# Coolest Battleships / Battleship Designs **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817 "2009-06-05T14:00:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/1 "2009-06-05T14:00:34Z")
Inspired by the numerous aircraft threads I thought I would turn my limited talents to good rather than evil. So which were the coolest battleships (and let’s include battle cruisers)? Not the most efficient, deadly or best armoured. Perhaps if we exclude sailing ships just to narrow the parameters. This [site](http://www.cityofart.net/bship/site_nav.html) may help you with older battleships. For me, the Warspite, after fighting her way through two world wars is a favourite. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/2 "2009-06-05T14:20:42Z")
The original HMS Dreadnought for the name alone. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/3 "2009-06-05T14:23:34Z")
It’s difficult to top the Iowa-class battleships. Huge, imposing monsters, and yet sleek and beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/4 "2009-06-05T14:26:46Z")
HMS Agincourt for having seven main gun turrets. (Full power broadsides were impressive.) HMS Hood for pleasing lines. IJN Yamato class for sheer displacement and main gun caliber. USN Iowa class just to be patriotic. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/5 "2009-06-05T14:35:07Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The original HMS Dreadnought for the name alone. I agree- if it was called the “HMS Rabbit” it would have lacked class. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/6 "2009-06-05T14:37:47Z")
And from memory I think HMS Renown was the only battle cruiser that started WW2 and survived above the waves ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/7 "2009-06-05T14:48:45Z")
The _North Carolina_ class doesn’t get a lot of publicity, but I’ve always been drawn to them. Especially the way the _USS Washington_ kicked the _Kirishima’s_ butt in the Second Naval Battle of Guadacanal. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/8 "2009-06-05T14:56:48Z")
HMS Warspite - not many warships saw as much action and stayed afloat, scored the longest range hit on another warship - over 26k yards ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/9 "2009-06-05T15:00:19Z")
[The Massena](http://www.cityofart.net/bship/massena.html), for being so mind-numbingly ugly. Pure steampunk nightmare fuel. I love the pre-dreadnoughts, particularly the French ones. Their designers clearly had no idea what they were doing, so they let their imaginations run wild. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/10 "2009-06-05T15:14:39Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > HMS Hood for pleasing lines. [nitpick] The Hood was not a battleship. It was a battlecruiser. It never should have gone toe-to-toe with Bismarck. [/nitpick] To the OP: The Iowa class. They looked great and while there have been bigger battleships with bigger guns the Iowa’s were just a superb design all around. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/11 "2009-06-05T15:20:53Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > [The Massena](http://www.cityofart.net/bship/massena.html), for being so mind-numbingly ugly. Pure steampunk nightmare fuel. That thing is awesome! At least inasmuch as it is ghastly making it awesome. WTF were they thinking? Looks like they put small cannons up on the masts. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/12 "2009-06-05T15:52:20Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > [nitpick] > The Hood was not a battleship. It was a battlecruiser. It never should have gone toe-to-toe with Bismarck. > [/nitpick] Psst… read the OP again. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/13 "2009-06-05T16:00:21Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Psst… read the OP again. 😉 Whoops! My bad. Carry on… ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/14 "2009-06-05T16:05:18Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > [nitpick] > The Hood was not a battleship. It was a battlecruiser. It never should have gone toe-to-toe with Bismarck. > [/nitpick] > > To the OP: > > The Iowa class. They looked great and while there have been bigger battleships with bigger guns the Iowa’s were just a superb design all around. Well, the line between battlecruisers and battleships began to be blurred with the Hood class and beyond. The Hood’s protection sceme was roughly similar to the Queen Elizabeth class battleships. > [@wiki](#): > > Classification as a battlecruiser notwithstanding, Hood was the largest warship of any kind in the world at her commissioning and held the title until the German Bismarck entered service in 1940. Hood was the largest vessel ever to serve in the Royal Navy until the battleship HMS Vanguard, which was not commissioned until 1946. Hood was the longest warship until the commissioning of the Japanese battleship Yamato in 1941; Hood is currently the longest warship that ever served in the Royal Navy, which would finally be surpassed by the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers which are expected to enter service in 2014 at the earliest. **NO** battleship built during WW1 had adequate horizontal protection by WW2 standards, nor did _any_ navy equip their ships with a “proper” AA suite until they obtained combat experience. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/15 "2009-06-05T16:13:10Z")
Also, Battlecruisers (from the git-go) were treated as if they were fast battleships, and used tacticly and organisationally much the same way as the slower battleships were. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/16 "2009-06-05T16:17:23Z")
In its day, the [HMS _Tiger_](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/HMS_Tiger_(1913).jpg) was considered the prettiest warship. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/17 "2009-06-05T16:19:12Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > In its day, the [HMS _Tiger_](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/HMS_Tiger_(1913).jpg) was considered the prettiest warship. Heh. You pulled my desktop image. I shit you not. (I had a hard time finding a good image of the Hood to use as a desktop.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/18 "2009-06-05T16:37:18Z")
Despite the quad turrets forward, the [Richelieu class](http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/france/battleships/jean_bart/04_jean_bart.jpg) French BBs had rather pleasant lines. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/19 "2009-06-05T17:03:56Z")
For pure awesome, I lean toward the _Iowas_. For level of fear inspired among enemies, it’s hard to beat _Bismarck_ and _Tirpitz_ – the allied Pacific fleet monitored the _Tirpitz_ 'round the clock while she sat in a fjord in Norway. Now that’s badassery. For looks, the _Iowas_, [_Scharnhorst_](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.scharnhorst-class.dk/scharnhorst_main_page.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.scharnhorst-class.dk/&usg=__F-wLV_V10Jf0_GIMPJ-xNDkWdic=&h=294&w=750&sz=38&hl=en&start=13&tbnid=utmTha2pyc9MOM:&tbnh=55&tbnw=141&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dscharnhorst%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG), or the aforementioned HMS _Tiger_. Do US Civil War ironclads fall into the category we’re discussing, or is that _another_ thread? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817/20 "2009-06-05T17:53:07Z")
I also go with the Iowas. This is due to the effectiveness of the ship on so many fronts. The all-or-nothing armor scheme proved very effective in mitigating combat damage. The bow and hull design allowed amazing speed. The Mark 1 and Mark 1A fire control systems were absolutely superior to anything else afloat. And the 16"/50 guns were badass. And they looked sweet. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-battleships-battleship-designs/498817.md?page=2)