Left to Right for comparison
Massachusetts
Washington
Missouri
Yamato
Bismarck
Rodney
KGV
Hood
I've been meaning to come back to this to give context to
@Cincydawg 's post and forgot about it so here it goes now.
Massachusetts was a South Dakota Class Battleship of the USN. The SoDak's were the second-to-last class of BB's completed by the United States. The four ships (South Dakota BB57, Indiana BB58, Massachusetts BB59, and Alabama BB60) were built between 1939-1942 and when they were commissioned in 1942 (all four) they were the USN's most powerful BB's and some of the most powerful in the world. They had 9x16" main guns and a plethora of smaller guns for close-in and AA defense. Massachusetts and Alabama are preserved as museums in their namesake states. SoDak and Indiana were scrapped.
Washington was a North Carolina Class Battleship of the USN. They were the immediate predecessors of the aforementioned SoDak class and thus were the third-to-last class of BB's completed by the United States. The two ships (North Carolina BB55 and Washington BB56) were built between 1937-1941 with both being commissioned in the summer of 1941. Thus, they were the USN's newest and most powerful battleships when the US entered WWII. They had 9x16" main guns and a plethora of smaller guns for close-in and AA defense. They were somewhat less well protected than the SoDak's. North Carolina is preserved as a museum in it's namesake state, Washington was scrapped.
Missouri was an Iowa Class Battleship of the USN. They were the final class of BB's completed by the United States. The four completed ships (Iowa BB61, New Jersey BB62, Missouri BB63, and Wisconsin BB64) were built between 1940-1944 and entered the fight toward the end of WWII. Thus, they were the newest and most powerful battleships in the US Fleet. They had 9x16" main guns and a plethora of smaller guns for close-in and AA defense. Their primary improvement over the preceding SoDak class was that the Iowa's were faster. The SoDak's and N. Carolina's could only obtain about 28 knots while the Iowa's could make 33 knots. This 5kn improvement came at an IMMENSE cost because (engineers here can explain better than me) adding speed becomes exponentially more difficult so I think the Iowa's had to have something like 2.5x the power to go a mere 5kn faster. In any case the increase was important for many reasons including:
- If you encounter a more powerful ship such as Yamato (see below), it is REALLY nice to be able to outrun it.
- The USN Carriers could go 33 kn so the Iowa's were MUCH better escorts for them because they could keep up.
All four are preserved as museums. Iowa is in LA, New Jersey is across the river from Philly, Missouri is in Pearl Harbor (the USN put it there overlooking the USS Arizona Memorial which is a powerful statement if you think about it), and Wisconsin is Norfolk, VA.
The original intention of the USN was to follow-up the Iowa class with a class of larger and more powerful but somewhat slower Battleships called the Montana Class. Those ships were designed with 12x16" main guns, heavier armor than the Iowa's, and more secondary guns. However, wartime experience showed that the age of the Battleship was effectively over and to the extent that BB's were needed at all, they were needed as carrier escorts which the slower Montana's couldn't do. Thus, two of the Montana's were reordered as Iowa's and became the Illinois BB65 and Kentucky BB66. These last two Iowa's were cancelled when it became apparent that they were surplus to wartime needs and eventually scrapped although one of them (I forget which) had it's bow removed and used to repair one of the completed ships.
You may have noticed in the picture that all three USN Battleships appear to be the same width. They are almost exactly the same width. The width was determined by the locks of the Panama Canal. All three pictured USN BB's are just narrow enough that they and two coats of wax can fit through the Panama Canal.
Yamato was a Yamato Class Battleship of the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy). The Yamato's were the largest class of BB's ever completed. The two ships (Yamato and Mushashi, a third was converted to an aircraft carrier part way through construction) were built in the run-up to and early part of WWII and they were the most powerful BB's in the IJN and arguably the world. (Iowa's have an argument because while they had smaller guns and thinner armor their guns and armor were better pound-for-pound so it is a hotly debated topic). They had 9x18.1" main guns and a plethora of smaller guns for close-in and AA defense.
Bismark was a Bismark Class Battleship of the KM (Kriegsmarine, sp?). The Bismarks were the largest class of BB's ever completed by a European power. The two ships (Bismark and Tirpitz) were built by Nazi Germany in the run-up to WWII. Bismark famously sank the Hood (see below) and was in turn sunk by nearly the entire British Fleet including one of the Nelrods and one of the KGV's (see below). They had 8x15" guns and could obtain about 30kn. Tirpitz was tucked away in a Norwegian Fjord where it effectively tied up a half-dozen British and US Battleships by just being a "Fleet in being" that the RN and USN were compelled to remain prepared to fight. Eventually the British managed to sink it with aerial bombs and it's hulk has provided a massive amount of low background steel for various applications in which background radiation is a problem. Bismark was sunk in the North Atlantic while unsuccessfully trying to get close enough to occupied France to acquire German air cover after the Battle of the Denmark Straight in which she had sunk the Hood.
Rodney was a Nelson Class Battleship of the RN. The Nelson's were the only class of British BB's completed between the pre-WWI designed Revenge Class and the immediate run-up to WWII. They were built under the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty and were odd ships due to measures taken to comply. They had 9x16" guns but could only obtain 23 kn because speed was severely limited by the necessity to keep the powerplant light enough that the ship could meet the treaty limit. The immediately visible unusual feature is that the three main turrets are all located forward of the bridge. This was done to minimize the size (and thus weight) of the armored citadel.
King George the Fifth (KGV) was a KGV Class Battleship of the RN. The KGV's were the last class of British BB's completed before the end of WWII (the completed one additional post-war BB). They were built partially under the restrictions of the treaty system but that system was collapsing as they were being built. The five ships (KGV, Prince of Wales (POW), Duke of York (DOY), Anson, and Howe) were built between 1936-1942 and were the most modern BB's in the RN during WWII. They had 10x14" main guns and smaller arms and could obtain 28kn. They are roughly equivalent to the US SoDak Class.
Hood has a really interesting story. It was laid down during WWI and completed just before the treaty system went into effect. Consequently, it was the most powerful warship in the world for around 20 years. During this time it gained a rather revered/mythic status in Britain so it's loss (to Bismark) early in WWII was particularly troubling to the RN and the British in general. It had 8x15" main guns and could obtain 32 kn. At construction it was designated a BattleCruiser but by WWII standards it was probably more proper to call it a fast Battleship (like the Iowa's). It was sunk by a catastrophic magazine explosion* after taking hits from Bismark early in WWII. *Catastrophic Magazine Explosion is redundant. All Magazine Explosions are by nature catastrophic. Arizona suffered a similar fate at Pearl Harbor and about half of US deaths at Pear Harbor occurred when Arizona blew up. similarly, there were only three survivors out of Hood's crew of nearly 1,500.
