off, though the water may have been too rough.
however, Bismarck couldn´t launch any Ar-196 due to the problem of the damaged launch catapult.
They couldn´t lower them due to the seastate (force 7). The waves had gale and were much taller than the Ar-196. It would be suicidal.
I have seen and touched the Prinz Eugen (sister ship to the Bismark) it is in the Marshall Islands close to Kwajaleine missle range it is capsized with screws exposed off the atoll of Carlos (Eniwebegan)in around 100 feet of water...rather strange how this discussion is placed in a ww1 mainlevel topic.
Ok-my two cents on:
1.) BB: umm, Yamato for me. (unmatched protection and firepower (Iowas super heavy AP MK 8 shells were equal only for armor penetration at very long ranges, at medium to close range nothing could match an 18.1" AP round as nothing could match the japanese 18.1" shells in pure terms of destructiveness)-key factors for battleships)
2.) BC: Hood (handsome ship, decent speed, decent firepower, prestigeous)
3.) CV: This should belong to the Essex class, no doubt
4.) CA: Prinz Eugen (best firecontroll of all ww2 cruisers, excellent AA, balanced design)
5.) CL: The Fiji´s were impressive on papers, only. I would go for RN Jamaica!
6.) DD: Fletcher for me.
7.) MTB/EB: E-boats (for personal reasons, my grandfather served on them)
8.) subs: Type XXI, unmatched.
-tow points on Iowa vs Yamato: 1.) compare armor protection (and I underline that you cannot simply degrade japanese armor qualities. One sample tested by the US represented the best ever tested face hardened plate in history, another was crap): Iowa is very, very vulnarable to Yamato while vice versa Yamato is well protected against Iowa. -keep in mind that it´s decapping plate is myth only, IT WOULD NEVER DECAP ANY BB used APC ROUND! 2.) Firecontroll: The US Radar advantage is valid for 1944 and later (by 1945 Yamato had sophisticated Radar as well) with MK 8 firecontroll. During Gudacanal Wahsington still depended on visual tracking for elevating the guns. Yamato had the most sophisticated optical firecontroll device ever. The advantage would be for the US in night engagements and up to 32.000 yrds while any engagements under clear weather would give Yamato an advantage. The speed advantage of Iowa is doubtful for sustained periods under battle damage: completely unprotected bow and worser metacentric height.
Prinz Eugen was a heavy cruiser so could not be a sister ship to Bismarck, a battleship. Bismarck's sister ship was Tirpitz. Perhaps you meant she was Bismarck's consort.