Tuesday, January 6, 2009

ijn Yamato vs Iowa-class Battleship

Imperial Japanese Navy Yamato class weight: 72,820 tonnes.

Overall Legnth: 263 metres or roughly 840 feet
united states navy battleship Iowa-class weight: 57,216 tonnes.
Legnth: 270 metres or 887 feet long.

Main Armanant: The Yamato-class boasted the largest guns even put onto a warship, the nine gargantuan 18.1-inch/45Caliber naval gun in triple turrets. By comparison, the Iowa-class mounts nine 16-inch/50Caliber guns.

The general advantages of the US 16-inch gun on the Iowas is that their muzzle velocity was superior to the Japanese 18.1-inch gun (at the cost of deck penatration), the US Navy also had better fuses for their AP shells, and gun weight. The Iowa-class was meant to mount the Mark II 16-inch gun that was supposed to be mounted on the abortive South Dakota-class of 1920. Due to mis-communication, the turrets were built too small to mount the MK. II rifle, and so the USN built the Mark VII naval rifle, which has roughly the same firepower and penatration at longer ranges as the Yamato's 18.1-inch guns, but weighs less than three quarters as much.

Winner: Iowa-class, although it's worth noting that the Yamato-class 18.1-inch guns are more powerful at close range.

Secondary Armanant: Twenty 5-inch/38Caliber guns for the Iowa-class versus twelve 6.1 inch guns and twenty-four 5-inch DP guns for the Yamato. (late war configuration)

Winner: Iowa's 5-inch gun is superior as Heavy AA gun, but Yamato edges it out against ships.

anti aircraft weaponry: The Yamato in late-war configuration mounted as many as 150 25mm AA guns, with four 13mm guns.Iowa mounted eighty 40mm Borfors and fourty-nine 20mm Oerlikons. In terms of numbers, the Yamato mounted a tremendous amount of them, although when it comes to sheer weapon quality, the Iowa is MUCH better. The 25mm AA gun had a very hard time taking down US Navy fighters, mostly because US Fighters were built to take quite a lot of punishment, unlike their Japanese counterparts, which were deisgned more for manuverability than toughness. The 25mm also had a hard time tracking targets, as the turning speed of the weapon mounts were slow.

Winner: Iowa, in quality.

Radar and Fire-Control: Iowa's is the same as the preceding South Dakota and North Carolina-class of ships. By comparison, Yamato's Radar definately wasn't as good as the US system.

Winner: Iowa.

Armouring: Iowa's Armour Belt is roughly 12-inches thick, inclined at 19 degrees, and has the same internal armour belt as SoDak. Yamato's Armour Belt is 16.1 inches thick, also inclined.

Armouring Advantage goes to the Yamato-class.

Top Speed: Iowa's top speed is 33 knots, faster than any other Battleship ever built. By comparison, the Yamato-class is slower at 27 Knots (Although Yamato could keep pace with the North Carolina and SoDaks)

Advantage: Iowa, by a relatively large amount.

Fuel Range: Yamato's maximum fuel rage was 7,200 nautical miles at 16 knots. Yamato was a fuel hog of monumental proportions, largely stemming from its relatively conservative propusion plant design. By comparison, the Iowa possed tremendous endurance, with a maximum range of 16,600 nautical miles at a crusing speed of fifteen knots.

Winner: Iowa, by a large amount.

Overall winner: The Iowa-class is the winner between the two


Anonymous said...

For the battleships i would have to go with the IJN Yamato class. it have better armor ,It was 121 feet wide and contained over 21000 tons of armor,it withstood much more punishment than any Iowa class battleship could of. Barring the fact that Iowas radar controlled gunfire was better than Yamatos optical sighting, i would still go with Yamato. Yamato had a more powerful armament, While its 18.1 inch guns could slightly outrange Iowas 16 inch guns, they were about eqaul in armor penetration (yes im aware that japanese shells werent of the best quality).

Anonymous said...

Also the main armaments range would be a factor too. The Yamato could fire up to 41 km and the Iowa 38 km. The Yamato could just stay out of range of the Iowa and pummel it with its 18" guns.

BB Fan said...

If engaged in a Savo Island type battle, I might prefer the Yamato class, as a close in fight favors thicker armor, bigger guns, and more secondaries.

For almost anything else the Iowa class is better-faster, longer radius of action, better AA, better radar and fire control.

While it is debatable if the IJN 18" shell or the USN 16" shell is better, it is also debatable about which ship class really had the better armor overall. What is not debatable is that the Iowa class guns may have been slightly shorter ranged, but the radar, fire control and speed would favor it in a long range gun duel and the Yamato could not "just stay out of range and pummel it with its 18" guns."

Aubrey said...

Edge to Iowa for fire control systems. Iowa 1- search and 6- fire control radars. Yamato - no fire control radar; search is unable to track anything smaller than a group of ships; range-finding strictly visual. All else being equal, in any scenario the Iowa will kill Yamato. Also Iowa has better deck armor penetration than Yamato. Iowa can shoot accurately while maneuvering; Yamato cannot.

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