Iowa vs Yamato comparison

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SaparotRob said:
Drachinifel has that scenario in one of his longer videos. He set up what and who would be where. Then cool computer graphics of battleships pummeling each other.
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Never watched any of those.
But considering that three of the Iowa class battleships alone would be enough to overwhelm the Yamato, the South Dakota and two of her class entering the fray would be more than enough to assure the Yamato's demise.
 
GrauGeist said:
Never watched any of those.
But considering that three of the Iowa class battleships alone would be enough to overwhelm the Yamato, the South Dakota and two of her class entering the fray would be more than enough to assure the Yamato's demise.
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I think the matchup was two Iowas, 2 or 3 treaty BBs against Yamato and 2 or 3 other IJN BBs. It was what ever Admiral Kurita had at Samar and whatever would have to happen to have the USN surface battle group that could have been there. Admiral Lee in charge on U.S.S. Washington.
 
You would pay to see it.

It would be who ever hits first wins so most effective fire control wins.

Just because you are outside the penetration tables doesn't mean you don't fire.

The Kill Zone where Yamato can but Iowa can't is a fair old distance. So certainly more chance than skill.
 
The Yamato's 18" guns had a max. range of 26 miles.

The Iowa class' 16" guns had a max. range of 24 miles.

The South Dakota class' 16" guns had a max. range of 23 miles.

Of course, effective ranges will be less than maximum but even still, the ranges seem to favor the Yamoto, however the USN's fire-control negates that advantage.
 
Yamato can go through Iowas armour at longer ranges before Iowa can go through Yamatos armour.

This will give Yamato an advantage before Iowa can close.

Problem is at such ranges the time of flight of the shell could be up to a minute. So even the slightest of zigzagging would negate any advantage.

The probability of a hit at extreme range is not good. And that's on a perfect day.

The first good hit will be a mission kill and once the combat effectiveness of the victim is diminished then it's all over.

The speed and radar advantage of the Iowa will be not much after a visit from an 18 inch shell.

Of course, this is informed after the fact so in actual WW2 combat, the Iowa will not know this and so could find itself charging what it thinks is a peer opponent. That could be a costly mistake.
 
pinehilljoe said:
The ship that made the first hit would have the edge. With superior RFC, the Iowa's would more than likely get the first hits.
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During the Battle of Sumar, the Yamashiro and Mogami were hammered by 16" and 14" gunfire by "old basket master" USN battleships (most of which were damaged at Pearl Harbor) at night with the aid of their radar assisted fire control - so yes, the Iowa class would have been on the ball, but the South Dakota class would have been in the same league.
 
James Hornfischer's Neptune's Inferno is very good book if you are interested in surface ship battles. He praises ADM Lee as the first commander to fight a battle based on what he was told by RFC not what he could be seen. Lee's handling of Washington on November the 14th is an example of a modern battleship with RFC against a Japanese battleship. In Hornfischer's Fleet at Flood Tide, He makes reference to Lee's reluctance to engage in a night action during the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Even Lee, with his numerical superiority preferred not to gamble the fast battleships.


Excerpts from Hornfischer's Fleet at Flood Tide:

 
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Great book.
 
GrauGeist said:
The Iowa Class sould make 33 knots, the South Dakota class could make 27 knots - which was as fast as Yamoto and Musashi.
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I think sailing speed and RFC make the Iowas competitive with Yamatos. Take away the speed (and hence the ability to dictate terms of combat), the SDs/NCs will be saddled with the circumstances of the opening of the engagement, barring a dumb decision on one side or the other. It becomes a lot harder at that point, I believe.

If I'm the Americans taking on a Yamato, I'd ideally want one Iowa, or two other modern BBs that would split the Japanese fire.
 
Anyone got penetration table for the Vickers 14 inch as used by Kongo Ise Fuso?

Could they have gone through the armour of the Washington
 
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