Ranked: The 5 Best Battleships of All Time

The National Interest ^ | May 7, 2024 | Maya Carlin

[Macho MAGA Man]

Before the rise of aircraft carriers, battleships were every navy’s most powerful asset.

Over the years, scores of these vessels sailed the seas, bristling with weapons, and their actions marked the turning points of world wars and other major conflicts.

Five battleships stand out among their number.

[ops33]

If you go to the google earth image for Galveston you can see the Texas in dry dock opposite a modern cruise ship.

[Lurker]

Captain Ching commanded that ship. A fascinating guy. He was an Olympic sharpshooter.

https://youtu.be/cu9Mi0ury38?si=-8IQDyhXTjIgfUjf

L

[mad_as_he$$]

BB-63. It can “drift”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0BK_hLT-Wo

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I don’t count any ship with some success as great if it was sunk. The Bismark’s mission was to attack and sink convoy ships which it assisted on once. For it’s power, it did very little in it’s about 18 month life except for sinking the Hood which was not it’s mission.

Except for hitting some of our ships during the Battle of Samar, The Yamato did next to nothing in it’s 4 years of life.

[xone]

This is a joke to not put the Yamato and her sister ship the Musashi first.

All rep, no service. Claim to fame in battle was how much punishment they soaked up before sinking.

[Charles Martel]

Did you possibly forget Leyte Gulf?

Not to minimize the *significant* actions of the lighter combatants in that melee, Leyte Gulf never developed into a peer vs. peer capital ship surface battle slugfest. It's a pity that Halsey pulled the newer battleships too far north.

Drachinifel's YouTube channel has a pretty good "what if" video about that battle's possible outcome if Halsey had detached the battleships before chasing the Japanese bait. Pretty logical assessment of how the Yamato would've fared vs. Iowas and SoDaks (and even Ching Lee's USS Washington) as part of a traditional battle line.

[Jimmy Valentine]

I was thinking of Adm Oldendorf and the old battleships at Surigao Strait. Maryland, Pennsylvania, California etc. shot the Japanese to pieces there.

[guest7]

"You got that right"

Asgard ship SG1 O'Neill class warship (With images) | Stargate ships

[Charles Martel]

True, the stellar work by the destroyers and the game-changing escort carriers' skilled pilots often take center stage at Leyte (so much so that they often deprived the big-gun ships of targets). Yamashiro may have been damaged and slowed by torpedo hits, but the "Ghosts of Pearl Harbor" did indeed get a taste of revenge - in the last battleship duel.

[Fledermaus]

Let’s call the whole thing off

[Captain Peter Blood]

Looks like they forgot the Yamato , one of the biggest ever built.

[central_va]

Biggest battleship disaster, HMS Hood.

[Macho MAGA Man]

It’s listed. Did you read the link?