Grosser Kurfürst when Gaijin?
1 Like
yep. SOYUZ is CANCER!!! non-existent ship and absolutely unreal!! my yamato is like an apple and soyuz a mega hammer. it always destroys me in 1-2 hits. BUT Yamato was the strongest and best ship in the world!!!
1 Like
Not. Heaviest never mean best. Was Maus best tank in WW2? No
1 Like
…No?
Yamato was one of the most heavily armored ships of the early 1940s and she packed a punch only later seen as close to similar in the Iowas but her AA was garbage even post retrofit as was her torpedo protection.
The Iowa class was probably the pinnacle of battleship technology before warfare deemed that the battleship as a class obsolete.
If Yamato was built even 5 years earlier, she would have been completely uncontested but alas, that wasn’t the case. By the time she was built, the era of the battleship was over.
2 Likes
Hmm… Maybe. Im on the fence in that regard. Very good yes, but pinnacle? Depends on what metric being used
1 Like
Warspite was featured only after Soyuz had her spotlight. It was a pretty big controversy when it was initially released.
Anyway, Soyuz will be the killer of top tier naval until Gaijin either nerfs it or kicks it so high up in BR that only the very top of ships can fight her. She has literally no weaknesses and does everything well to a stupid degree.
2 Likes
Wasn’t the Iowa used until like the 90’s or something?
With a number of upgrades/refits and being pulled out of mothball. Twice.
Specifically looking at WW2 and what it was like in that era. Other ships had some strengths over it, like Vanguard I beleive had a far far more advanced fire control system until Iowas 1950s? Refit
1 Like
I thought the Iowas were the only ships with the whatever fancy fire control radars that allowed it to shoot much further than other ships?
Im not well versed in US ships. but I thought that was a Korean war upgrade and not something it had in WW2 (could be wrong, but I do recall it getting a major upgrade in the 1950s)
Im fairly certain that a large number of British WW2 ships, ranging from light cruisers up to battleships had fire control radars, with excellent accuracy, which is how HMS Belfast was able to engage and practically defeat Scharnhorst in a blizzard for example. It was able to track, and fire at twice Scharnhorst range, with better accuracy, in 0 visibility
Also Vanguard could automatically engage 4 different enemy aircraft simutaneously with its unmanned AA. (something not modeled in game in anyway I should mention)
2 Likes
No I’m pretty sure it had this when it was first deployed I remember reading it was the first such ship with capabilities in the world, but even then limiting a ship to its earliest model when talking about the greatest Battleships feels lame. You wouldn’t use the 105mm Abrams as the representee for Best Mbt.
Nor is it fair to say that the Abrams is the best tank in a line up of a Churchill, Tiger II and an M1A1 Abrams. Of course its the best. Its far more modern.
It is only really fair to compare ships of the same era. Say 1944-1946 when talking about battleships, so that you can fairly compare. Yes, Iowa got a lot of upgrades, like CIWS, Tomahawks, etc etc, but that doesnt make it the “greatest” battleship, just the only one to get upgrades as everyone else scrapped theres. Im not sure Vanguard really got much in the way of post-war upgrades. The “greatest” battleship of all time probably should be considered HMS Warspite, given its history (most battle honours of any battleship 15 vs Iowas 11 if my research is correct, though cross nation comparison is tricky )
Overall package: Speed, defense, armament.
There’s some aspects that the A140s are straight better or comparable vs the Iowas while being notably worse in others but overall Iowas are just the better ship.
That doesn’t mean the Yamatos were bad by any means: the guns were terrifyingly accurate and the armor could resist or even block 46cms at 20km. They were also notably more maneuverable (640m vs 720m) but the iowas edged out in mobility (27 knots vs 32).
The USS New Jersey had 19 battlestars. But for strictly WWII North Carolina had the most at 15…
No idea what that translates to “battle honors” and if that is the same thing as a battle star. Just thought I’d point that out since you mentioned cross nation comparison is difficult, and used Iowa as an example. Iowa actually missed out on a lot of battle action throughout its lifespan.
Fair on that then, missed that ship, didnt come when looking, though looking now that I think includes a lot of stuff from Korea, Vietnam and Cold war if im not mistaken.
3 Likes
The first ship in the world with a radar fire control radar was the USS Texas.
1 Like
What do you mean by “radar fire control”?
Yes. The Iowa class did not see very much service in WWII due to their late introduction. Most of their combat was carrier escort and shore bombardment.
The North Carolina class and South Dakota class saw the most service of US battleships in WWII. North Carolina, like I mentioned before had 15 battle stars, but only served in the Navy for a measly 6 years. Meanwhile, New Jersey achieved her 19 battle stars over the course of 21 years cumulated service.
Basically, she was the first battleship to incorporate radar into her main gun director suite and use that to acquire a firing solution on the target. While radar was previously used to detect targets and adjust fire, this was the first incorporated system in a surface combat standpoint.
Edit: Actually, I am wrong. It seems like while Texas was fitted CXAM radar very early on but actually was not incorporated with the fire control system until 1941. It appears the USS California was the first.
What I misremembered this information from, is that USS Texas was the first US warship to conduct radar directed gunnery not the first to receive the capability.
But anyway, getting way off track here. Was just responding to the fella that thought USS Iowa was the first to receive this technology, when she was actually pretty late to the party. Her fire control was very advanced for 1944 though.
1 Like
You sure?
From what I can find the Mk3 naval fire control radar were fitted to USS Texas fitted late 1941 (Source)
USS Carolina appears to have gotten them in 1942
So both of which would be after May 1941 when HMS Prince of Wales fought Bismark during the battle of the Denmark Straight where it used its fire control radar to engage Bismark, and it provided ranging and bearing if im not mistaken.
So unless it provided the information notably differently to British warships such as the King-George-V class. Then they might not even be the first to have used the radar in combat, let alone fitted radar FCS
1 Like