@@satnav9699 No , Warthunder is more sim , World of Warships is arcade for everyone , no matter if you are 15 years old girl or 65 year old men , rules are simple .
@@Staghound they choose Belfast instead. I would have liked HMS Jarvis too tbh. Nearly as many battle honours, heavily committed throughout the war, but not a single member of the crew lost to enemy action. The luckiest ship in the navy.
As an American, I strongly agree. By WWII, she was not the best battleship by a long shot (see what I did there?), but her resume beats all from that era. Wish she would have been preserved. She won't be forgotten.
@@col.hertford9855 It took many years to Britain to pay their debt (2006 I believe) Still like i said, Warspite was too expensive to repair and then do the necessary things for her preservation
Arizona seems random to me. I get shes pretty iconic at Pearl but the Washington would have been better on this list. Shes literally the reason why the US won the final naval battle of Guadalcanal which is one of the turning points of WW2 in the Pacific.
I'd argue it's by name. Sure Iowa/Mighty Mo deserve to be on the list. As many videos and books as I've read, there seems to be not a ton of info (at least super documented in such things) about the USS Washington (sure the washington had 13 battle stars) If anything you could throw the USS New Jersey one of the most decorated Battleship in the entire fleet. The USS Texas took 4 part in 4 major Landings (and the only one to do so) (D-day,Iwo,Okinowa, and North Africa)
@@TheGLORY13 Yeah but the USS San Diego also had a shit load of battle stars too (18?) and she didn't really do anything of note other than cheerlead for Enterprise .... so ehhh on the whole battle star thing. Washington and South Dakota would have had a very bad day if not for their radar guided fire, this was the first time it had been done (In actual combat anyway.) and they didn't just score hits, they were raining shells down with a precision that is kind of scary for WW2. Washington crippled the heck out of the IJN Kirishima because Kirishima's spotlights were so focused on South Dakota they didn't even realise Washington was firing upon them until womp womp. (If I recall anyway! Something like that.) But yeah, North Carolina/South Dakota class gang huzzah!
I don't think Arizona is all that random a choice for a historian. It's a "favorites" list and everyone has their own reasons for what they like and don't like. Perhaps being a ship that can still be visited - even as a wreck - is a factor. It can be experienced whereas Washington can only be read about as it was scrapped. The USS Missouri museum is basically looking out over the USS Arizona memorial, and together they're they're symbolic of the start and end of WW2 for the US. That's gotta mean something from a historian's perspective.
@@Pure_Havoc i mean why have more US ones, they could have Italian and more British, seen as up until 1944 they had the largest navy in the world and many more battleships of note. Especially as the most successful US ship on this list sunk a trawler and a destroyer with the help of other ships.
Dan's pro-Brit, anti-German bias is off the scale here. Bismarck's hit on Hood wasn't "lucky"; she straddled Hood with the 1st salvo then sank her. Bismarck was very well armoured, as she took a tremendous pounding from Rodney's 16" guns before probably being scuttled by her own crew. She was also fast for 1941, so she had the firepower-speed-armour balance just right. She wasn't perfect & had her flaws, but was as good a ship as any British battleship of the war. Her crew fought her courageously to the end, and the fact that she drew so much of the Royal Navy's resources meant she had a huge influence historically, despite her short service life. And the fear-factor she created was immense.
@@TheNigelrojo: The weak deck armour thesis has been dismissed after looking at the actual as built designs. As a battlecruiser (an eggshell armed with hammers) HMS Hood was not designed to resist guns of the same calibre as she had. However, some people point out that HMS Hood was 'improved' during construction so her deck armour was not particularly thin. Latest analysis ( looking at the actual engagement distance) which indicates the shell was NOT plunging fire. The review of the actual damage as seen on the wreck, and the two reviews during WW2 of agree that a magazine explosion occurred. However, many experts now suggest that her magazine was penetrated by either a 'diving' shell or her thinner underwater armour was exposed when her bow wave + heeling left this exposed NOT plunging fire. I suggest you read one of the recent analysis by Drachinefel or Oceanliner Designs or the custodians of the USN New Jersey they all agree the shell was NOT plunging fire i.e. penetration through the deck.
@@postie48 Modern takes think that the Hood was sunk by a shell that hit the broadside under the belt armour where the trough of the wake wave revealed that part of the ship under the main belt. We'll never know for sure but we do know it was too close for plunging fire to do the job and the under the belt theory makes a lot of sense given what we do know.
@@ImQueenElizibeth I agree with the under belt theory but there was that orange flame. So many myths, assumptions, stories. Who knows? Hood was a WWI fast battleship, in many ways Bismark was another. In her last battle Bismark only came close with her first salvo after that she quickly became damaged so heavily she couldn't fight. Bismark took a lot of damage to sink but Battleships are SUPPOSED to take a lot of effort to sink, but she had major damage very quickly. Hood aimed at and hit the Prinz Eugen with her first salvo and if it had not been for that maybe Bismarck would have been the ship that Hood hit with her first salvo. Which ship would have one in a single ship toe-to-toe battle the brand spanking new Bismark or the worn out Hood - who knows.
@@ChrisCrossClashreally? HMS Cockchafer, Dainty, Spanker, Pansy, Fairy, Tickler, Delight, Unicorn, Frolic, and the entire Flower class of corvettes would beg to differ. I mean yeah Victory, Indomitable, Vengeance, Repulse, Dreadnought, and Warspite are awesome name, but the RN doesn't ALWAYS have cool ship names
Scharngorst was more a commerce raider and sunk more tonnage than any other ship on the list so was probably the most successful at what she was designed for
"Bismarck" a D? Well, when you mention a lucky hit on the "Hood", then you should also mention the lucky torpedo-hit by a british biplane. If the torpdo didn't hit the rudder (a few others hit somewhere else and caused no damage at all!), the Bismarck would have been able to escape the biggest fleet ever combined hunting her alone towards the coast of France. One carrier, 6 battleships, several heavy and light cruisers and 33 destroyers were after her, and all of them wouldn't have been able to get her without the luck of a "Swordfish"-biplane. And when this fleet got her, Bismarck was already unable to manouvre for a last legendary duel against the superior numbers. Maybe it was not an A (for example: bad radar system, moreover killed by herself with her first salvo ever), but definately a B.
"Stand aside, I'm coming through. This is Ching Lee." The North Carolina class: USS Washington, was the last battleship to sink another battleship in a one-on-one engagement. She was captained by a man whom I've recently grown to deeply admire. There’s also the USS Texas, who famously gangster-leaned itself so it could fire further inland on D-Day. I would have rather had her on the list over the USS Arizona.
@@PolymurExcel Yea and the actual SD had a big snafu with it's electrical system that was then followed by a navigation error that left them silhouetted against a burning destroyer which caused them to eat a few large caliber shells.
Uh no, I’m pretty sure this is false. The battle of Saratoga Strait in 1944 was the last battleship on battleship engagement, and that did not involve USS Washington.
@@jimmyneutron4158 the incident I’m referring to happened in the Solomon Islands two years prior and was a direct duel between the Kirashima and the Washington. I hardly think the Fuso from Sergio Straight really counts when it was getting combined fire from several other ships and was had torpedo as a killing blow.
"Am I biased? yes I am." 🤣 This was so fun to watch. I love hearing historians talk so passionately about there fields of study, it brings the subjects to life for me.
I love that he embraced just having a bit of a chuckle with all this, he outright SAID he wasn't being particularly serious about it. And you still got comments getting salty about it lmao
anyone that claims to be without bias is a liar. i forgive Dan for classing the Warspite by herself. she was a proud ship. she deserved a better fate than the breakers. i hope that an occasion that a ship renders herself so historically important in history that she should be deemed a museum ship is not needed in the future, the Victory, the Constitution, the Mikasa, the Avrova (LOOK HER UP she's a beautiful ship in wonderful shape) the Arizona, the Missouri, the Texas, and all the other current museum ships around the world need to be preserved to honor those that served about them, and in honoring them, we need to keep a clear mind that free people need to stay free and honor the sacrifice that those that served in our Armed Forces did so in the hope that war among our peoples would not keep happening. Pray for Peace folks!!!!!
I don’t agree with D tier either but the bismarck was just severely impractical, it hit an incredibly lucky shot on the hood and it was so large and impractical that it stood no chance what so ever
@ because sinking it enabled the British to not look as bad for losing a key vessel. And sending “every vessel” even though it wasn’t even 5% of the total fleet after it ensured its sinking without losing any more allied ships. It’s real life not a game
My dad lived near where Warspite beached herself on the way to the breakers, refusing to die, and remembers older boys swimming out to her. Imagine having a battleship to play with. And Warspite at that!
Prussia cove, note accurately by st Michael’s mount in Cornwall where I lived for ten years. And yes, if the tide was out and the flats exposed you could still see some of her heel and boilers up until the late 2010s
@@Iamlurking504 Before you give us too much credit we did scrap the Enterprise and if there was going to be 1 museum ship only, that should be the one. It's combat record is remarkable, at least Star Trek got it right anyhow. It makes me sad that I can't visit that iconic ship.
You mean Polish battleship Gneisenau ? , because Poland own it 1945-51 , and there was plans to repair it and place in Polish navy , that did not happen because soviets have offer Poland 3 destroyers and 5 submarines instead.
@@Huzarionix What Polish? Just because the soviets saved you and then the ship ended up in Poland after the war doesn't make it Polish xd You guys were barely able to build destroyers on your own before the war. And not like the soviets had to offer anything for it as commie Poland was just a puppet state of the USSR. They could have just taken it but i guess they were feeling generous, uncharacteristic.
@@tandemcharge5114, indeed, in fact I believe it’s on record that it was Churchill specifically who was the main driver force to classify them as battlecruisers so as to save money and not build newer battleships to counteract them. Given Britain already had Hood, Renown and Repulse, calling Scharnhorst and Gneisenau battlecruisers would mean they would already have similar ships which could counter them.
Should be: To be fair Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were decent battleship ships. Gneisenau just kept having constant air raids against her and so she could never unfortunately get fully repaired. And hence scuttled when Allies approached. And Scharnhorst got completely ambushed in an unfair fight, and almost got away if it weren’t for one lucky shell hitting through a niche spot in the armour that took out one of her boiler rooms.
The biggest reason the Missouri was chosen was she was the most modern battleship of her day. The United States had just dropped the world’s most dangerous and advanced weapon on another nation and ended the Pacific war in days instead of months. The Missouri was also favored by Admiral Halsey and its construction was sponsored by Harry Truman’s daughter Margaret. However as to what you said. The General consensus is that in Hinor of Harry Truman being a native of Missouri and his daughter had sponsored her and Admiral Nimitz and Halsey wanted to show the world the technical and tactical superiority of the United States. Yet the decision to sign the peace treaty was absolutely made by the book. Yet Halsey and Nimitz and Truman were pretty much rewriting the book weekly.
@@TroyGlaus-yv2yb she was the newest, based on her launch and commission dates, but she was no more modern than the Iowa, New Jersey, or Wisconsin. Bottom line is that Truman got his way.
Think the Tirpitz had a bigger impact than Bismarck on the war. She spend three years in a Norwegian fjord, but the Royal Navy spend alot of resources keeping her bottled up and trying to sink her (something she simply refused to do). Textbook 'fleet in being'.
I would agree Bismark sunk one ship and got wacked on its first voyage, thileTirpitz managed to be around most of WWll. it was dumb bad luck for what happpened to her and she did try to engage. and just for being around that long put more fear into the allies then bismark ever did.
@@BlackoScorpio Probably more to do with the massive successes the Scharnhorsts managed to do when they successfully broke out into the Atlantic. Scared the brits shitless to potentially have a capital ship prowling the ocean for merchantmen. Also, why the Brits desperately dispatched the Prince Of Wales despite not completing shakedown cruises to intercept Bismarck as few Brits BBs had the speed to intercept the ship.
Honestly, claiming yamato cannot get A because it was sank with most hands on deck and put at B next to Arizona, who just got that high just because how it sank, i dunno man, it sounds not only biased but a little.ridiculous. I respect all the rankings, i would even accept yamato in B, but not with that reasoning, its ridiculous
Your only as good as your last game. Yamato, had no game. It was put into service 9 days after Pearl Harbor. The Yamato and the cruiser Yahagi. plus 8 destroyer's combined to shoot down 12 American planes. Thats 1.1 plane for the Yamato for the entire war. Dorie Miller a cook aboard the USS Arizona shot down more planes at Pearl Harbor than the Yamato did during the war. So F--k the Yamato, it should get a F-.
I expected Yamato to get A tier, cause it's service history wasn't very impressive, apart from the sheer balance of power factor. But it was arguably the most capable battleship of the war and the most epic design, as it entered service in 1940, and it just wasn't used extensively enough. Personally, I'd judged the ships as a class and purely based on their capabilities and this way Yamato would go to S tier alongside the Iowa But that reasoning is very weird, especially with Iowa getting A tier by doing next to nothing apart from the shore bombardment.
@@RaiderCBR6.5 "you are only as good as your last game" is a very bad hill to die on tbh. And again, your argument really doesn't justify the Arizona standing either. Just say you don't like Japanese battleships bro.
@@soristrufas6571 I like Japanese Battleships very much. To be great you have to do something great you were designed for. I would not consider the Arizona as a great Battleship unless you got points for blowing the hell up. Yamato would be number 1 if you got points for giving holmes to all those homeless fish that need a place to stay. All the Ghost's on the Yamato are still saying we have the best ship, when is that decisive battle.
Another Bismarck fan boy here. Its not the technical aspects of the Bismarck that make him legendary. It's the sinking of the Bismarck that's the legend. My god, in one sortie, the Bismarck faced 4 battleships, 2 carriers, and an assortment of cruisers and destroyers. Its has international intrigue, Churchill, and more. It's a literal Hollywood movie. Bismarck is a legend.
@hugonubario Yes people don't realise how powerful she was the Admiral was not happy about the mission the crew needed more time esp the AA gunners they found radar control was best usa found this out in Pacific turpits was nearly ready the 2 could have went together Hood wasn't ready to fight bismark but as usual they couldn't care less their were plans to build 6 to 8 bismarks and 2 of the big H battleships bigger than her with twin funnels lovely ships lovely lines the brits were to replace there outdated fleet with lion class and the vanguard class but never happened. 🛳🛳🛳🇬🇧🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪
Bismarck was a leg end until the Rodney turned up and neutralised it for the destroyers to finish it off. Sure KG5 pretty much the equivalent of the Bismarck turned up but it was the Rodney that did the damage
Not convinced Arizona makes sense on this list. Sure, Bismarck is also famous for sinking, but at least she was part of naval battles, at sea. Arizona sunk in harbor.
@@jenclydelemosnero2529 The Arizona had a similar resume to the Warspite (being a WWI juggernaut and all), but unfortunate circumstances led to it getting knocked out of the war before it could contribute to it. I'm pretty sure he added it to contrast the Warspite
yeah, am scratching my head on that one. Bismark sunk the hood damage the prince of wales and then took on a fleet by itself and he give it a D. While Arizona has no prewar history as a battleship and was immediately sunk at the start of the war. He should had put Bismark at the same tier as Arizona.
USS Washington... With "Chang" Lee on board... She took apart the BB Kirishima at night in tight quarters. A battle that made the Japanese realize they could not win the battle. This gave her an outsized influence on the War in the Pacific.
Poor Kirishima, she was extremely unlucky to encounter USS Washington with Chang Kee onboard. The Kongo class of battlecruisers (later classified as fast Battleship) were not designed to fight in a slugfest with other battleship ls due to its thin armour
Yamato also had a 19 nautical mile near miss on one of our escort carriers at the Battle off Samar that damaged its rudder and keel. Using '30s tech colored smoke markers. Carriers and a wartime training program for carrier aircrews would've been a better investment for Japan. Not benefitting from hindsight though even lots more Destroyers would've been a better investment around the confines of the Solomans or Guadalcanal sound. About the last battles won by Japan were surface ship battles around the Solomans that sunk or drydocked every cruiser we had in the Pacific through '43 and they were won by Destroyers with Type 93 torpedoes.
You are seriously underestimating Bismarck here. The RN sent what they thought to be its two most powerful ships to destroy it and made Bismarck's destruction top priority . Yes, the RN blew up Bismarck to explain away the sinking of the Hood within minutes, but this sinking was a result of a lucky shot. Bismarck's destruction was in similar ways the result of a lucky shot by getting hit by the very last torpedo dropped by British Swordfish in its rudder. Maybe I am also biased but it is outrageously to give Bismarck a D 😅
@@cameronkeen7551 the design feels fairly in keeping with a lot of other battleships. The 14" guns were a bit behind the times. Perhaps a good ship that didn't really stand out...?
What a bizarre list! Firstly, the title of this video is Dan Snow Ranks His Favorite Battleships of the Second World War but at around the 10:55 mark Dan states that he isn't a fan of the Scharnhorst - then why the heck is it on the list? Next, he ranks the Bismarck as D Tier. Astonishing. It sank the Hood! Admittedly it had a very short service history but look at what the Royal Navy had to throw at it to bring about it's demise. Bismarck took an incredible amount of punishment to dispatch and proved just how well built it was. Conversely, the USS Arizona sank at harbor and given the video title, achieved nothing in WWII. I realize this is Dan's personal view and not necessarily an objective list but even so he makes some odd statements. I find it hard to believe he didn't select one of the KGV's. This video cements what I have long thought - Dan knows less about naval history than he thinks he does. The History Hit team should've asked a real naval historian to compile a list. Update: it's one month later and I now see that the video title has changed. Hmmm - took too much criticism from your original title Dan?
"Bismarck took an incredible amount of punishment to dispatch" So what? She was mission killed in her first engagement and quickly disarmed in her second. Who cares that her useless, blazing hulk soaked up a few torpedoes before it finally sank? She was dead long before that. Her armour scheme was, frankly, rubbish.
@@robperkins2085 You have to see it from the point of view of the most overrated ships, and for sure that did he. The Warspite had in two word wars only sunk one ship- a German destroyer - all other was teamwork and the ship did not get count of the kill. From this point of view is the Bismarck on the right spot, killed the Hood before the whole home fleet was thrown against her. A HMS Warspite would have been sunk in the first engagement and if it had survived it wouldn't have come this distance before it would had been sunk. So the HMS Warspite is totally overrated in comparison to the Bismarck or the German commerce raider ships. Interestingly, the British and American fleets failed "to copenhagen" the Richelieu, which actually demonstrates how well-designed the ship was and how poorly the combined fleet performece was.
@@fergusmason5426”bismarcks armour scheme was rubbish” according to who exactly? Bismarck and Tirpitz had their own set of flaws but armour layout? According to technical analysis Bismarck had better hull/deck armour (both in its effectiveness and thickness) than the Iowa, South Dakota, North Carolina, KGV, Queen Elizabeth and Nelson classes of battleships.
The fact that the Battleship Texas (BB-35) wasn't even mentioned is a crime. She played a huge role during the Normandy invasion. The Grim Yeeter went so far as to flood her starboard torpedo blisters, gangster leaning a 36,000 ton battleship, so she could get another 2° of elevation to fire her guns farther inland in order to continue beating the crap out of the Germans. And that's not to mention that she is the ONLY dreadnought in the world that is still afloat as a museum ship. USS Texas should be on the S tier.
Came here to say the same. BB-35 was my childhood playground. So much history with her and so happy to see and help in my little way raise money to preserve her.
@@SennaAugustus In fact, battleships shouldn't fight destroyers, that's the work of the cruisers or other destroyers. Destroyers are a problem for the battleships, because the main guns are not appropiate for little targets, and the speed and torpedos of a destroyer can cause big troubles to a big ship.
USS ARIZONA is still serving to this day. She has never been decommissioned. IJN YAMATO and MUSASHI its sister ship were 2 of 6 keels laid. A third became IJN SHINANO an aircraft carrier.
I would personally think one should mention the channel dash from Scharnhorst, an incredible feat, and also not simply mention the hit, but actually be with Geneisenau to sink the carrier Glorious. It probably be worth mentioning Ardent and Acasta that fought valiantly to save the carrier and that later in battle of north cape, though sunk by Royal Navy, did won the respect of captain of Duke of York. Plus it's a nice looking ship!
Although it was a glorious moment for Scharnhorst, we can't really equate that to skill since the RN and RAF were absolutely atrocious on that day with almost everything they did. That dash was more down to the audacity of the leaders and crew rather than the actual ship itself.
One detail: on the way to the scrapyard (which for me was one of the biggest sins of that time), Warspite towing ropes snapped a few times, it was like the grand old lady was fighting for her life...O7
@@Yamato-tp2kf yes it is a crime, she should rest beside HMS Victory 😢 and on the way to the scrapyard , she eventually beached , telling everyone that she will rest in the seas not a scrapyard. ❤
Yamato was called Hotel Yamato by her own Navy because she effectively did nothing of note for the entire war until her final suicidal mission. Musahi did more but also failed miserably.
@@yeehawstrength8315 Considering she spent nearly the entire war in protective custody I'd have to agree. And when she wasn't she high tailed back home chased out of the fight by aircrews of Essex class carrier's and Fletcher Class Destroyers repressenting A far better expenditure for the Island and narrow channel confines for which much of the South Pacific surface ship battles had been fought. Facts being that destroyers more often had the bigger impact in the Pacific than obsolete behemoths because they saw more action. In Japan's case they either sank or drydocked Allied Cruisers through '43 while Yamato shared the sinking of two destroyers off Samar during the entirety of the war. She didn't even get used as a floating artillery platform and brought obsolete tech with her. Compare that to the records of Bismark or Scharnhorst.
The destroyer sunk Fuso and damaged Yamashiro. And anyways Washington sunk Kirishima almost single handedly, while Yamashiro was fired upon by so many ships including cruisers.
Personally, I would switch the places of the Arizona and Bismark. The Bismark may have only been in service 10 days, but the Battle of the Denmark Straight was a clear victory over the Royal Navy. The German fleet doesnt have too many surface victories to boast of during WW2, but this was clearly a signature victory. The Arizona really never did anything in battle. It's claim to fame is it's demise.
"the Battle of the Denmark Straight was a clear victory over the Royal Navy" Was it fuck. It was a German defeat. The German objective was to break out past Home Fleet into the Atlantic and attack Allied commerce. The British objective was to stop them. Who achieved their objective? Once you understand that, you'll know who won.
@@PeoeieThe battle in the Denmark Strait was a complete victory for the Kriegsmarine. This cannot be disputed. The sinking of the Bismarck was not part of that battle.
Bismarck gets ripped on for short life. They say it was hyped because it sank the Hood. From the day it launched, the entire of the British Atlantic fleet was on mission to sink it. When the Hood and PoW got to her, the Hood sank and the PoW ran for her life. When they finally caught her with all the ships due to the lucky shot in her rudder, it took all day and all the guns they ha to get her to stop shooting back. The expenditure of the British to stop it shows it's value.
I have to say, good thing for that disclaimer beforehand, since I agree with almost nothing on the list, apart from Warspite and maybe Richelieu. For example, Arizona was a glorified ferry and blew up, and that's about it for her accolades. And while Bismarck certainly does not deserve the god-tier reputation she still sometimes gets, putting here alone at the bottom is quite weird. At least she tied down quite a number of enemy forces to hunt her down and managed to sink a ship of almost equal size. Certainly did more than the huge pinata that was Yamato.
Yamato was slower than the Iowa class but had them significantly outgunned. Although it's said that american fire control was better. It would have been an interesting fight if it ever had came across an iowa class.
@@claytonberg721 It is unlikely to be interesting as Iowa does not have an Immunity zone to Yamato at any range. And we have plenty of examples of what occurs when that is the case. The list itself is very silly
@@claytonberg721 Outgunned by caliber and maybe firing range (but I don't know this exactly) but not in terms of fire control and subsequently its hit rate, especially at night or in poor weather conditions. That and the speed of the Iowa class would have enabled them to dicate the terms of engagement. Additionally the Japanese were very hesitant to deploy Yamato and Musashi to combat. They were of course very expensive so they didn't take that risk. Additionally Yamato is an ancient term for Japan, so losing her might have had a negative psychological impact. Technological progress in WW2 was insane and battle ships that were considered modern at the beginning of the war were clearly inferior to ships built by the later stages of the war.
@@Harry-tb8yo The only time an Iowa class could've met a Yamato class was off San Bernardino Strait on the afternoon of October 25th 1944, and given who was in command of the Iowas at that fight I am highly doubtful they'd be doing any "dictating the engagement" as many people like to posit for this classic matchup-Halsey would almost certainly have tried to bulldoze his way in and gotten a bloody nose as in that case he was outnumbered and incensed, at least until Ching Lee showed up and set the record straight with his Washington and the 4 SoDaks. Yamato's fire control, esp. at daytime, was nothing to scoff at (damaging near miss or hit on a carrier at 32KM) and Ching Lee himself was not fond of the idea of tangling with them at night. As it was Halsey decided to slow to 20 knots to refuel the destroyers in his formation and ended up missing Kurita by several hours.
FWIW, Swap New Jersey for either Iowa or Missouri. Most decorated of all US Battleships. Longest active career. Probably THE most iconic battleship of all US battleships.
Iowa does have the longest active career, but New Jersey is the most decorated with 19 battle stars, 9 from ww2. Iowa has 9 battlestars from ww2 but all together only 11. All 4 are legendary in their own ways. Missouri is where the Japanese unconditional surrender was signed, New Jersey most decorated, Iowa longest active career, Wisconsin.... she's short tempered lol.
1. USS Missouri - for service record 2. IJN Yamato - for technical record and final action 3. HMS King George V - for service record 4. USS Nevada - for actions during Pearl Harbor 5. Bismarck - for final action Honorable mentions: USS Texas (for D-Day), IJN Musashi (for technical record) and the entire Iowa class
Bismarck is one shot and eternal glory, otherwise no particular contribution to the war. Yamato had a heroic last stand... sort of. Her AA guns were largely ineffective against USN planes. Of the 10 or so aircraft down in Ten-Go, 5-6 of them were taken down when Yamato capsized and exploded. Ok, here Leyte Gulf performance was more impressive when she actually hit Taffy 3 ships with her main battery. Musashi takes honour for heroic last stand.
If we just consider WW2 then USS Missouri doesn't deserve 1st position because of her service record. Replace her with Massachusetts as Yamato had more ship engagement in a single battle than all 4 Iowa class ships in WW2.
You missed the only other S tier battleship, HMS Rodney. Sunk the Bismark. Allegedly torpedoed Bismark, and Operation Pedestal, and went to the East Indies without being sunk.
My great uncle served on the Rodney, he lived till 93 and past away a few years ago, he manned the 16” guns. His last mission of the war was being home aussie warbrides
@@hashteraksgage3281 yes and no Rodney did most of the damage and Rodney would have sunk Bismarck if it was on it's own Bismarck was destroyed stem to stern, being with a fleet is normal. Did Bismarck not sink hood because Prinz Eugen was there as well?
I recent finished Ian Toll's trilogy on the Pacific Theater of WW II, and I know the answer to the question "What are the most overrated battleships of WW2?" Easy. ALL OF THEM! Aircraft carriers outclass them all.
There is a funny story onboard Warspite during Jutland where a crewman onboard witnessed a German shell penetrate the hull and smashed into the bread store on board the ship. The crewman apparently proclaimed witnessing bread flying out past him and wondering if the Germans had run out of shells and had resorted to firing braked bread at them instead. Warspite: Impenetrable to German shells. Only weakness.... German Bread. LOL
@@stingingeyes I believe it was an AP shell that detonated in the compartment next to the bakery store so the explosive force blew up in that compartment and the pressure wave fired into the bakery store and launched the bread around.
@@stingingeyes Well looking at the ships in combat at the time and the shells they had access to it would have been a 12 or 13 inch shell probably armour piercing to have gotten through Warspites thick armour belt. The bakery is located midship so nowhere near a main gun battery magazine so the explosion was most likely just from the AP shell itself so not very destructive on it's own. Fragmentation would have been the majority of things flying around in that compartment. The explosion and heat from it would have been contained within the compartment that was hit. The shockwave from the explosion would have just been from the displaced air so no heat would have been involved. The bread would have been launched around simply by the expulsion or air.
All four Iowa class BB's are S-tier, and it's not even an argument. They are alone in that tier, sorry Warspite. Also, where's the USS Washington? Your bias is really showing through when it comes to the German ships. Bismarck at worst is A-tier. It one-tapped the pride of the Royal Navy, and took over 40 Royal Navy ships to try and sink it, which they still failed. James Cameron proved Bismarck was scuttled by the crew... Luck had nothing to do with it; the Bismarck completely outclassed HMS Hood. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were battlecruisers, not battleships; there is a difference. They not only "hit a carrier" - they straight up sunk HMS Glorious, this is the only time in history a surface ship has sunk a carrier. The Battle of Leyte Gulf is the largest navel battle in history, while the Battle of Jutland was the largest of WWI. So much wrong information in this video that a quick "Google" could have fixed...
The cameron report shows the biggest factor in its sinking was plunging fire from HMS Rodney and HMS King George. Bismarck landed the luckiest shot in naval history, ran from a malfunctioning battleship, and never stopped running until it was sunk
@@IamRyanLPs I agree on the Battleship and Carrier front. Although HMS Belfast is heavier than most heavy cruisers. It's a bit of a misnomer it just refers to the armament either being 6 inch light and 8 inch heay. But some 6 inch ships such as Belfast would have more guns than 8 inch armed vessels and due to the higher rate of fire and the armour on cruiser not having the ability to stop 6 inch fire at notmal battle ranges. Light cruisers were considered equivalent.
We have to see it in the context of the after war period. Europe was devastated and short on literally everything and of course also on raw material like steel that was now needed for very different things to rebuild the countries. Then, even after a ship is decommissioned it doesn't come for nothing. It still has to get some minimum maintenance and care. For what? The war was over, other things were much more pressing than preserving an old mountain of steel. It was very different than today when we just enter a shop and get what we want.
Bismarck probably deserves to be higher, if for no other reason than surviving as long as she did under whithering fire. Hundreds of shells hitting at pt blank range, and multiple confirmed torpedo hits.
@@Peoeie Me German?! Apologize yourself please. No, just laughing about you Britts.; every opportunity is taken to drag down Bismarck's reputation. Are the Britts still upset about the good shooting of Bismarck which made the Hood explode? Still upset about Jutland?
@@Peoeie why should a current day german be mad at that? The german navy basically sent them to their death in suicide missions against an allied fleet that outnumbered them by roughly 20 to 1, so it was a foregone conclusion that they would eventually find them and sink them. I believe most of us today are just annoyed at the sheer arrogance with which brittish people talk about this now as if the Bismarck, aswell as Prinz Eugen and Scharnhorst were supposedly terrible vessels, yet historical facts and accounts from real people who were involved in the fighting say completely otherwise.
Great List. I would replace Arizona with USS Tennessee, due to her war record, refitted after Peal Harbor and was present at the last Battleship vs Battleship battle at Surigao Strait. I’d also add USS Washington as a B or C, as adm Lee’s gunslinger. And why only one British ship?
Warspite never reached the Italian battleship squadron at "Cape Matapan", the ships sunk were those of the "Zara" class heavy cruiser together with other destroyers, and this was due to a considerable advantage: the radar for night battle.
Yep. Yamato had a much more eventful career then Arizona and was better then any listed ship apart from may be Iowa, but it is next to Arizona (which is only famous because it was sunk), because cool factor is the only thing that was really considered
@fallout3fanboy1 Yamato also had excellent gunnery and crews, not to mention that Iowa has literally no safe range against Yamato guns. Plus Yamato also had a radar capable of fire control. It's a pretty even match.
I think you made a big mistake choosing 2 Iowa class battleships. And yo missed the USS Washington, which actually engaged and sank another battleship in the 2nd Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Even though it was a Treaty battleship, the 16-in guns and radar fire control allowed Willis Lee to make mincemeat out of the Kirishima.
@@loyalrammy how? He added two which shouldn’t have been on there, their service during ww2 was laughable and they wasn’t the pinnacle of battleships. They were just glorified longer versions of the South Dakota class. They didn’t have the best armour at all, nor the biggest or best guns or crew. Also their technology still wasn’t the best. The overall best and most advanced ww2 ship was obviously the HMS Vanguard every system and design on the HMS Vanguard except the actual guns were newer and more advanced than the Iowas. Don’t forget the Vanguard was launched in 1946 do they had taken every mistake of previous battleships into account whilst also incorporating the modern technology from 1946 compared to Iowas late 1930s technology.
Willis Lee and his crew were accurate, with or without fire control radars. He relentlessly trained the Washington guys to be insanely accurate and would have done the same on any battleship. IMO.
What about USS Texas built in 1911. The Tampico incident, WW1, WW2, North Africa, D-Day (where the captain flooded part of the ship so that it could shoot further inland.) Cherbourg, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. And it just got out of drydock and ready for another 100 years.
Great video, about time to hear some truth about the (too) much adored Kriegsmarine lol... How about a video about aircraft carriers next ? I would love to hear about some legends like Enterprise, Victorious and Zuikaku...
The only thing I disagree with is the incredibly silly title of the video. Most overrated battleships? The only one marked as overrated is the Bismarck. It’s a totally misleading and improper name for an otherwise cool video.
Great ranking I’d say but I honestly think Bismarck should have had a higher ranking her career was short but the reason for that was the absolute fear factor she gave the Royal navy, and the outcry to avenge the hood after that engagement plus having a battleship in the Atlantic sinking all the shipping merchants. They had to send any vessel that was active in the Atlantic to go after her As for Bismarcks beating she had King George V, Rodney and a few cruises pound at her until their ammo was almost completely depleted and mind you Bismarck was already limping thanks to a lucky torp jamming her rudder. and the Navy did cripple her but there’s been evidence she was in fact scuttled.
Scuttled or not it’s doesn’t matter the Entire ship was destroyed and going under. The British ships clearly aimed for the deck and bridge for revenge.
I also dont get why shes ranked so far below yamato. Yes of course, yamato was way bigger, had bigger guns and a longer Service live, but what did she accomplish? She sank a destroyer and damaged a carrier. Bismarck sunk a battlecruiser and heavily damaged a battleship. And any other battleship wouldnt have survived much longer with how many ships the brits sent after her. Not saying that Bismarck should've been S Tier, but D Tier, with seeing whats in C Tier, is just a Joke.
@@RANDP117 Well it got a lucky shot on hood and the POW had gun trouble so it had to sail away. It didn’t heavily damage POW also Britain only engaged the Bismarck with 2 battleships and 2 cruisers. Bismarck also missed every single shot. Nelson or KGV could’ve easily taken on the Bismarck alone and sunk it.
@@Peoeie Why the salvo that obliterated Hood was lucky and the torpedo on Bismarck's rudder was not?..talking abou bias....I am pretty sure that if Admiral Lutjens had not pull rank....Captain Lindemann would have gone and sink POW as well ...not that it mattered so much because that fat drunk churchil sacrificed her and Repulse in Singapore a few months later
Don't forget the USS Washington commanded by the admiral Augustus "Ching" Lee, one of the best Admirals in the US Navy that (like the UA-camr Fat Electrician would say: "USS Washington just bit*hslapped IJN Kirishima") destroyed Kirishima with more than 20 main 16 inch guns shots using radar guiding, which was a brand new way at the time to overcome the best night optics of the Japanese Navy
@@Yamato-tp2kf USS Washington failed to actually destroy Kirishima, a WWI Battlecruiser. She escaped the battle but would later sink several hours later due to progressive flooding from the damage. The USS South Dakota, which was not only completely useless during the battle and was nearly sunk by Kirishima, then took credit USS Washington. This would result in the two ships having a bloody feud for the rest of the war and earn South Dakota the nickname "Shitty Dick" from the Washington sailors. Admiral Lee had to personally ensure that the two ships never gave their crew leave in the same port to prevent the very violent fistfights that would occur
@@captaincoxwaggle6882 You're most probably confusing the Kirishima with the Hiei that was sunk some hours later by the TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, Kirishima sunk on the Iron bottom sound as for Hiei, hours after having been shot at point blank gun range by the USS Laffey, she was sunk when she was trying to get out of range from the US air squadrons at Anderson field
USS North Carolina should've been on the list. She's the most decorated American battleship of WWII, she was in more action than any other US battleship in that war, and sailors of the legendary aircraft carrier USS Enterprise CV-6 referred to the NC as their best friend, as they operated together so frequently and NC provided such overwhelming AA firepower. The captain of Enterprise even had to signal to NC once "are you afire?", so fierce was NC's AA coverage. She was also the first American battleship built since I think 1922, the Colorado, the first American "fast battleship", and she was revolutionary in her design, firepower, and speed, she was the most powerful and modern ship in the world for a while. When she showed up at Pearl after the attack, sailors and civilians alike utterly REJOICED, I've seen video of her showing up in Pearl Harbor and it's very moving. What's more, she's still around, she in Wilmington, NC, and she's maybe the most well-preserved battleship in the museum ship fleet. Also I'm from NC so I'm biased
Wow, I didn't know all that! I always thought that it would be like the Iowa class battleships that were the most decorated, cause you kinda hear the most about them. But that's awesome!
I'm here for the "fight me" attitude, particularly when you put Bismark at D tier. I'm also glad to learn about Warspite, one I'd never heard of here in the States. The way you speak about it reminds me of how is Americans talk about the USS Texas, which has a remarkably similar history and service record
He should make a machine gun tierlist. Man, what would I give to see him argue why bren gun is S tier while mg42 gets a B due to ammunition consumption xD
Well, i expected this to be about battleships, not about how little time the German navy could operate on the seas. If they could, apparently Bismarck would then be higher, which makes no sense i we were talking about the battleships and the not situation at the sea. So, just surprised the moving of goal posts and that doesn't require being a "wehraboo".
@alaric_ Chill bro, we all know warspite didn't do anything other than exist in the royal navy for 30 years. Litteraly every other battleship could have done the same. He should have at least taken HMS Dreadnought in her place.
Warspite held that world record right up until a couple years ago when declassified information revealed the longest direct hit belongs to the USS Massachusetts and the longest shot to cause damage but cannot be classified as a direct hit belongs to the USS New Jersey
@@markshakespeare5146 no it was declassified by the US and French government. The person that researched it was a naval historian named Vincent O’Hara, and has been accepted by many of the museum ships in the US including the New Jersey, and Battleship cove. Additionally in support of that the French have confirmed they found damage and shell fragments consistent with a US 16in shell penetration on the Milan (the ship that was hit). So although perhaps not the most widely recognized shot there’s significant evidence. Additionally the warspite was completed in 1915 she was a WW1 design. That means with all the advancements in battleship design in the interwar years from all nations, it didn’t make any difference at all in range and accuracy? Logically the longest ever shot would belong to a newer ship.
Longest shot to do damage I'm pretty sure was Yamato against White Plains. New Jersey and Iowa both straddled Nowaki but I don't think either damaged her since they weren't super close hits. Also, Scharnhorst and Warspite hit ships that were underway, Massachusetts, as cool as she was, hit a French ship in harbor.
@ this was during the battle of Casablanca but was not on the Jean Bart. It was a hit on the French destroyer Milan at 29000 yards and moving. I am unfamiliar with the Yamato shot that you’re referring to but she certainly had the capacity to out range pretty much any other ship afloat. So it wouldn’t surprise me. the problem I have with both the Scharnhorst and warspite shots, are that they are essentially WW1 designs. even with upgrades and modernization it’s illogical to think that range and accuracy didn’t advance in the real world application with more modern ships. And it would seem that , as in the case of the Massachusetts, declassified documents bear that out.
@@davidjean2170 I stand corrected, that's super interesting. I'm a Massachusetts fan, so that's a good new fact for me. The Yamato shot I'm referring to came from the Battle off Samar, where Yamato's third salvo at 34500 yards struck near the escort carrier White Plains, knocking out her power and doing severe hull damage. The Japanese assumed this had sunk her and shifted fire to other targets, but White Plains' crew were able to restore power in three minutes and oversped their undamaged port side machinery to maintain formation. She would survive the battle and be repaired in San Diego. She later saw some action during the Battle of Okinawa.
What did it actually do in the war to warrant it being on the list? be honest. Also it was Dan Snows list, other lists may vary. Please compare it to Warspite's war record.
In my opinion, it should've been USS NJ instead of USS Iowa for this list. NJ served longer before retirement, was in that same typhoon, and unlike Iowa was Halsey's flagship in the Third Fleet. Also the fact that it sunk an entire island
@@NielsenDK-1 Warspite, by quite a long way. sunk and was involved in sinking 8 destroyers, 3 cruisers and also damaged mutiple battleships including getting the joint longest gunnery hit on a ship during combat. It's spotter plane also dunk a U-Boat. In terms of tonnage combined it is also the highest. In terms of the highest on one vessel that is Bismarck with Hood, although within a very short time then Bismarck itself became the largest tonnage sunk by another warship when Rodney sunk her.
Fun video one of the things I wish you had talked about more was operational range. Some compromises were made on U.S. Ships (especially early ones) in order to increase operational range as well as speed.
@@tandemcharge5114 she was built during the restrictions that were placed on Germany during the interwar period where the germans were not allowed to have battleships
I believe that by WWII there officially were no more Battle Cruisers i.e. all were designated Battleships ... That said her stats and purpose clearly fall into the Battle Cruiser category. In most forums I have seen this is a common debate meaning it is not cut and dried either way.
It didn’t though, Prince of Wales essentially finished Bismarck by hitting its fuel tanks in the very same battle that hood was lost. Bismarck was effectively killed by a ship that was on its shakedown cruise and had only 14” guns. The reality is that Bismarck was one decent ship that got a lucky shot on an outdated battle cruiser and was then smothered by mostly a bunch of other outdated British battleships, as well as cruisers and carriers due to her being on essentially a suicide mission which is probably the worst possible use of a ship that requires years to build and tens of thousands of tonnes of steel.
Thanks for the rankings. I visited Iowa at its museum pier at San Pedro, California in 2012. Awesome place. I personally would have also considered ranking other battleships: British KGV, Italian Littorio, etc. Still, quite a list you have here.
I have a cousin, who is entombed in the Arizona. We visited the memorial and paid our respects in 2019, If you get to Oahu, you can not only visit the Arizona memorial, but also the Battleship Missouri, which is now docked there as a museum ship.
You need to see "The Great War of Archimedes." One of the most interesting pieces of historical fiction and the most interesting take on Yamato I ever heard. The thesis is you are correct, but for a good reason. It is also superbly scripted and has great acting.
One thing that really annoys me? That we (Britain) never kept HMS VANGUARD Britain's last battleship. So generation after generation can see what a battleship was. Yes we have HMS BELFAST but she's not a battleship.. Imagine HMS VANGUARD near or next to HMS VICTORY at Portsmouth what a day out that would have been. But she's gone so no good crying over spilt milk.
Most fun. Mostly on the money, though Halsey's flagship (USS new Jersey) was replaced by Missouri because that ship was named after Truman's home state. Missouri today sits just off the Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor. More shows like this, please! .
Which is somehow still less than what Bismarck did, she sat in port all war getting bombed, her attempt to intercept pq17 was a massive cost in fuel that germany couldn't afford, and she didn't even do anything, it was u-boats and the luftwaffe. The KGVs did more and aren't on the list.
Criminal withdrawing the escort of PQ17 & one of the worst disasters of the war. Admiral Pound of the RN went against all advice, intelligence & sense. He was a unwell man & died from a brain tumour. It's thought it effected his judgment & sent many ships & men to their doom . Strongest escort sent to that date & fought of all attacks with it before the shameful order. Joseph Gradwell ignored the order that made no sense & managed to bring in 3 merchant men to Russia on a armed trawler, with nothing more than a Times Atlas . Worth looking up & about the only thing that was positive for the Allies with convoy PQ17
Putting Bismarck in D is a technical insult. But what to expect from chauvinist Brit sentiments when it hummiliated the RN by sinking HMS Hood only with in a few shots and it took literally an entire fucking fleet to sink it... And this only with a prior shitload of luck with the torpedo hit at the rudder...
How many hits did Bismarck score when fighting for her life? How many of the attacking aircraft did she shoot down? How utterly flukey was the shell that sank the Hood? How easily was she incapacitated? And I don’t think you mean chauvinistic I think you mean jingoistic. Bismarck couldn’t even hit Poiron while she was signalled “I am Pole” over and over at her. Bismarck Schmismarck!
The only reason it accomplished anything was because it had a one-in-a-million stroke of luck and then it was doomed very shortly after by a literal biplane. It was a crap design with massive flaws, sending it out as the Germans did was pure idiocy, and there was nothing special whatsoever about the use of force to sink it because it had been blatantly apparent since Jutland that battleships take a stupid amount of punishment and effort to sink under normal conditions in ship to ship combat. D tier all day long.
Yamato is not over rated, it has the most powerful gun and with the thickest armor battleship. It's optical fire control is second to none. The shell despersion of the yamatos 18.1inch gun at a maximum range is 400m which is more accurate than the 16inch gun of the Iowa battleships hence, it is deserving an A rating. The Yamatos battle resume is short but still commendable to say the least. It straddled and damaged the White plains escort carrier at about 31kms, the farthest shot in WW2. It sunk the Gambier Bay escort carrier at 20.5kms. It sunk the Johnston destroyer at 18.5kms. It also helped sunk the Hoel Destroyer. The Yamato is the only battleship in the world to be attacked by no less than 400 US naval planes piloted by the best of the best and most experienced naval aviators in the world. The 400 US planes came from 11 fleet and escort aircraft carriers. It took the most powerful airforce in the world the US airforce 2 long hours to finally sink the Yamato. The swarms of US torpedo bombers were ordered to concentrate their attack on the port of the Yamato which leads to the mighty giant ships demise.
S Tier for Warspite - instant like and subscribe. She's by far and away my favourite ship in World of Warships and her history alone make her the best warship in history. You can look at stats and specifications, but action is what makes a ship special.
@@connorkitchen7156 I'm not diminishing Warspite, but I am promoting the Iowa class and the USS Texas The last battleships and only super dreadnaught in existence. That counts for a lot being the last ones standing.
The ships are extremely biased around nation and not very strongly rated by technichal potetial. Bismarck might have been sunk very fast but look at the effort it took, the german navy (the surface ship part) was just far too small to challenge the grand royal navy but the effort needed to take down Bismarck and Tirpitz shows how powerful they were, Tirpitz prevented any idea of landing on german controlled soil just with its potential presence. And Arizona with Yami? Arizona was sunk faster than Yami and had no armor nor gun power in comparison. Iowa/Missouri are only rated that high bc with the fletcher class destroyers and all other aa ships the US navy managed to protect its most important ships against aireal threats, the japanese did not manage to do so. Iowa would have been sunk the same way if it replaced Yami in that situation. And warspite has just nation bias, it is far too old to compete in 2nd world war, almost all other bbs on this list are faster and better armed. Only Scharnhorst isnt and that one was supposed to get Bismarck turrents but nazi germany did just invest more in ground combat and subs.
I heard the story of the Iowa class ships a few dozen times now, but its service record still surprises me. The fact they fought axis Japan AND the Iraqis and not a single one was lost in battle to all be preserved as museums is amazing.
Yamato a "B", her biggest contribution is being scary from long range ( and being a hotel accommodation)... max should be "c", even though she looks awesome... Bismarck had a bigger contribution ( sinking of Hood, tied up half GB battlefleet) than Yamato...
I was blessed to conduct a reenlistment ceremony for one of my sailors, on the USS Missouri, as it sat retired in Bremerton in 1991. We held the ceremony on the exact spot the Japanese delegation signed the Instrument of Surrender in 1945. Great memory. Great ship.
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Warthunder better
@@satnav9699 if only you’ve never tried WoWS😅
@@satnav9699 No , Warthunder is more sim , World of Warships is arcade for everyone , no matter if you are 15 years old girl or 65 year old men , rules are simple .
Brit dude S HMS what a surprise .. Really, why do you make this trash ? Screams BIAS
Does the S stand for Sugoi?
Its a CRIME Warspite was scrapped and not turned into a museum ship. She was the 20th Century's HMS Victory
@@Staghound they choose Belfast instead. I would have liked HMS Jarvis too tbh. Nearly as many battle honours, heavily committed throughout the war, but not a single member of the crew lost to enemy action. The luckiest ship in the navy.
HMS Warspite was in a deteriorated state, too expensive too repair, and UK was in a huge debt
@@Contreras1991 and yet we can always find the money to fight wars. If there had been a will then it was possible
As an American, I strongly agree. By WWII, she was not the best battleship by a long shot (see what I did there?), but her resume beats all from that era. Wish she would have been preserved. She won't be forgotten.
@@col.hertford9855 It took many years to Britain to pay their debt (2006 I believe) Still like i said, Warspite was too expensive to repair and then do the necessary things for her preservation
Arizona seems random to me. I get shes pretty iconic at Pearl but the Washington would have been better on this list. Shes literally the reason why the US won the final naval battle of Guadalcanal which is one of the turning points of WW2 in the Pacific.
I'd argue it's by name. Sure Iowa/Mighty Mo deserve to be on the list.
As many videos and books as I've read, there seems to be not a ton of info (at least super documented in such things) about the USS Washington (sure the washington had 13 battle stars)
If anything you could throw the USS New Jersey one of the most decorated Battleship in the entire fleet. The USS Texas took 4 part in 4 major Landings (and the only one to do so) (D-day,Iwo,Okinowa, and North Africa)
Washington. Pivotal at Guadacanal.
@@TheGLORY13 Yeah but the USS San Diego also had a shit load of battle stars too (18?) and she didn't really do anything of note other than cheerlead for Enterprise .... so ehhh on the whole battle star thing.
Washington and South Dakota would have had a very bad day if not for their radar guided fire, this was the first time it had been done (In actual combat anyway.) and they didn't just score hits, they were raining shells down with a precision that is kind of scary for WW2.
Washington crippled the heck out of the IJN Kirishima because Kirishima's spotlights were so focused on South Dakota they didn't even realise Washington was firing upon them until womp womp. (If I recall anyway! Something like that.)
But yeah, North Carolina/South Dakota class gang huzzah!
I don't think Arizona is all that random a choice for a historian. It's a "favorites" list and everyone has their own reasons for what they like and don't like. Perhaps being a ship that can still be visited - even as a wreck - is a factor. It can be experienced whereas Washington can only be read about as it was scrapped. The USS Missouri museum is basically looking out over the USS Arizona memorial, and together they're they're symbolic of the start and end of WW2 for the US. That's gotta mean something from a historian's perspective.
@@Pure_Havoc i mean why have more US ones, they could have Italian and more British, seen as up until 1944 they had the largest navy in the world and many more battleships of note. Especially as the most successful US ship on this list sunk a trawler and a destroyer with the help of other ships.
Dan's pro-Brit, anti-German bias is off the scale here. Bismarck's hit on Hood wasn't "lucky"; she straddled Hood with the 1st salvo then sank her. Bismarck was very well armoured, as she took a tremendous pounding from Rodney's 16" guns before probably being scuttled by her own crew. She was also fast for 1941, so she had the firepower-speed-armour balance just right. She wasn't perfect & had her flaws, but was as good a ship as any British battleship of the war. Her crew fought her courageously to the end, and the fact that she drew so much of the Royal Navy's resources meant she had a huge influence historically, despite her short service life. And the fear-factor she created was immense.
So the Bismarck's hit on Hood wasn't lucky - but the damage it did certainly was!
@@TheNigelrojo: The weak deck armour thesis has been dismissed after looking at the actual as built designs. As a battlecruiser (an eggshell armed with hammers) HMS Hood was not designed to resist guns of the same calibre as she had. However, some people point out that HMS Hood was 'improved' during construction so her deck armour was not particularly thin. Latest analysis ( looking at the actual engagement distance) which indicates the shell was NOT plunging fire. The review of the actual damage as seen on the wreck, and the two reviews during WW2 of agree that a magazine explosion occurred. However, many experts now suggest that her magazine was penetrated by either a 'diving' shell or her thinner underwater armour was exposed when her bow wave + heeling left this exposed NOT plunging fire.
I suggest you read one of the recent analysis by Drachinefel or Oceanliner Designs or the custodians of the USN New Jersey they all agree the shell was NOT plunging fire i.e. penetration through the deck.
@@postie48 Modern takes think that the Hood was sunk by a shell that hit the broadside under the belt armour where the trough of the wake wave revealed that part of the ship under the main belt. We'll never know for sure but we do know it was too close for plunging fire to do the job and the under the belt theory makes a lot of sense given what we do know.
@@ImQueenElizibeth I agree
@@ImQueenElizibeth I agree with the under belt theory but there was that orange flame.
So many myths, assumptions, stories. Who knows?
Hood was a WWI fast battleship, in many ways Bismark was another. In her last battle Bismark only came close with her first salvo after that she quickly became damaged so heavily she couldn't fight.
Bismark took a lot of damage to sink but Battleships are SUPPOSED to take a lot of effort to sink, but she had major damage very quickly.
Hood aimed at and hit the Prinz Eugen with her first salvo and if it had not been for that maybe Bismarck would have been the ship that Hood hit with her first salvo.
Which ship would have one in a single ship toe-to-toe battle the brand spanking new Bismark or the worn out Hood - who knows.
Wife: 'Why are you crying?'
Me: 'Dan Snow just put Warspite into S tier'
I love the design of Warspite, and it's one of my favorite tier 6 BB's in World of warships
@@Yamato-tp2kf Yeah, it's a solid tier 6 BB. Back when missions were tier 6 only, I wore the paint off of mine.
I assume tears of joy...? Warspite Is S tier. The greatest battleship ever.
It defiantly wins for the best sounding battleship name, the British always had great names for their ships.
@@ChrisCrossClashreally?
HMS Cockchafer, Dainty, Spanker, Pansy, Fairy, Tickler, Delight, Unicorn, Frolic, and the entire Flower class of corvettes would beg to differ. I mean yeah Victory, Indomitable, Vengeance, Repulse, Dreadnought, and Warspite are awesome name, but the RN doesn't ALWAYS have cool ship names
Scharngorst was more a commerce raider and sunk more tonnage than any other ship on the list so was probably the most successful at what she was designed for
Yes, but who made the list?
@@NanaMediacollector a Brit unfortunately
@@georgesgranger6362 Whose nation called her class the "ugly sisters" lol
@@georgesgranger6362.. Well you make a list and post it 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
It's purpose was idiotic in the first place. The whole idea of using capital ships doing a U-boat job is just waste of a ship, and resources.
"Bismarck" a D? Well, when you mention a lucky hit on the "Hood", then you should also mention the lucky torpedo-hit by a british biplane. If the torpdo didn't hit the rudder (a few others hit somewhere else and caused no damage at all!), the Bismarck would have been able to escape the biggest fleet ever combined hunting her alone towards the coast of France. One carrier, 6 battleships, several heavy and light cruisers and 33 destroyers were after her, and all of them wouldn't have been able to get her without the luck of a "Swordfish"-biplane. And when this fleet got her, Bismarck was already unable to manouvre for a last legendary duel against the superior numbers. Maybe it was not an A (for example: bad radar system, moreover killed by herself with her first salvo ever), but definately a B.
Thank you!! Brits can’t stand The Bismarck shit on them and they couldn’t sink it even with a broken rudder 😂
You don't know what would happen if the torpedou would not hit.
It's his channel, he's the one to decide which is which. 😂
To be honest, this is one of the funniest top listing videos ever
Bismarck is legitimately overrated
@@rolosavage519 They could. But Battleship combat was new and they were afraid to approach.
"Stand aside, I'm coming through. This is Ching Lee." The North Carolina class: USS Washington, was the last battleship to sink another battleship in a one-on-one engagement. She was captained by a man whom I've recently grown to deeply admire.
There’s also the USS Texas, who famously gangster-leaned itself so it could fire further inland on D-Day. I would have rather had her on the list over the USS Arizona.
Washington was North Carolina class. South Dakota's were slightly better.
@@zTheBigFishz oh, I must have assumed they were both SDs since the South Dakota was also in that battle.
@@PolymurExcel Yea and the actual SD had a big snafu with it's electrical system that was then followed by a navigation error that left them silhouetted against a burning destroyer which caused them to eat a few large caliber shells.
Uh no, I’m pretty sure this is false. The battle of Saratoga Strait in 1944 was the last battleship on battleship engagement, and that did not involve USS Washington.
@@jimmyneutron4158 the incident I’m referring to happened in the Solomon Islands two years prior and was a direct duel between the Kirashima and the Washington. I hardly think the Fuso from Sergio Straight really counts when it was getting combined fire from several other ships and was had torpedo as a killing blow.
"Am I biased? yes I am." 🤣 This was so fun to watch. I love hearing historians talk so passionately about there fields of study, it brings the subjects to life for me.
You gotta love this Brit !
One of the first lessons you get on history courses. We are all bias , but as historians we must present our bias with facts.
I love that he embraced just having a bit of a chuckle with all this, he outright SAID he wasn't being particularly serious about it. And you still got comments getting salty about it lmao
anyone that claims to be without bias is a liar. i forgive Dan for classing the Warspite by herself. she was a proud ship. she deserved a better fate than the breakers. i hope that an occasion that a ship renders herself so historically important in history that she should be deemed a museum ship is not needed in the future, the Victory, the Constitution, the Mikasa, the Avrova (LOOK HER UP she's a beautiful ship in wonderful shape) the Arizona, the Missouri, the Texas, and all the other current museum ships around the world need to be preserved to honor those that served about them, and in honoring them, we need to keep a clear mind that free people need to stay free and honor the sacrifice that those that served in our Armed Forces did so in the hope that war among our peoples would not keep happening. Pray for Peace folks!!!!!
I wanna basically learn all facts of ships, planes, tanks. I love them all
Bismarck a D? I guess there was a secret type of classification... butthurtedness for headshotting the Hoodie :)
I don’t agree with D tier either but the bismarck was just severely impractical, it hit an incredibly lucky shot on the hood and it was so large and impractical that it stood no chance what so ever
And exactly like he mentioned, it was just a propoganda tool, its actual influence in the war was essentially obsolete
@InFamoose-WT It was so impractical and bad that the Brits sent everything they had against it? They must have hated its color too much I guess.
@InFamoose-WT If it was so impractical or bad, why did the Brits send everything they had against it? They hated the color?
@ because sinking it enabled the British to not look as bad for losing a key vessel. And sending “every vessel” even though it wasn’t even 5% of the total fleet after it ensured its sinking without losing any more allied ships. It’s real life not a game
My dad lived near where Warspite beached herself on the way to the breakers, refusing to die, and remembers older boys swimming out to her. Imagine having a battleship to play with. And Warspite at that!
Prussia cove, note accurately by st Michael’s mount in Cornwall where I lived for ten years. And yes, if the tide was out and the flats exposed you could still see some of her heel and boilers up until the late 2010s
@@DanielGreen-j4c possibly the most iconic British ship since the Hms Victory such a shame they never kept her around
Americans made museums of ships with such bland combat records, and we couldn't spare the grand old lady? Genuinely angers me.
@@Iamlurking504 Before you give us too much credit we did scrap the Enterprise and if there was going to be 1 museum ship only, that should be the one. It's combat record is remarkable, at least Star Trek got it right anyhow. It makes me sad that I can't visit that iconic ship.
@@jameshannagan4256 fair enough... that lady could hold a candle to anyone
To be fair Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were meant to be battle cruiser commerce raiders.
You mean Polish battleship Gneisenau ? , because Poland own it 1945-51 , and there was plans to repair it and place in Polish navy , that did not happen because soviets have offer Poland 3 destroyers and 5 submarines instead.
@@Huzarionix What Polish? Just because the soviets saved you and then the ship ended up in Poland after the war doesn't make it Polish xd You guys were barely able to build destroyers on your own before the war. And not like the soviets had to offer anything for it as commie Poland was just a puppet state of the USSR. They could have just taken it but i guess they were feeling generous, uncharacteristic.
They're battleships. Considered both by germans and british to be one
@@tandemcharge5114, indeed, in fact I believe it’s on record that it was Churchill specifically who was the main driver force to classify them as battlecruisers so as to save money and not build newer battleships to counteract them. Given Britain already had Hood, Renown and Repulse, calling Scharnhorst and Gneisenau battlecruisers would mean they would already have similar ships which could counter them.
Should be:
To be fair Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were decent battleship ships. Gneisenau just kept having constant air raids against her and so she could never unfortunately get fully repaired. And hence scuttled when Allies approached. And Scharnhorst got completely ambushed in an unfair fight, and almost got away if it weren’t for one lucky shell hitting through a niche spot in the armour that took out one of her boiler rooms.
Truth be told, Missouri was chosen for the signing treaty mainly because Harry Truman was a native of the state or Missouri.
The biggest reason the Missouri was chosen was she was the most modern battleship of her day. The United States had just dropped the world’s most dangerous and advanced weapon on another nation and ended the Pacific war in days instead of months. The Missouri was also favored by Admiral Halsey and its construction was sponsored by Harry Truman’s daughter Margaret. However as to what you said. The General consensus is that in Hinor of Harry Truman being a native of Missouri and his daughter had sponsored her and Admiral Nimitz and Halsey wanted to show the world the technical and tactical superiority of the United States. Yet the decision to sign the peace treaty was absolutely made by the book. Yet Halsey and Nimitz and Truman were pretty much rewriting the book weekly.
@@TroyGlaus-yv2yb she was the newest, based on her launch and commission dates, but she was no more modern than the Iowa, New Jersey, or Wisconsin. Bottom line is that Truman got his way.
Think the Tirpitz had a bigger impact than Bismarck on the war. She spend three years in a Norwegian fjord, but the Royal Navy spend alot of resources keeping her bottled up and trying to sink her (something she simply refused to do). Textbook 'fleet in being'.
Tirpitz main contribution was to be on the coolest airstrike video on youtube
Yes but that was because of havoc done by Bismarck
I would agree Bismark sunk one ship and got wacked on its first voyage, thileTirpitz managed to be around most of WWll. it was dumb bad luck for what happpened to her and she did try to engage. and just for being around that long put more fear into the allies then bismark ever did.
@@BlackoScorpio Probably more to do with the massive successes the Scharnhorsts managed to do when they successfully broke out into the Atlantic. Scared the brits shitless to potentially have a capital ship prowling the ocean for merchantmen. Also, why the Brits desperately dispatched the Prince Of Wales despite not completing shakedown cruises to intercept Bismarck as few Brits BBs had the speed to intercept the ship.
Even though she was a cruiser, Graf Spee had a bigger impact on the war.
Sad to see no USS Wisconsin. She made the North Koreans redraw maps she was so angry.
Temper, temper
And where are the rest of the British battleships? King George V? Nelson? Revenge?
Mate, read the title of the video.
Dan's favorite battleships of the SECOND World War.
@@cleverusername9369 big whiskey was in WWII
Famously short tempered! Gets hit, blows island to smithereens
Honestly, claiming yamato cannot get A because it was sank with most hands on deck and put at B next to Arizona, who just got that high just because how it sank, i dunno man, it sounds not only biased but a little.ridiculous.
I respect all the rankings, i would even accept yamato in B, but not with that reasoning, its ridiculous
Your only as good as your last game. Yamato, had no game. It was put into service 9 days after Pearl Harbor. The Yamato and the cruiser Yahagi. plus 8 destroyer's combined to shoot down 12 American planes. Thats 1.1 plane for the Yamato for the entire war. Dorie Miller a cook aboard the USS Arizona shot down more planes at Pearl Harbor than the Yamato did during the war. So F--k the Yamato, it should get a F-.
I expected Yamato to get A tier, cause it's service history wasn't very impressive, apart from the sheer balance of power factor. But it was arguably the most capable battleship of the war and the most epic design, as it entered service in 1940, and it just wasn't used extensively enough.
Personally, I'd judged the ships as a class and purely based on their capabilities and this way Yamato would go to S tier alongside the Iowa
But that reasoning is very weird, especially with Iowa getting A tier by doing next to nothing apart from the shore bombardment.
@@RaiderCBR6.5 "you are only as good as your last game" is a very bad hill to die on tbh.
And again, your argument really doesn't justify the Arizona standing either.
Just say you don't like Japanese battleships bro.
@@soristrufas6571 I like Japanese Battleships very much. To be great you have to do something great you were designed for. I would not consider the Arizona as a great Battleship unless you got points for blowing the hell up. Yamato would be number 1 if you got points for giving holmes to all those homeless fish that need a place to stay. All the Ghost's on the Yamato are still saying we have the best ship, when is that decisive battle.
Yamato was a piece of shit, stay mad
Another Bismarck fan boy here. Its not the technical aspects of the Bismarck that make him legendary. It's the sinking of the Bismarck that's the legend. My god, in one sortie, the Bismarck faced 4 battleships, 2 carriers, and an assortment of cruisers and destroyers. Its has international intrigue, Churchill, and more. It's a literal Hollywood movie. Bismarck is a legend.
@@thecurlew7403
with the battle against hood and prince of wales even 2 to 1 bismarck could stood up
@hugonubario Yes people don't realise how powerful she was the Admiral was not happy about the mission the crew needed more time esp the AA gunners they found radar control was best usa found this out in Pacific turpits was nearly ready the 2 could have went together Hood wasn't ready to fight bismark but as usual they couldn't care less their were plans to build 6 to 8 bismarks and 2 of the big H battleships bigger than her with twin funnels lovely ships lovely lines the brits were to replace there outdated fleet with lion class and the vanguard class but never happened. 🛳🛳🛳🇬🇧🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪
He is biased as he said, just sour it sank the Hood.
Bismarck was a leg end until the Rodney turned up and neutralised it for the destroyers to finish it off. Sure KG5 pretty much the equivalent of the Bismarck turned up but it was the Rodney that did the damage
But defeated by biplanes
This guy was really pissed the Bismark sank the Hood xD
So is everyone else that isn't a fucking Nazi.
Well quite a lot of people are upset about that……
Well he's British, you can't expect the guy to place Bismark along in the S Tier. Favoritism at it's Finest😂😂
@@jenclydelemosnero2529lol
bismarck is overrated by wehraboos. worse career than scharnhorst. deserves to be at D
Your rating makes no sense.
Not convinced Arizona makes sense on this list. Sure, Bismarck is also famous for sinking, but at least she was part of naval battles, at sea. Arizona sunk in harbor.
That part right there got me bamboozled😂😂😂
@@jenclydelemosnero2529 The Arizona had a similar resume to the Warspite (being a WWI juggernaut and all), but unfortunate circumstances led to it getting knocked out of the war before it could contribute to it. I'm pretty sure he added it to contrast the Warspite
yeah, am scratching my head on that one. Bismark sunk the hood damage the prince of wales and then took on a fleet by itself and he give it a D. While Arizona has no prewar history as a battleship and was immediately sunk at the start of the war. He should had put Bismark at the same tier as Arizona.
@@Marveryn
Bismarck was built different
Bismark did one heck of a job beating on the Brittish fleet.
USS Washington... With "Chang" Lee on board... She took apart the BB Kirishima at night in tight quarters. A battle that made the Japanese realize they could not win the battle. This gave her an outsized influence on the War in the Pacific.
Poor Kirishima, she was extremely unlucky to encounter USS Washington with Chang Kee onboard.
The Kongo class of battlecruisers (later classified as fast Battleship) were not designed to fight in a slugfest with other battleship ls due to its thin armour
@@timid932 Not only that, the Kushima was commissioned 26 years earlier than the Washington. 14" guns vs 16" of the Washington, and within 8000yds.
@@distractedgeek yeah and 8000 yards is a knife fight range for battleships
this list was for the most overrated battleships. Washington is underrated.
Yamato also had a 19 nautical mile near miss on one of our escort carriers at the Battle off Samar that damaged its rudder and keel. Using '30s tech colored smoke markers.
Carriers and a wartime training program for carrier aircrews would've been a better investment for Japan. Not benefitting from hindsight though even lots more Destroyers would've been a better investment around the confines of the Solomans or Guadalcanal sound. About the last battles won by Japan were surface ship battles around the Solomans that sunk or drydocked every cruiser we had in the Pacific through '43 and they were won by Destroyers with Type 93 torpedoes.
You are seriously underestimating Bismarck here. The RN sent what they thought to be its two most powerful ships to destroy it and made Bismarck's destruction top priority .
Yes, the RN blew up Bismarck to explain away the sinking of the Hood within minutes, but this sinking was a result of a lucky shot. Bismarck's destruction was in similar ways the result of a lucky shot by getting hit by the very last torpedo dropped by British Swordfish in its rudder.
Maybe I am also biased but it is outrageously to give Bismarck a D 😅
The Nelson class deserves a mention just because of how unusual the turret layout is.
Was kind of expecting to see Nelson here as well.
And the KGV class?
@@cameronkeen7551 the design feels fairly in keeping with a lot of other battleships. The 14" guns were a bit behind the times. Perhaps a good ship that didn't really stand out...?
Nelson class fire power 9 16in guns only battleship I believe to fire full "broadside" forward
Its a heavy cruiser but that's why I love the IJN Tone.
What a bizarre list! Firstly, the title of this video is Dan Snow Ranks His Favorite Battleships of the Second World War but at around the 10:55 mark Dan states that he isn't a fan of the Scharnhorst - then why the heck is it on the list? Next, he ranks the Bismarck as D Tier. Astonishing. It sank the Hood! Admittedly it had a very short service history but look at what the Royal Navy had to throw at it to bring about it's demise. Bismarck took an incredible amount of punishment to dispatch and proved just how well built it was. Conversely, the USS Arizona sank at harbor and given the video title, achieved nothing in WWII. I realize this is Dan's personal view and not necessarily an objective list but even so he makes some odd statements. I find it hard to believe he didn't select one of the KGV's. This video cements what I have long thought - Dan knows less about naval history than he thinks he does. The History Hit team should've asked a real naval historian to compile a list.
Update: it's one month later and I now see that the video title has changed. Hmmm - took too much criticism from your original title Dan?
"Bismarck took an incredible amount of punishment to dispatch"
So what? She was mission killed in her first engagement and quickly disarmed in her second. Who cares that her useless, blazing hulk soaked up a few torpedoes before it finally sank? She was dead long before that. Her armour scheme was, frankly, rubbish.
@@fergusmason5426 My point is that she did far more in WWII than Richelieu and the Arizona but scored far worse according to Dan.
@@robperkins2085 She was also built and crewed by fucking Nazis, which is a massive point against her.
@@robperkins2085 You have to see it from the point of view of the most overrated ships, and for sure that did he. The Warspite had in two word wars only sunk one ship- a German destroyer - all other was teamwork and the ship did not get count of the kill. From this point of view is the Bismarck on the right spot, killed the Hood before the whole home fleet was thrown against her. A HMS Warspite would have been sunk in the first engagement and if it had survived it wouldn't have come this distance before it would had been sunk. So the HMS Warspite is totally overrated in comparison to the Bismarck or the German commerce raider ships. Interestingly, the British and American fleets failed "to copenhagen" the Richelieu, which actually demonstrates how well-designed the ship was and how poorly the combined fleet performece was.
@@fergusmason5426”bismarcks armour scheme was rubbish” according to who exactly? Bismarck and Tirpitz had their own set of flaws but armour layout? According to technical analysis Bismarck had better hull/deck armour (both in its effectiveness and thickness) than the Iowa, South Dakota, North Carolina, KGV, Queen Elizabeth and Nelson classes of battleships.
The fact that the Battleship Texas (BB-35) wasn't even mentioned is a crime. She played a huge role during the Normandy invasion. The Grim Yeeter went so far as to flood her starboard torpedo blisters, gangster leaning a 36,000 ton battleship, so she could get another 2° of elevation to fire her guns farther inland in order to continue beating the crap out of the Germans.
And that's not to mention that she is the ONLY dreadnought in the world that is still afloat as a museum ship.
USS Texas should be on the S tier.
And the Americans had the sense and pride to preserve her, unlike the Brits and Warspite.
@@stingingeyes Warspite should have definitely been preserved as a museum ship!
Came here to say the same. BB-35 was my childhood playground. So much history with her and so happy to see and help in my little way raise money to preserve her.
No Texas? I'm not angry, just disappointed.
BB-35!
Yeah it should be USS Texas rather than the US Arizona ...
Boring ship
Texas didn't actually do much, even had to be bailed out by Warspite at Normandy.
@@SennaAugustus compared to Arizona Texas atleast seen war ...
What not one Italian Battleship? The Vittorio Veneto was awesome
With her hypersonic shell speeds lol - And extremely pleasing to the eye.
Agreed!
Fr
Vittorio Veneto ran away from a very slow R class and caused the retirement of Admiral Campioni, Littorio couldn't beat some destroyers.
@@SennaAugustus In fact, battleships shouldn't fight destroyers, that's the work of the cruisers or other destroyers. Destroyers are a problem for the battleships, because the main guns are not appropiate for little targets, and the speed and torpedos of a destroyer can cause big troubles to a big ship.
USS ARIZONA is still serving to this day. She has never been decommissioned.
IJN YAMATO and MUSASHI its sister ship were 2 of 6 keels laid. A third became IJN SHINANO an aircraft carrier.
I would personally think one should mention the channel dash from Scharnhorst, an incredible feat, and also not simply mention the hit, but actually be with Geneisenau to sink the carrier Glorious. It probably be worth mentioning Ardent and Acasta that fought valiantly to save the carrier and that later in battle of north cape, though sunk by Royal Navy, did won the respect of captain of Duke of York. Plus it's a nice looking ship!
Although it was a glorious moment for Scharnhorst, we can't really equate that to skill since the RN and RAF were absolutely atrocious on that day with almost everything they did.
That dash was more down to the audacity of the leaders and crew rather than the actual ship itself.
It is a very beautiful looking ship.
The Warspite is the true unsinkable ship
She was an old Lady, but she demonstrated that "old" doesn't mean "less powerful" or "less resistent"
One detail: on the way to the scrapyard (which for me was one of the biggest sins of that time), Warspite towing ropes snapped a few times, it was like the grand old lady was fighting for her life...O7
@@Yamato-tp2kf yes it is a crime, she should rest beside HMS Victory 😢 and on the way to the scrapyard , she eventually beached , telling everyone that she will rest in the seas not a scrapyard. ❤
Warspite should have been preserved for the nation.
Fr
16:17 if Bismarck is a D, I except Yamato to be there too.
20:00 blasphemy
Yamato was called Hotel Yamato by her own Navy because she effectively did nothing of note for the entire war until her final suicidal mission. Musahi did more but also failed miserably.
@@yeehawstrength8315 Considering she spent nearly the entire war in protective custody I'd have to agree. And when she wasn't she high tailed back home chased out of the fight by aircrews of Essex class carrier's and Fletcher Class Destroyers repressenting A far better expenditure for the Island and narrow channel confines for which much of the South Pacific surface ship battles had been fought. Facts being that destroyers more often had the bigger impact in the Pacific than obsolete behemoths because they saw more action. In Japan's case they either sank or drydocked Allied Cruisers through '43 while Yamato shared the sinking of two destroyers off Samar during the entirety of the war. She didn't even get used as a floating artillery platform and brought obsolete tech with her.
Compare that to the records of Bismark or Scharnhorst.
Would love to see the Yamato vs Bismark.
German simps would be crying so hard.
Bismark wouldnt even penetrative Armour.
You all forget that this conversation is about the idea of a war where only battleships are fighting eachother. Not making fair decisions.
where is the USS Washington? She was the last battleship to actually sink an enemy battleship in combat.
Well oldendorf`s battle line at surigao strait may disagree.
The destroyer sunk Fuso and damaged Yamashiro. And anyways Washington sunk Kirishima almost single handedly, while Yamashiro was fired upon by so many ships including cruisers.
She's not in World of Warships, sadly...
Personally, I would switch the places of the Arizona and Bismark. The Bismark may have only been in service 10 days, but the Battle of the Denmark Straight was a clear victory over the Royal Navy. The German fleet doesnt have too many surface victories to boast of during WW2, but this was clearly a signature victory. The Arizona really never did anything in battle. It's claim to fame is it's demise.
Clear victory? No it was a clear loss. They lost their only battleship and the Prinz Eugen did nothing. How is that a win?
"the Battle of the Denmark Straight was a clear victory over the Royal Navy"
Was it fuck. It was a German defeat. The German objective was to break out past Home Fleet into the Atlantic and attack Allied commerce. The British objective was to stop them. Who achieved their objective? Once you understand that, you'll know who won.
@@PeoeieThe battle in the Denmark Strait was a complete victory for the Kriegsmarine. This cannot be disputed. The sinking of the Bismarck was not part of that battle.
@@Amrod97 Pyrric victory. The hit from HMS Prince of Wales doomed Bismarck
Bismarck gets ripped on for short life. They say it was hyped because it sank the Hood. From the day it launched, the entire of the British Atlantic fleet was on mission to sink it. When the Hood and PoW got to her, the Hood sank and the PoW ran for her life. When they finally caught her with all the ships due to the lucky shot in her rudder, it took all day and all the guns they ha to get her to stop shooting back. The expenditure of the British to stop it shows it's value.
Yes but the Bismark sustained damge and leaked fuel forcing the mission to be aborted.
I have to say, good thing for that disclaimer beforehand, since I agree with almost nothing on the list, apart from Warspite and maybe Richelieu. For example, Arizona was a glorified ferry and blew up, and that's about it for her accolades. And while Bismarck certainly does not deserve the god-tier reputation she still sometimes gets, putting here alone at the bottom is quite weird. At least she tied down quite a number of enemy forces to hunt her down and managed to sink a ship of almost equal size. Certainly did more than the huge pinata that was Yamato.
Yamato was slower than the Iowa class but had them significantly outgunned. Although it's said that american fire control was better. It would have been an interesting fight if it ever had came across an iowa class.
@@claytonberg721 It is unlikely to be interesting as Iowa does
not have an Immunity zone to Yamato at any range. And we have plenty of examples of what occurs when that is the case.
The list itself is very silly
@@claytonberg721 Outgunned by caliber and maybe firing range (but I don't know this exactly) but not in terms of fire control and subsequently its hit rate, especially at night or in poor weather conditions. That and the speed of the Iowa class would have enabled them to dicate the terms of engagement. Additionally the Japanese were very hesitant to deploy Yamato and Musashi to combat. They were of course very expensive so they didn't take that risk. Additionally Yamato is an ancient term for Japan, so losing her might have had a negative psychological impact. Technological progress in WW2 was insane and battle ships that were considered modern at the beginning of the war were clearly inferior to ships built by the later stages of the war.
@@Harry-tb8yo The only time an Iowa class could've met a Yamato class was off San Bernardino Strait on the afternoon of October 25th 1944, and given who was in command of the Iowas at that fight I am highly doubtful they'd be doing any "dictating the engagement" as many people like to posit for this classic matchup-Halsey would almost certainly have tried to bulldoze his way in and gotten a bloody nose as in that case he was outnumbered and incensed, at least until Ching Lee showed up and set the record straight with his Washington and the 4 SoDaks. Yamato's fire control, esp. at daytime, was nothing to scoff at (damaging near miss or hit on a carrier at 32KM) and Ching Lee himself was not fond of the idea of tangling with them at night. As it was Halsey decided to slow to 20 knots to refuel the destroyers in his formation and ended up missing Kurita by several hours.
For mentioning Steven Seagal, you should be downvoted....but I'll let this one pass..........THIS time.
It was a decent movie in a sense. It was before we knew what a douche Seagal was and the music and visuals were cool
@@marklittle8805agreed, hes an asshole, but under siege still holds up. I believe that Interior shots had been filmed in The North Carolina BB.
FWIW, Swap New Jersey for either Iowa or Missouri. Most decorated of all US Battleships. Longest active career. Probably THE most iconic battleship of all US battleships.
Iowa does have the longest active career, but New Jersey is the most decorated with 19 battle stars, 9 from ww2. Iowa has 9 battlestars from ww2 but all together only 11.
All 4 are legendary in their own ways. Missouri is where the Japanese unconditional surrender was signed, New Jersey most decorated, Iowa longest active career, Wisconsin.... she's short tempered lol.
1. USS Missouri - for service record
2. IJN Yamato - for technical record and final action
3. HMS King George V - for service record
4. USS Nevada - for actions during Pearl Harbor
5. Bismarck - for final action
Honorable mentions: USS Texas (for D-Day), IJN Musashi (for technical record) and the entire Iowa class
Bismarck is one shot and eternal glory, otherwise no particular contribution to the war.
Yamato had a heroic last stand... sort of. Her AA guns were largely ineffective against USN planes. Of the 10 or so aircraft down in Ten-Go, 5-6 of them were taken down when Yamato capsized and exploded. Ok, here Leyte Gulf performance was more impressive when she actually hit Taffy 3 ships with her main battery.
Musashi takes honour for heroic last stand.
Fr
Yes i definitely would have chosen Nevada over Arizona for her wartime record.
If we just consider WW2 then USS Missouri doesn't deserve 1st position because of her service record.
Replace her with Massachusetts as Yamato had more ship engagement in a single battle than all 4 Iowa class ships in WW2.
@@captainphilips5469yet the NJ holds the world record for the farthest hit. A Japanese DD at 26 miles killing 6 sailors.
You missed the only other S tier battleship, HMS Rodney.
Sunk the Bismark. Allegedly torpedoed Bismark, and Operation Pedestal, and went to the East Indies without being sunk.
My great uncle served on the Rodney, he lived till 93 and past away a few years ago, he manned the 16” guns. His last mission of the war was being home aussie warbrides
It didn't sink the Bismarck. The Rodney and the fleet that accompanied her did.
@@truesavagejack it is pretty much confirm that it did torpedo Bismarck making it the only battleship to torpedo another battleship in combat.
@@hashteraksgage3281 yes and no Rodney did most of the damage and Rodney would have sunk Bismarck if it was on it's own Bismarck was destroyed stem to stern, being with a fleet is normal. Did Bismarck not sink hood because Prinz Eugen was there as well?
You are a man of good tastes indeed. Rodney deserved S tier alongside her British compatriot.
I recent finished Ian Toll's trilogy on the Pacific Theater of WW II, and I know the answer to the question "What are the most overrated battleships of WW2?" Easy. ALL OF THEM! Aircraft carriers outclass them all.
There is a funny story onboard Warspite during Jutland where a crewman onboard witnessed a German shell penetrate the hull and smashed into the bread store on board the ship. The crewman apparently proclaimed witnessing bread flying out past him and wondering if the Germans had run out of shells and had resorted to firing braked bread at them instead.
Warspite: Impenetrable to German shells. Only weakness.... German Bread. LOL
I guess that shell didn't explode, else the bread would be toast.
@@stingingeyes I believe it was an AP shell that detonated in the compartment next to the bakery store so the explosive force blew up in that compartment and the pressure wave fired into the bakery store and launched the bread around.
@@amandarhodes4072 Strong compartments, or a lot of luck. They were lucky guys to witness any bread after that impact.
@@stingingeyes Well looking at the ships in combat at the time and the shells they had access to it would have been a 12 or 13 inch shell probably armour piercing to have gotten through Warspites thick armour belt.
The bakery is located midship so nowhere near a main gun battery magazine so the explosion was most likely just from the AP shell itself so not very destructive on it's own. Fragmentation would have been the majority of things flying around in that compartment.
The explosion and heat from it would have been contained within the compartment that was hit. The shockwave from the explosion would have just been from the displaced air so no heat would have been involved. The bread would have been launched around simply by the expulsion or air.
@@stingingeyes you're walking the plank for that one
All four Iowa class BB's are S-tier, and it's not even an argument. They are alone in that tier, sorry Warspite. Also, where's the USS Washington?
Your bias is really showing through when it comes to the German ships.
Bismarck at worst is A-tier. It one-tapped the pride of the Royal Navy, and took over 40 Royal Navy ships to try and sink it, which they still failed. James Cameron proved Bismarck was scuttled by the crew... Luck had nothing to do with it; the Bismarck completely outclassed HMS Hood.
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were battlecruisers, not battleships; there is a difference. They not only "hit a carrier" - they straight up sunk HMS Glorious, this is the only time in history a surface ship has sunk a carrier.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf is the largest navel battle in history, while the Battle of Jutland was the largest of WWI.
So much wrong information in this video that a quick "Google" could have fixed...
The cameron report shows the biggest factor in its sinking was plunging fire from HMS Rodney and HMS King George. Bismarck landed the luckiest shot in naval history, ran from a malfunctioning battleship, and never stopped running until it was sunk
You forgot the battleship so heavy it sank after an hour. I proudly present Regalskeppet Vasa!
Any battleship Willis Lee commanded automatically becomes S tier…
Such a shame the UK didnt save a single heavy cruiser, battleship or carrier after WW2 for a museum ship...
Criminal really
Totally agree.
@@IamRyanLPs I agree on the Battleship and Carrier front. Although HMS Belfast is heavier than most heavy cruisers. It's a bit of a misnomer it just refers to the armament either being 6 inch light and 8 inch heay. But some 6 inch ships such as Belfast would have more guns than 8 inch armed vessels and due to the higher rate of fire and the armour on cruiser not having the ability to stop 6 inch fire at notmal battle ranges. Light cruisers were considered equivalent.
We have to see it in the context of the after war period. Europe was devastated and short on literally everything and of course also on raw material like steel that was now needed for very different things to rebuild the countries. Then, even after a ship is decommissioned it doesn't come for nothing. It still has to get some minimum maintenance and care. For what? The war was over, other things were much more pressing than preserving an old mountain of steel. It was very different than today when we just enter a shop and get what we want.
If I had a time machine the first thing I would do is to make sure that hms warspite was preserved as a museum ship
Indeed. It pisses me off that they didn't keep the warspite too.
Certainly a shame HMS Warspite wasn't preserved as a museum ship. It would help remind us that we were once great.
Bismarck probably deserves to be higher, if for no other reason than surviving as long as she did under whithering fire. Hundreds of shells hitting at pt blank range, and multiple confirmed torpedo hits.
Come on, it is a Britt. What else did you expect? Keep them happy.
@@marNL1970 what? Are you another German that’s mad that the Bismarck was sunk??
@@Peoeie Me German?! Apologize yourself please. No, just laughing about you Britts.; every opportunity is taken to drag down Bismarck's reputation. Are the Britts still upset about the good shooting of Bismarck which made the Hood explode? Still upset about Jutland?
That was done on purpose to get up close so plunging fire wouldn't hole it, and it was a cruel act to chop the crew up ✌️😑
@@Peoeie why should a current day german be mad at that? The german navy basically sent them to their death in suicide missions against an allied fleet that outnumbered them by roughly 20 to 1, so it was a foregone conclusion that they would eventually find them and sink them. I believe most of us today are just annoyed at the sheer arrogance with which brittish people talk about this now as if the Bismarck, aswell as Prinz Eugen and Scharnhorst were supposedly terrible vessels, yet historical facts and accounts from real people who were involved in the fighting say completely otherwise.
Great List. I would replace Arizona with USS Tennessee, due to her war record, refitted after Peal Harbor and was present at the last Battleship vs Battleship battle at Surigao Strait. I’d also add USS Washington as a B or C, as adm Lee’s gunslinger. And why only one British ship?
cause this guy is a british knob head 😅
Warspite never reached the Italian battleship squadron at "Cape Matapan", the ships sunk were those of the "Zara" class heavy cruiser together with other destroyers, and this was due to a considerable advantage: the radar for night battle.
I don’t care, Richelieu is the best looking one 😋
Why make three categories if you only decide based on one???
Yep. Yamato had a much more eventful career then Arizona and was better then any listed ship apart from may be Iowa, but it is next to Arizona (which is only famous because it was sunk), because cool factor is the only thing that was really considered
@@skysamurai4649Yamato would have been clapped by Iowa, she had more accurate guns, due to her radar fire controler.
@fallout3fanboy1 Yamato also had excellent gunnery and crews, not to mention that Iowa has literally no safe range against Yamato guns. Plus Yamato also had a radar capable of fire control.
It's a pretty even match.
Always like your reviews and Podcasts. Thanks.
I think you made a big mistake choosing 2 Iowa class battleships. And yo missed the USS Washington, which actually engaged and sank another battleship in the 2nd Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Even though it was a Treaty battleship, the 16-in guns and radar fire control allowed Willis Lee to make mincemeat out of the Kirishima.
Not to mention not put the King George V on the list. The most heavily armored BB class in WW2.
@@hrhagadorn aside from Yamato.
The only mistake was not including all four Iowa class battleships, the pinnacle of battleships.
@@loyalrammy how? He added two which shouldn’t have been on there, their service during ww2 was laughable and they wasn’t the pinnacle of battleships. They were just glorified longer versions of the South Dakota class. They didn’t have the best armour at all, nor the biggest or best guns or crew. Also their technology still wasn’t the best. The overall best and most advanced ww2 ship was obviously the HMS Vanguard every system and design on the HMS Vanguard except the actual guns were newer and more advanced than the Iowas. Don’t forget the Vanguard was launched in 1946 do they had taken every mistake of previous battleships into account whilst also incorporating the modern technology from 1946 compared to Iowas late 1930s technology.
Willis Lee and his crew were accurate, with or without fire control radars. He relentlessly trained the Washington guys to be insanely accurate and would have done the same on any battleship. IMO.
What about USS Texas built in 1911. The Tampico incident, WW1, WW2, North Africa, D-Day (where the captain flooded part of the ship so that it could shoot further inland.) Cherbourg, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. And it just got out of drydock and ready for another 100 years.
Great video, about time to hear some truth about the (too) much adored Kriegsmarine lol... How about a video about aircraft carriers next ? I would love to hear about some legends like Enterprise, Victorious and Zuikaku...
A D to Bismarck and S to Warspite this is a bigger joke then Wargaming is.
The only thing I disagree with is the incredibly silly title of the video. Most overrated battleships? The only one marked as overrated is the Bismarck. It’s a totally misleading and improper name for an otherwise cool video.
I say Yamato is the greatest! She has the best shell dispersion in World of Warships 😂😂
In all seriousness, awesome video!!
Great ranking I’d say but I honestly think Bismarck should have had a higher ranking
her career was short but the reason for that was the absolute fear factor she gave the Royal navy, and the outcry to avenge the hood after that engagement plus having a battleship in the Atlantic sinking all the shipping merchants. They had to send any vessel that was active in the Atlantic to go after her
As for Bismarcks beating she had King George V, Rodney and a few cruises pound at her until their ammo was almost completely depleted and mind you Bismarck was already limping thanks to a lucky torp jamming her rudder. and the Navy did cripple her but there’s been evidence she was in fact scuttled.
Scuttled or not it’s doesn’t matter the Entire ship was destroyed and going under. The British ships clearly aimed for the deck and bridge for revenge.
The Germans scuttled a burning hulk. She was no longer technically a ship long before she sunk.
I also dont get why shes ranked so far below yamato. Yes of course, yamato was way bigger, had bigger guns and a longer Service live, but what did she accomplish? She sank a destroyer and damaged a carrier. Bismarck sunk a battlecruiser and heavily damaged a battleship. And any other battleship wouldnt have survived much longer with how many ships the brits sent after her.
Not saying that Bismarck should've been S Tier, but D Tier, with seeing whats in C Tier, is just a Joke.
@@RANDP117 Well it got a lucky shot on hood and the POW had gun trouble so it had to sail away. It didn’t heavily damage POW also Britain only engaged the Bismarck with 2 battleships and 2 cruisers. Bismarck also missed every single shot. Nelson or KGV could’ve easily taken on the Bismarck alone and sunk it.
@@Peoeie Why the salvo that obliterated Hood was lucky and the torpedo on Bismarck's rudder was not?..talking abou bias....I am pretty sure that if Admiral Lutjens had not pull rank....Captain Lindemann would have gone and sink POW as well ...not that it mattered so much because that fat drunk churchil sacrificed her and Repulse in Singapore a few months later
As an American, I got to say I love the South Dakota and Iowa class battleships did some great work in the Pacific
Don't forget the USS Washington commanded by the admiral Augustus "Ching" Lee, one of the best Admirals in the US Navy that (like the UA-camr Fat Electrician would say: "USS Washington just bit*hslapped IJN Kirishima") destroyed Kirishima with more than 20 main 16 inch guns shots using radar guiding, which was a brand new way at the time to overcome the best night optics of the Japanese Navy
@@Yamato-tp2kf absolutely right. Adm. Lee is one of a kind
@@carveraugustus3840 Even the Bureau of Ordinance at that time was afraid of him... Admiral Lee was their worst nightmare....
@@Yamato-tp2kf USS Washington failed to actually destroy Kirishima, a WWI Battlecruiser. She escaped the battle but would later sink several hours later due to progressive flooding from the damage. The USS South Dakota, which was not only completely useless during the battle and was nearly sunk by Kirishima, then took credit USS Washington. This would result in the two ships having a bloody feud for the rest of the war and earn South Dakota the nickname "Shitty Dick" from the Washington sailors. Admiral Lee had to personally ensure that the two ships never gave their crew leave in the same port to prevent the very violent fistfights that would occur
@@captaincoxwaggle6882 You're most probably confusing the Kirishima with the Hiei that was sunk some hours later by the TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, Kirishima sunk on the Iron bottom sound as for Hiei, hours after having been shot at point blank gun range by the USS Laffey, she was sunk when she was trying to get out of range from the US air squadrons at Anderson field
My dad would be very happy to see your list as he served on Warspite in WW2.
USS North Carolina should've been on the list. She's the most decorated American battleship of WWII, she was in more action than any other US battleship in that war, and sailors of the legendary aircraft carrier USS Enterprise CV-6 referred to the NC as their best friend, as they operated together so frequently and NC provided such overwhelming AA firepower. The captain of Enterprise even had to signal to NC once "are you afire?", so fierce was NC's AA coverage. She was also the first American battleship built since I think 1922, the Colorado, the first American "fast battleship", and she was revolutionary in her design, firepower, and speed, she was the most powerful and modern ship in the world for a while. When she showed up at Pearl after the attack, sailors and civilians alike utterly REJOICED, I've seen video of her showing up in Pearl Harbor and it's very moving. What's more, she's still around, she in Wilmington, NC, and she's maybe the most well-preserved battleship in the museum ship fleet.
Also I'm from NC so I'm biased
The Iowa's fought in 3-4 wars. The Big J has 19 battle stars.
@@loyalrammy notice how it says "of WWII"?
Wow, I didn't know all that! I always thought that it would be like the Iowa class battleships that were the most decorated, cause you kinda hear the most about them. But that's awesome!
HMS Thunder Child ftw.
HMS Thunderchild was an ironclad torpedo ram, not a battleship although it's hard to think of her as anything else than a Dreadnought.
@@CIMAmotor Yes all that is true, but she did take out a Martian War Machine. None of the others can say that.
@@taun856 Not just one!
I'm here for the "fight me" attitude, particularly when you put Bismark at D tier.
I'm also glad to learn about Warspite, one I'd never heard of here in the States. The way you speak about it reminds me of how is Americans talk about the USS Texas, which has a remarkably similar history and service record
Gosh, I do hope Dan doesn't get hunted down by some committed wehraboos for putting Bismarck in D tier.
Their arguments for it being good are dead in the water.... just like the Bismark.
He should make a machine gun tierlist. Man, what would I give to see him argue why bren gun is S tier while mg42 gets a B due to ammunition consumption xD
Well, i expected this to be about battleships, not about how little time the German navy could operate on the seas. If they could, apparently Bismarck would then be higher, which makes no sense i we were talking about the battleships and the not situation at the sea.
So, just surprised the moving of goal posts and that doesn't require being a "wehraboo".
@alaric_ Chill bro, we all know warspite didn't do anything other than exist in the royal navy for 30 years. Litteraly every other battleship could have done the same. He should have at least taken HMS Dreadnought in her place.
Read the comments. It is already happening…
Warspite held that world record right up until a couple years ago when declassified information revealed the longest direct hit belongs to the USS Massachusetts and the longest shot to cause damage but cannot be classified as a direct hit belongs to the USS New Jersey
declassified Usian info by any chance. That noone has been able to qualify? Hmmm
@@markshakespeare5146 no it was declassified by the US and French government. The person that researched it was a naval historian named Vincent O’Hara, and has been accepted by many of the museum ships in the US including the New Jersey, and Battleship cove. Additionally in support of that the French have confirmed they found damage and shell fragments consistent with a US 16in shell penetration on the Milan (the ship that was hit). So although perhaps not the most widely recognized shot there’s significant evidence. Additionally the warspite was completed in 1915 she was a WW1 design. That means with all the advancements in battleship design in the interwar years from all nations, it didn’t make any difference at all in range and accuracy? Logically the longest ever shot would belong to a newer ship.
Longest shot to do damage I'm pretty sure was Yamato against White Plains. New Jersey and Iowa both straddled Nowaki but I don't think either damaged her since they weren't super close hits. Also, Scharnhorst and Warspite hit ships that were underway, Massachusetts, as cool as she was, hit a French ship in harbor.
@ this was during the battle of Casablanca but was not on the Jean Bart. It was a hit on the French destroyer Milan at 29000 yards and moving. I am unfamiliar with the Yamato shot that you’re referring to but she certainly had the capacity to out range pretty much any other ship afloat. So it wouldn’t surprise me. the problem I have with both the Scharnhorst and warspite shots, are that they are essentially WW1 designs. even with upgrades and modernization it’s illogical to think that range and accuracy didn’t advance in the real world application with more modern ships. And it would seem that , as in the case of the Massachusetts, declassified documents bear that out.
@@davidjean2170 I stand corrected, that's super interesting. I'm a Massachusetts fan, so that's a good new fact for me.
The Yamato shot I'm referring to came from the Battle off Samar, where Yamato's third salvo at 34500 yards struck near the escort carrier White Plains, knocking out her power and doing severe hull damage. The Japanese assumed this had sunk her and shifted fire to other targets, but White Plains' crew were able to restore power in three minutes and oversped their undamaged port side machinery to maintain formation. She would survive the battle and be repaired in San Diego. She later saw some action during the Battle of Okinawa.
Thank you, this was a very pleasant and entertaining waste of my time. :-)
What about the most decorated, BB62 NJ?
I was waiting for the New Jersey as well. It definitely deserves to be at the top
I have the feeling that there will be a second video about this topic
What did it actually do in the war to warrant it being on the list? be honest. Also it was Dan Snows list, other lists may vary.
Please compare it to Warspite's war record.
In my opinion, it should've been USS NJ instead of USS Iowa for this list. NJ served longer before retirement, was in that same typhoon, and unlike Iowa was Halsey's flagship in the Third Fleet. Also the fact that it sunk an entire island
@@k9pc1235 USS New Jersey fought in four wars and Warspite fought in two. New Jersey still exists and Warspite was turned into scrap.....
Which battleship in WWII sunk most other warships?
@@NielsenDK-1 Warspite, by quite a long way. sunk and was involved in sinking 8 destroyers, 3 cruisers and also damaged mutiple battleships including getting the joint longest gunnery hit on a ship during combat. It's spotter plane also dunk a U-Boat. In terms of tonnage combined it is also the highest. In terms of the highest on one vessel that is Bismarck with Hood, although within a very short time then Bismarck itself became the largest tonnage sunk by another warship when Rodney sunk her.
V New Jersey.
@@demonicusa.k.a.theblindguy3929 New Jesery sunk two ships and one was a fishing Trawler and the other a destroyer. So definitely not New Jesery.
@@Alex-cw3rz Well there was more ships that sunk Bismarck , that was team work .
@@Huzarionix same with Hood
Fun video one of the things I wish you had talked about more was operational range. Some compromises were made on U.S. Ships (especially early ones) in order to increase operational range as well as speed.
Scharnhorst is a battlecruiser? Why is it on a list of battleships
It's a battleship
@@tandemcharge5114 she was built during the restrictions that were placed on Germany during the interwar period where the germans were not allowed to have battleships
@@alexblanco5116 It's a battleship. Both the german and british wonderfully and utterly disagree with the notion that they're battlecruisers
I believe that by WWII there officially were no more Battle Cruisers i.e. all were designated Battleships ... That said her stats and purpose clearly fall into the Battle Cruiser category.
In most forums I have seen this is a common debate meaning it is not cut and dried either way.
@@karlsenula9495 you say that but the United States built 4 battlecruisers to the end of the war the Alaska Class to be specific
15:48 fact that it took the whole royal navy to took it down says something 🗿
It didn’t though, Prince of Wales essentially finished Bismarck by hitting its fuel tanks in the very same battle that hood was lost. Bismarck was effectively killed by a ship that was on its shakedown cruise and had only 14” guns. The reality is that Bismarck was one decent ship that got a lucky shot on an outdated battle cruiser and was then smothered by mostly a bunch of other outdated British battleships, as well as cruisers and carriers due to her being on essentially a suicide mission which is probably the worst possible use of a ship that requires years to build and tens of thousands of tonnes of steel.
It didn’t need the whole royal navy to drop her to the bottom of the sea. Quit believing the mythology 🤦♂️
Thanks for the rankings. I visited Iowa at its museum pier at San Pedro, California in 2012. Awesome place. I personally would have also considered ranking other battleships: British KGV, Italian Littorio, etc. Still, quite a list you have here.
6:46 Warspite in S-tier: job done. I don't care about the rest of the video.
Everyone should remember, this is Dan's favourite battleships, not "best battleships". Still fun to watch though.
As a war & history enthusiast, I enjoyed this 😂❤
Every Wow player knows the cruiser Omaha is the most powerful ship 😂
The most powerful in terms of earning credits when you hit it :)
nothing better in WOWS when your playing Hood and get put in a tier7 battle and see ze bismarck.....revenge
I have a cousin, who is entombed in the Arizona. We visited the memorial and paid our respects in 2019, If you get to Oahu, you can not only visit the Arizona memorial, but also the Battleship Missouri, which is now docked there as a museum ship.
19:59 Yamato would have been a pointless design for the US Navy. For the IJN it made as much sense as a chocolate tea pot.
You need to see "The Great War of Archimedes." One of the most interesting pieces of historical fiction and the most interesting take on Yamato I ever heard. The thesis is you are correct, but for a good reason. It is also superbly scripted and has great acting.
One thing that really annoys me? That we (Britain) never kept HMS VANGUARD Britain's last battleship. So generation after generation can see what a battleship was. Yes we have HMS BELFAST but she's not a battleship.. Imagine HMS VANGUARD near or next to HMS VICTORY at Portsmouth what a day out that would have been. But she's gone so no good crying over spilt milk.
Most fun. Mostly on the money, though Halsey's flagship (USS new Jersey) was replaced by Missouri because that ship was named after Truman's home state. Missouri today sits just off the Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor. More shows like this, please!
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No Tirpitz- she sank an entire convoy just by her fear
Which is somehow still less than what Bismarck did, she sat in port all war getting bombed, her attempt to intercept pq17 was a massive cost in fuel that germany couldn't afford, and she didn't even do anything, it was u-boats and the luftwaffe. The KGVs did more and aren't on the list.
Criminal withdrawing the escort of PQ17 & one of the worst disasters of the war.
Admiral Pound of the RN went against all advice, intelligence & sense. He was a unwell man & died from a brain tumour. It's thought it effected his judgment & sent many ships & men to their doom .
Strongest escort sent to that date & fought of all attacks with it before the shameful order.
Joseph Gradwell ignored the order that made no sense & managed to bring in 3 merchant men to Russia on a armed trawler, with nothing more than a Times Atlas . Worth looking up & about the only thing that was positive for the Allies with convoy PQ17
Putting Bismarck in D is a technical insult. But what to expect from chauvinist Brit sentiments when it hummiliated the RN by sinking HMS Hood only with in a few shots and it took literally an entire fucking fleet to sink it... And this only with a prior shitload of luck with the torpedo hit at the rudder...
womp womp
How many hits did Bismarck score when fighting for her life? How many of the attacking aircraft did she shoot down? How utterly flukey was the shell that sank the Hood? How easily was she incapacitated? And I don’t think you mean chauvinistic I think you mean jingoistic. Bismarck couldn’t even hit Poiron while she was signalled “I am Pole” over and over at her. Bismarck Schmismarck!
D is indeed an insult
should have been e tier
The only reason it accomplished anything was because it had a one-in-a-million stroke of luck and then it was doomed very shortly after by a literal biplane. It was a crap design with massive flaws, sending it out as the Germans did was pure idiocy, and there was nothing special whatsoever about the use of force to sink it because it had been blatantly apparent since Jutland that battleships take a stupid amount of punishment and effort to sink under normal conditions in ship to ship combat.
D tier all day long.
Yamato is not over rated, it has the most powerful gun and with the thickest armor battleship. It's optical fire control is second to none. The shell despersion of the yamatos 18.1inch gun at a maximum range is 400m which is more accurate than the 16inch gun of the Iowa battleships hence, it is deserving an A rating. The Yamatos battle resume is short but still commendable to say the least. It straddled and damaged the White plains escort carrier at about 31kms, the farthest shot in WW2. It sunk the Gambier Bay escort carrier at 20.5kms. It sunk the Johnston destroyer at 18.5kms. It also helped sunk the Hoel Destroyer. The Yamato is the only battleship in the world to be attacked by no less than 400 US naval planes piloted by the best of the best and most experienced naval aviators in the world. The 400 US planes came from 11 fleet and escort aircraft carriers. It took the most powerful airforce in the world the US airforce 2 long hours to finally sink the Yamato. The swarms of US torpedo bombers were ordered to concentrate their attack on the port of the Yamato which leads to the mighty giant ships demise.
USS New Jersey is the standard in nearly every possible category and by far the greatest battleship in the history of the US Navy
USS Washington by standard of sinking another "Battleship" in one on one combat
Bismarck in D tier is ragebait at this point
S Tier for Warspite - instant like and subscribe. She's by far and away my favourite ship in World of Warships and her history alone make her the best warship in history. You can look at stats and specifications, but action is what makes a ship special.
HMS Warspite had 15 battle honours ,.... no other ship compares.
The USS New Jersey beats it with 19 battle stars.
@@loyalrammy If you count Korea and Vietnam ....... where she had no enemy to fight.
@@loyalrammy 15 during an actual war though
@@connorkitchen7156 I'm not diminishing Warspite, but I am promoting the Iowa class and the USS Texas The last battleships and only super dreadnaught in existence. That counts for a lot being the last ones standing.
@@loyalrammy Yeah there's no denying they were genuine sea monsters
The ships are extremely biased around nation and not very strongly rated by technichal potetial.
Bismarck might have been sunk very fast but look at the effort it took, the german navy (the surface ship part) was just far too small to challenge the grand royal navy but the effort needed to take down Bismarck and Tirpitz shows how powerful they were, Tirpitz prevented any idea of landing on german controlled soil just with its potential presence.
And Arizona with Yami? Arizona was sunk faster than Yami and had no armor nor gun power in comparison. Iowa/Missouri are only rated that high bc with the fletcher class destroyers and all other aa ships the US navy managed to protect its most important ships against aireal threats, the japanese did not manage to do so. Iowa would have been sunk the same way if it replaced Yami in that situation.
And warspite has just nation bias, it is far too old to compete in 2nd world war, almost all other bbs on this list are faster and better armed. Only Scharnhorst isnt and that one was supposed to get Bismarck turrents but nazi germany did just invest more in ground combat and subs.
I think you should have considered the USS Washington under the command of Admiral Lee at Guadalcanal. That was an epic fight.
I heard the story of the Iowa class ships a few dozen times now, but its service record still surprises me. The fact they fought axis Japan AND the Iraqis and not a single one was lost in battle to all be preserved as museums is amazing.
This was very entertaining and engaging for half an hour.
Yamato a "B", her biggest contribution is being scary from long range ( and being a hotel accommodation)... max should be "c", even though she looks awesome...
Bismarck had a bigger contribution ( sinking of Hood, tied up half GB battlefleet) than Yamato...
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Great video!
There should be a tier above S just for Warspite.
All battleships were "overrated" in WWII.
Naval warfare just wasn't about battleships by then.
I was blessed to conduct a reenlistment ceremony for one of my sailors, on the USS Missouri, as it sat retired in Bremerton in 1991. We held the ceremony on the exact spot the Japanese delegation signed the Instrument of Surrender in 1945. Great memory. Great ship.
Thank you very much for your summary of all those great ships.
Enjoyed this. I had never heard of the Warspite - the presenter is deservedly proud.