Best Battleship: Combined Antiaircraft Suite

Combined Anti-Aircraft Suite	Yamato	Iowa	Bismarck	Richelieu	King George V	Vittorio Veneto	South Dakota
Throw Weight / Minute: Secondaries	Original Configuration: 4,867 lbs. Post-Refit Configuration: 9,734 lbs.	17,600 lbs.	8,525 lbs.	3,948 lbs.	8,960 lbs.	3,211 lbs.	17,600 lbs.
Throw Weight Per Minute: Light AA	10,050 lbs.	31,392 lbs.	12,153 lbs.	Original Configuration: 4,827 lbs. Post-Refit Configuration: 23,648 lbs.	26,633 lbs.	6,610 lbs.	31,001 lbs.
Throw Weight Per Minute: Total AA	Post-Refit Configuration: 19,784 lbs.	48,992 lbs.	20,677 lbs.	Original Configuration: 8,775 lbs. Post-Refit Configuration: 27,596 lbs.	35,593 lbs.	9,821 lbs.	48,601 lbs.
Raw Throw Weight Rating	Post-Refit Configuration: 4	10	4	2, 5.5	7.5	2	10
Adjusted Rating	3	10	3	1, 5	7	1	10

GENERAL COMMENTS: In total, the Iowa and South Dakota easily come out on top. Note, too, that against Kamikazes their batteries were the most effective of the Allied BBs, because they carried a heavier weight of shell in their larger weapons. Kamikazes became increasingly difficult to knock down with 20mm, and even 40mm guns, meaning that the effectiveness of the DP mounts became increasingly important. If Vittorio Veneto had had to fight kamikazes, she wouldn't have lasted an afternoon. As stunning as it may sound, a single late-war U.S. Gearing-class destroyer (armed with 6 x 5"/38, 16 x 40mm Bofors, and 20 x 20mm Oerlikons) could put 32% more steel into the air in a minute than the Italian battleship (12,963 lbs. vs. 9,821 lbs.), and had much better fire-control to boot! To be fair, Vittorio Veneto is being compared here using a circa-1943 weapons suite, whereas the other ships are shown at or near wars-end. On the flip side, even by 1943 standards, the Italian ship was very weakly armed against aircraft.

Back to the Best Battleship Page