Battleships in World War II

German battleshipSchleswig-Holstein,shellingWesterplattein Poland on 1 September 1939

World War IIsaw the end of thebattleshipas the dominant force in the world's navies. At the outbreak of the war, large fleets of battleships—many inherited from thedreadnoughtera decades before—were one of the decisive forces in naval thinking. By the end of the war, battleship construction was all but halted, and almost every remaining battleship was retired or scrapped within a few years of its end.

Some pre-war commanders had seen theaircraft carrieras the capital ship of the future, a view which was reinforced by the devastatingPearl Harbor attackin 1941. The resultant Pacific War saw aircraft carriers and submarines take precedence. There were just two engagements in the Pacific Theater when battleships fought each other,and only three such engagements in the Atlantic. Instead, they were used to add to fleet air defense, for shore bombardment, and in several cases as fixed port defense batteries.

Battleships remained the most heavily protected ships afloat; nonetheless, sixteen were sunk or crippled by bombs or torpedoes delivered by aircraft, while three more were sunk by submarine-launched torpedoes.The war also saw the development of the firstguided bombs,which would make it much easier for aircraft to sink battleships in the future.

Operations

The German pre-dreadnought battleshipSMSSchleswig-Holsteinfired the first shots of World War II with the bombardment of thePolishgarrison atWesterplatte;and thefinal surrenderof the Japanese Empire took place aboard a United States Navy battleshipUSSMissouri.Between the two events, it became clear that battleships were now essentially irrelevant, and aircraft carriers were the new principal ships of the fleet.

Still, battleships played a part in major engagements inAtlantic,PacificandMediterranean theatres.In the Atlantic, the Germans experimented with taking the battleship beyond conventional fleet action, using their fast battleships as independent commerce raiders. Although there were a few battleship-on-battleship engagements, battleships had little impact on the destroyer and submarineBattle of the Atlantic,and aircraft carriers determined the outcome of most of the decisive fleet clashes of the Pacific War.

In June 1940ScharnhorstandGneisenausurprised and sank the lightly escorted aircraft carrierHMSGloriousoff western NorwayThis engagement marked the first and last time surface gunnery sank a fleet carrier. In theAttack on Mers-el-Kébir,British capital ships opened fire on the French battleships harboured inAlgeriawith their own heavy guns, and the fleeing French ships were then pursued by planes from aircraft carriers.

Taranto and Matapan

Tirpitz(1941)

In late 1940 and 1941, a range of engagements saw battleships attacked by carrier aircraft.

The first example of the power of naval aviation was the British air attack on the Italian naval base atTarantothat took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940. A small number of Royal Navy aircraft attacked the Italian fleet at harbour, succeeding in sinking one Italian battleship and damaging two others.

Importantly, the attack forced the Italian navy to change tactics and seek battle against the superior British Navy, which resulted in their defeat at theBattle of Cape Matapan.In that battle, British carrier-deployed torpedo bombers damaged an Italian battleship sufficiently to force it to withdraw from the main force, and then at night British battleships sank the Italian force's three heavy cruisers.[1]

Scharnhorst class

Main article:Scharnhorst-class battleship

See also:Battle of the North Cape

TheScharnhorstclasswere the first capital ships, alternatively referred to asbattlecruisersorbattleships,built forNazi Germany'sKriegsmarineafterWorld War I.The class comprised two vessels: thelead shipScharnhorstandGneisenau.Scharnhorstwas launched first,and so she is considered to be the lead ship by some sources; however, they are also referred to as theGneisenauclassin some other sources,asGneisenauwas the first to be laid down and commissioned.They marked the beginning of German naval rearmament after theTreaty of Versailles.The ships were armed with nine28 cm (11 in) SK C/34guns in three triple turrets, though there were plans to replace these weapons with six38 cm (15 in) SK C/34guns in twin turrets.

The battleship war in the Atlantic was driven by the attempts of German capital shipcommerce raidersto influence theBattle of the Atlanticby destroyingconvoyssupplying the United Kingdom and later theSoviet Union.The superior numbers of British surface units devoted themselves to protecting the convoys, and to seek-and-destroy missions against the German ships, assisted by both naval and land-based aircraft and by sabotage attacks.ScharnhorstandGneisenauconducted successful raids duringOperation Berlin.While attempting to attackArctic Convoys,Scharnhorstwas sunk at theBattle of North Capeby a British force of destroyers, cruisers, and the battleshipDuke of York.Gneisenauwas bombed while in dry dock and never repaired.

Bismarck class

Main article:Bismarck-class battleship

Germany's next two capital ships were theBismarckand theTirpitz,armed with eight38 cm (15 in) SK C/34in twin turrets. On 24 May 1941, during its attempt to break out into the North Atlantic as a commerce raider,Bismarckengaged the British battleshipHMSPrince of Walesand the battlecruiserHMSHood.Due in part to theBismarck's superior range-finding and accuracy, it soon sankHoodwith an apparent hit to her magazines.BismarckandPrince of Waleshit each other three times, the damage compellingPrince of Walesto withdrawandBismarckto call off its commerce raiding operation, as part of its fuel reserve had been contaminated with salt water. While theBismarckwas heading for St. Nazaire, the Royal Navy continued to hunt it, and eventually an attack bySwordfishbiplanetorpedo bombersfrom the aircraft carrierHMSArk RoyaldisabledBismarck's rudder and significantly reduced her speed. This enabled two Royal Navy battleships (HMS King George VandHMS Rodney), cruisers and destroyers to close in for the kill.

Tirpitzwas positioned in Norway to attackArctic Convoys,but never managed to engage any ships and was sunk in port by British bombers.

Normandy

Both British and American battleships participated in the Allied invasion ofNormandyduringOperation Overlord,being used to bombard German coastal defences. Battleships proved instrumental in destroying the heaviest and most inland fortifications that could not be neutralised by smaller warships such as destroyers due to their lesser firepower and range and which aircraft were less efficient at reducing due to frequent cloud cover and poor visibility in theEnglish Channel.Additionally, the presence of Allied battleships effectively inhibited the movement of German reinforcements along the French coastline because of the suppressive potential of their main batteries. Battleships also proved their continued worth as vessels of sea control by deterring the sortie of the remaining heavy German warships into the North Atlantic during the operation.

The Pacific battles

Pennsylvania(1915) leading battleshipColorado(1921) and cruisersLouisville(1930),Portland(1932), andColumbia(1941) intoLingayen Gulf,Philippines, January 1945

In many of the crucial battles of the Pacific, for instanceCoral SeaandMidway,battleships were either absent or overshadowed as carriers launched wave after wave of planes into the attack at a range of hundreds of miles. The primary tasks for battleships in the Pacific became shore bombardment and anti-aircraft defense for the carriers. The two largest battleships ever constructed, Japan'sYamatoclass,which carried a main battery of nine 18.1-inch (460 millimetre) guns were designed to be a principal strategic weapon, butYamatofired her main guns in only one engagement, whileMusashinever fired her main guns in an engagement. They were hampered by technical deficiencies (slow battleships were incapable of operating with fast carriers), faulty militarydoctrine(the Japanese waited for a"decisive battle",which never came), and defective dispositions (as at Midway).

Pearl Harbor

Before hostilities broke out in the Pacific Theatre, extensive pre-war planning centered around dreadnoughts. TheRoyal Navycould not achieve parity with the estimated nine Japanesecapital shipsin Southeast Asia, since doing so would leave only a handful of ships to use against Nazi Germany. However, Prime MinisterWinston Churchillwas optimistic about the improving situation in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean andallocating two shipsto the defense ofSingaporewas seen as a compromise. Furthermore, the U.S. Navy later agreed to send itsPacific Fleetwith its eight powerful battleships to Singapore in the event of hostilities with Japan.

On 7 December 1941 the Japanese launched a surpriseattack on Pearl Harbor.Five out of eight U.S. battleships were quickly either sunk or sinking, with the rest seriously damaged (of those sunk two were total losses). The Japanese thus neutralized the U.S. battleship force in the Pacific by an air attack and showed the vulnerability to air attack of warships lying at anchor, as at Taranto. The loss of the battleships led the US Navy to rely on aircraft carriers as capital ships to make counterattacks against the Japanese, such as theDoolittle Raidin April 1942, and to engage Japanese naval forces at theBattle of the Coral Seain May 1942 and theBattle of Midwayin June 1942.

The sinkingof the British battleshipHMSPrince of Walesand her escort, the battlecruiserHMSRepulse,further demonstrated the vulnerability of a battleship to air attack, in this case while at sea without air cover. Both ships were on their way to assist in the defense of Singapore when Japanese land-basedbombersandfightersfound and sank them on 10 December 1941.Prince of Waleshad the unwanted distinction of being the first modern battleship sunk by aircraft while underway and able to defend herself.

Midway

Commonly understood as a victory of carriers,Midwayshowed up deficiencies in Japanese operational planning.Yamamoto,considering his battleships the most valuable units, kept them far to the rear, in line with traditional practice. This placed them too far away to assistNagumo(and they would have been too slow to keep up with him in any case). Yet, when Nagumo's carriers were sunk, Yamamoto lost an opportunity to salvage something. Carriers, for all their evident potency, were virtually defenseless at night, andFletchermight have been dealt a crushing blow byYamatothe night of 6–7 June, had Yamamoto stayed closer.

Guadalcanal

Initially, when the U.S. entered the war in December 1941, none of the nine Pacific Fleet battleships were available. One was being overhauled at Puget Sound Navy Yard from June 1941 until March 1942. Of the eight at Pearl Harbor, two were total losses and six had been sunk or crippled and were sent to West Coast shipyards for repair and reconstruction. With a top speed of only 21 knots, they would not have been able to keep up with the fleet carriers in any case. The newfast battleshipsof theNorth CarolinaclassandSouth Dakotaclasswere still undergoing trials.North CarolinaandSouth Dakotawere ready by summer of 1942 and provided anti-aircraft defense during theEastern SolomonsandSanta Cruz Islandscarrier battles.

TheImperial Japanese Navy'sYamato(8 August 1940), seen in 1941, and her sister shipMusashi(1 November 1940) were the largest battleships in history.

By contrast, theImperial Japanese Navyhad the advantage of a dozen operational battleships early in the war, but chose not to deploy them in any significant engagements. The twoFusōand twoIse-classbattleships, despite their extensive modernization and respectable speeds, were relegated to training and home defense, while the twoNagatoand twoYamatoclasswere being saved due to fuel limitations for a"decisive battle",which never came. In fact, the only Japanese battleships to see much action in the early stages were the fourKongō-classbattlecruisers, which served mostly as carrier escorts due to their high speed and antiaircraft armament.U.S. fast battleshipsNorth CarolinaandSouth Dakotawere available after theBattle of Midwayand played key roles in defending U.S. carriers against air attacks, thoughNorth Carolinawas temporarily put out of action byI-19,which was credited with sinkingUSSO'Brien(DD-415)escorting her.

During the later part of theGuadalcanal campaignin fall 1942, Japan and the U.S. were both forced to commit their battleships to surface combat, due to the need to carry out night operations, and because of the exhaustion of their carrier forces. The Japanese used battleships a single time for shore bombardment, sendingKongōandHarunaagainstHenderson Field.In the most successful Japanese battleship action of the war,this action killed 41 defenders and put the airfield out of action for about 12 hours. During theFirst Naval Battle of Guadalcanal,battleshipsHieiandKirishimaattempted a second bombardment of Henderson Field but were driven off by a force of U.S. cruisers and destroyers. Several USN ships were lost and others were crippled, but they inflicted critical damage onHiei,which was abandoned after being subject to repeated air attacks that made salvage impossible. The following evening, at theSecond Naval Battle of Guadalcanalon 15 November 1942, the United States battleshipsSouth DakotaandWashingtonfought and defeated a bombardment force centered aroundKirishima.AlthoughSouth Dakotawas incapacitated early on by a faulty circuit breaker and suffered moderate damage,Washington'saccurate radar-directed fire fatally crippledKirishima.

Leyte Gulf

Yamato(1940) under air attack, March 1945

By the time of theBattle of the Philippine Seain 1944, heavy aircraft losses had left the Japanese carrier fleet ineffectual and forced the Japanese to finally commit their dreadnoughts, both old and new, to the upcomingLeyte Campaign.The objective in this"decisive battle"was to stop theAlliesfrom capturing the Philippines, which would cut off the Japanese oil supply and render their navy useless.

In theBattle of Leyte Gulf,two Japanese battleship forces converged on the American landing forces at Leyte Gulf. The Center Force of five fast battleships attacked from the north; the Southern Force of two slower old battleships attacked from the south. In theBattle of the Sibuyan Seaon 24 October 1944, the Center Force came under attack by American aircraft andMusashi,sister ship toYamato,was sunk long before she could come within gun range of the American fleet. Atthe Battle of Surigao Straitearly on 25 October, the Japanese Southern Force which included the battleshipsFusōandYamashiroencountered a force including six American battleships (five of them raised and repaired from Pearl Harbor), led by AdmiralJesse Oldendorfof theU.S. Seventh Fleet.Fusōwas sunk by torpedoes from US destroyers before the opposing battleships fired.Yamashirowas hit by the US battleships and retired without being able to fire on them. After the battleships had ceased fire she was sunk by a torpedo fired by a US destroyer.This engagement marked the last time in history when battleship faced battleship.

In theBattle off Samarlater on 25 October 1944, the remaining four powerful battleships of the Center Force,Yamato,Kongō,HarunaandNagatoand theircruiserescort, surprised and attacked the seemingly much weaker American task force "Taffy 3", consisting of destroyers, destroyer escorts, andescort carriers.American destroyers and aircraft attacked the battleships, enabling Taffy 3 to disengage and forcing the Center Force to withdraw, This battle marked the only timeYamatoengaged enemy ships with her primary or secondary batteries.

Japanese Coast

During July and August 1945 several American battleships andHMSKing George Vconducted naval bombardmentsof several Japanese coastal cities. These attacks targeted major factories as well as the cities' harbors and nearby rail infrastructure.

Soviet and Finnish battles

Soviet battleshipMarat(1914) moored inGdyniaprior to World War II.Maratwas sunk inKronstadtharbor by a 1,000 kg aerial bomb but three of four main turrets continued to operate against the invading Germans

During theSoviet-FinnishWinter War,the Soviet battleshipsMaratandOktyabrskaya Revolutsiyamade several attempts to neutralize the Finnish coastal batteries to facilitate a full naval blockade. The Soviets inflicted little damage on the Finnish positions, and the defenders hit back, claiming at least one hit onMarat.

During theGerman assault on the Soviet Union,the Soviet battleships served as convoy escorts during the evacuation ofTallinn,and as floating batteries during thesiege of Leningrad.The dense German and Finnish minefields and the submarine nets effectively restricted Soviet traffic in theGulf of Finland,forcing the larger vessels to remain at port.The GermanStukapilotHans-Ulrich Rudeleventually sankMaratat her moorings on 23 September 1941. Still, the vessel was able to serve as a battery for the remainder of the siege. The Soviets later refloatedMaratand both it andOktyabrskaya Revolutsiyaserved until the 1950s.

Capabilities and tactics

Fire support

Main article:Fire support

With the German capital-ship raiders sunk or forced to remain in port, shore bombardment became the focus of Allied battleships in the Atlantic. It was while covering the Alliedinvasion of Moroccothat theUSSMassachusettsfought and disabledVichy FrenchbattleshipJean Barton 27 October 1942. Six battleships came together as part ofOperation Neptune,in support of theD-Day landingsin June 1944. D-Day also saw the deliberate sacrifice of two old dreadnoughts (CourbetandHMSCenturion), which werescuttledas part of the breakwater around the AlliedMulberry harbours.

Aerial defense

Akamikaze(just left of center near the top border), aMitsubishi Zeroin this case, about to hit theMissouri(1944)

Thesinking ofPrince of WalesandRepulseoff the coast ofMalayain 1941 demonstrated that even the most modern battleships could not hold off aerial attacks without decent aerial defenses. The BritishHACSfire control system had been rendered inoperable by the extreme heat and humidity of the Malaya tropical climate, and theanti-aircraft artilleryhad managed to shoot down only a handful of attackers.

An aircraft carrier'scombat air patrolproved to be the most effective form of defense against enemy bombers. Nonetheless, a modernfast battleshipcould provide point defense against attackers that broke through the fighter screen. TheNorth CarolinaandSouth Dakotademonstrated just that in the battles of theEastern SolomonsandSanta Cruz Islands,respectively, withNorth Carolinadowning between 7 and 14 planes, whileSouth Dakotashot down between 26 and 32. The battleships' presence was crucial during these engagements in 1942, as the U.S. were still months from being able to realize their material advantage, with too few planes and ships to interdict enough of the skilled Japanese pilots. No American battleships were lost or seriously damaged by aerial attacks in open seas in World War II. By 1944, AdmiralRaymond A. Spruancehad arrayed his forces in acomplex defense formation.The first line of protection was a radar-vectoredcombat air patrol,and any attackers who managed to get through would face anti-aircraft fire from a line of screening battleships and cruisers. This exacted such a heavy toll on the Japanese during theBattle of the Philippine Seathat they failed to cause any significant damage to their main targets, the aircraft carriers. The most damage that the Japanese caused was a bomb hit onSouth Dakotawhich caused many casualties but did little damage to the battleship.

AA guns

At the outbreak of World War II, most battleships had large anti-aircraft batteries. The battleships used the same light AA guns (the Allies used autocannons such as theBofors 40 mm gunandOerlikon 20 mm cannon) as those on smaller ships, but in greater number. The later development ofproximity fusesandradarvastly increased the effectiveness of these batteries.

Oerlikon 20mm AA gun mount on boardUSSIowa(BB-61)

Post–World War I battleships, particularly British and American, had discarded single purpose secondary batteries mounted incasematesused to engage surface targets in favour of turret-mounted dual purpose secondary batteries (5-inchor 6-inch caliber). Secondaries were initially designed to deal with rushing destroyers and torpedo boats, but there arose a need for heavy anti-aircraft armament as the potency of aircraft grew, particularly dive bombers and torpedo bombers. The rationale was that it is unlikely that a battleship would be simultaneously facing both destroyers and aircraft, but it would take up too much space to have separate types of guns to deal with both threats. Both weapons had similar calibers and so they could be merged into a single battery type, and the turret mountings were less susceptible to flooding and had a better firing arc than casemates. The space saved from combining the two types of guns added to simplification of supply, increased deck armor coverage, stowage of other equipment, more light anti-aircraft batteries, and other needs.

TheNelson-classbattleship,incorporating many concepts from theG3 battlecruiser,was the first design to include a dual-purpose secondary battery, useful against both surface and airborne attacks. Compared to light AA they had a slower rate of fire, but they had a greater range and sufficient punch to knock enemy planes out of the sky. This proved a crucial defense against Japanesekamikazesin the latter years of World War II. They could also fire into the sea to create waterspouts that slapped low-flying torpedo bombers with tonnes of water. Battleships could mount many more of these DP batteries than cruisers or carriers.

German vessels such as theBismarckclass possessed dedicated secondary anti-ship batteries as well as dedicated heavy anti-aircraft batteries, rather than adopting the dual-purpose secondaries like the British or Americans.Bismarckfor instance had a battery of twelve 5.9-inch (15 cm) cannon and another sixteen 4.1 inches (10 cm) battery was mounted to deal with air threats. The cannon could be used against ships only, as they could not be elevated to fire on high-level targets. This tended to complicate ammunition supplies, take up more space, and reduce the numbers of both guns (reducing the anti-shiporanti-aircraft broadside). TheImperial Japanese Navysuffered similar problems to the Germans', as their secondaries were too slow to track aircraft.

The Japanese even used the "San Shiki" (the Beehive) Model 13 anti-aircraft shell for the main gun armament of theYamato-classbattleships,which would have in theory functioned as a super-sized "shotgun", though this was not considered a success.

HMSPrince of Waleshad one of the most advanced naval anti-aircraft systems of the time, theHigh Angle Control System,which demonstrated accurate long range radar directed AA fire duringOperation Halberdin August and September 1941.However the extreme heat and humidity inMalayanwaters in December of that year rendered her AA FC radars unserviceable and her 2-pounder ammunition had deteriorated as well.Royal Air Force technicians were called in to examine thePrince'sradars but did not have sufficient time to make the repairs, rendering her HACS ineffective.

Armor

In the aftermath of theBattle of Jutlandand post–World War I era, designers began drawing uparmorschemes that protected against ordnance dropped by aircraft or submarines. World War I ships fired at direct 90 degree trajectories. The introduction of high-angle battleship fire and plane bombings forced shipbuilders to consider adding significant armor to the top of battleships. The five ships of the AmericanTennesseeandColoradoclasseshad considerably improved underwater hull protection over previous battleships, as the result of extensive experimentation and testing. The new class of Battleship was to include 40 inches (100 cm) of armored plating.The proposedG3 battlecruiserwas planned to incorporate a thoroughly testedtorpedo defense scheme,which was later used in theNelsonclass. Not surprisingly, as many World War I battleships lacked such a protection system, they fared poorly against torpedoes, which in World War II were increasingly being delivered by submarines and aircraft.

Battleships had anarmored beltalong the waterline. It was intended to stop shells that hit their sides and to prevent flooding by underwater explosions due to near misses. World War I battleship, German and Italian World War II battleships had lighter upper armored belts to protect sides up to the main or weather deck. Main belt thickness along the waterline ranged from 10 to 15 inches (25 to 38 cm), upper belt thickness ranged from 4 to 10 inches (10 to 25 cm). Most ships of the World War II period had a sloped main belt (internal in some classes), to increase resistance to incoming shells; and no upper belt, to save weight. Thicknesses of belt armor ranged from 10 inches (25 cm) forStrasbourgclass - large battlecruisers rather than pure battleships - or from 12 inches (30 cm) for theSouth DakotaandIowaclasses to 16 inches (41 cm) for theYamatoclass.

World War I ships had a light upper armored deck to protect the secondary guns and a main armored deck whose sides sloped down to meet the lower edge of the belt, but their thickness was usually no more than 1.5 or 2.0 inches (3.8 or 5.1 cm) for the slopes. As soon as long-range engagements became common and aerial threats increased, crash programs to improve deck and turret roof protection started. US Navy "all-or-nothing" armor layout introduced a flat heavy armor deck, which abutted the upper edges of the armored belt, and light armored weather and lower decks: this design was used by all World War II ships except Reichsmarine units, that kept a heavier lower deck and a lighter upper deck. Main deck armor thickness ranged from 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) or even 9 inches (23 cm) forYamatoclass,usually increased over magazines: lighter decks were 1.5 to 2.0 inches (3.8 to 5.1 cm) thick.

From the lessons of Jutland, the protection scheme incorporated a sophisticated torpedo defense system (TDS).By adopting a turbo-electric drive, this allowed a wholesale rearrangement and close subdivision of the machinery spaces, while simultaneously narrowing them and permitting more space outboard for a layered system of voids, liquid-filled tanks and thin armored bulkheads.By contrast, "thin-skinned" cruisers and carriers relied only on numerous compartments to prevent flooding from spreading. Some were upgraded withanti-torpedo blisters,though these were much inferior to the battleship's armored belt. During the Pearl Harbor attack, TDS and damage control counterflooding savedWest Virginiafrom nine torpedo hits, whileOklahoma,which lacked it, capsized after just three.

For theAttack on Pearl HarbortheJNAFadapted 16 inches (41 cm) shells fromNagato-classbattleshipsinto an aerial bomb specifically designed to penetrate the deck armor of the American battleships. It was one of these weapons, dropped from aNakajima B5Nlevel bomber, which resulted in the destruction of theUSSArizona.

During the attack onYamato,according to aPBS documentary,U.S. torpedo bombers were taught to aim for either the bow or the stern, where the protective belt did not extend. For torpedo bombers to make their runs successfully, fighters strafed the battleship to suppress AA guns, and dive bombers wreaked havoc on the upper decks, destroying AA weapons and fire control systems. Pilots were also instructed to focus on one side of the ship, causing massive flooding which was difficult to counteract, leading to the ship capsizing. A bow hit was deadly, since the onrushing water from the battleship's high speed could wrench the hole open wider and collapse compartment bulkheads, which was whyYamato's sister,Musashi,foundered atSibuyan Sea.The stern attacks are best demonstrated by the cases ofBismarckandPrince of Wales;the rudders and screws were similarly vulnerable.

Fleet Air Armplanned to release their armor-piercing bombs from above a certain height so they would penetrateTirpitz's thick armor duringOperation Tungsten.As the British pilots did not release their ordnance from the optimal altitude,Tirpitzsuffered extensive damage to her upperworks but her deck armor remained intact.While thesuicide air attacks—the so-called kamikaze—struck many U.S. battleships, none were seriously damaged due to their thick armor.Kamikazewere much more successful against lesser-armored ships.

There were limits to the battleship's protection scheme, since it could not keep pace with the faster pace of developments in ordnance. For instance, the TDS in theSouth DakotaandIowa-classbattleships were designed to absorb the energy from an underwater explosion equivalent to 700 pounds (317 kg) ofTNT— the Navy's best guess in the 1930s about Japanese weapons. But unbeknownst to U.S. Naval Intelligence, the Japanese 24-inch (61 cm)Type 93 torpedo,carried a charge equivalent to 891 pounds (405 kg) of TNT. And no amount of armor that could be practically incorporated would have saved theTirpitzfrom the massive 12,000 lb (5.4t)Tallboysdropped by RAF Lancaster bombers duringOperation Catechism.Notably a Tallboy bomb that hitTirpitzamidshipsbetween the aircraft catapult and the funnel blew a massive hole into the ship's side and bottom, destroying the entire section of belt armour abreast of the bomb hit, which caused significant flooding and contributed to the ship's rapid list and eventual capsizing.

Coordination and waves

In a well-planned attack, fighter planes strafed the battleship to suppress the AA guns, while dive bombers used their armor-piercing bombs to cause topside damage and havoc. The fighters and dive bombers, however, were diversions to allow the delivery ofaerial torpedoes.

Battleships were able to sustain more punishment and had fewer vulnerable spots than cruisers and carriers, so it was difficult to rely upon scoring a critical hit (the cases of theBismarckandPrince of Walesare considered exceptional). Instead, battleships were defeated by attrition, when attackers overwhelmed them with repeated attacks inflicting accumulating damage. This notably occurred in theBattle of Leyte Gulf,when the super-dreadnoughtMusashieventually succumbed to damage caused by waves of U.S. carrier aircraft in the Sibuyan Sea. The U.S. planes would have accomplished less if they spread out to attack the rest of the ships in Kurita's powerful force. By contrast, the24 October air attackon Nishimura's southern pincer did little damage, even though both of hisFusō-classbattleshipswere slow World War I-era dreadnoughts and his force had far fewer screening ships, as he only faced a single wave from U.S. carriersFranklinandEnterprise.

Innovative attacks

TheAxis powersimplemented some unconventional methods. The Italians used with success their tested method of havingfrogmendelivering explosive charges to the ships, managing to severely damageHMSQueen Elizabethand to a lesser extentHMSValiantin the shallow waters of the harbor ofAlexandria,puttingValiantout of action until mid-1942 andQueen Elizabethuntil mid-1943. Other more or less successful Italian methods includedmanned torpedoesand smallmotor assault boats,which were filled with explosives, aimed at the target, sped up to full speed, while the pilot catapulted himself out from the dashing craft.

The Germans developed a series of stand-off weapons, e.g., theguided bombFritz X,which scored some early successes. On 9 September 1943, the Germans managed to sink the Italian battleshipRomaand severely damage her sister ship, theItalia,while they were underway to surrender. The first one hitRomaamidship between 90 mm AA gun mounts, piercing deck and side, then exploded, halving her speed; the other one hit above deck between turret #2 and the conning tower. It caused an explosion that threw the turret overboard and affected the boilers, starting a major fire that detonated the main magazines. 1,353 people died; only 596 survivors, most badly burned, were rescued. Among those killed was the Italian Commander in Chief of Naval Battle Forces,Admiral Carlo Bergamini.One week later, the Germans scored another hit on the British battleshipHMSWarspite.The bomb penetrated six decks before exploding against the bottom of the ship, blowing a large hole in her. The ship took in a total of 5,000 tonnes of water, lost steam (and thus all power, both to the ship herself and to all her systems), and had to be taken in tow. She reached Malta but was out of action for the next 12 months.

The British further developed their ability to sink battleships in harbour with minisubs and very heavy bombs dropped by strategic bombers. The last active German battleship,Tirpitz,lurked until late into the war in Norwegianfjordsprotected byanti-submarine weaponsand shore based anti-aircraft guns. She was severely damaged in September 1943 duringOperation Source,a daring covert attack byBritish mini-subs.After several air strikes, includingOperation Tungsten,which was made with carrier aircraft,Tirpitzwas finally sunk in harbour byRAFheavy bombers carrying massiveTallboy bombs.During that action, codenamedOperation Catechism,two of the bombs penetrated her armor, one holing her portside and the other starting a fire that eventually detonated her magazines and blew off her Caesar turret, causing her to capsize and killing 1,000 of the 1,700 men aboard.

See also

• List of ships of World War II
• List of battleships of World War II

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