Could the Hood *possibly* Have Whipped the Bismarck?

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Some other threads that may be of interest.

Who sank HMS Hood?

The *Prinz Eugen/I] oil thread made me remember an old question which AFAIK has never been discussed here, though elsewhere it has. Which German ship struck the fatal blow on the not so mighty Hood? Eugen did hit Hood early on, and started a pretty big fire. She is supposed to have adjusted to engaging Prince of Wales when the loss occurred, which is why any chance of her having fired the fatal shot is discounted. However, she fired several salvos at Hood before changing targets. As the actua…

Battleships Bismarck vs. Yamato: Which Wins?

Though much is made of the legendary Bismarck, isn’t it fairly evident that, if the two leviathans had squared off, the larger Yamato would have have the decisive edge?* Didn’t the U.S. have a hell of a time sinking her? (*Or were there intangibles that someone would like to inform me of?) (Note to mods: hopefully, we’ll keep this reasonably factual)

What if Battleships never lost favor in WWII?

We all know how World War II heralded the end of the battleship; the pacific was dominated by carrier groups, in the Atlantic the Germans used their few battleships as commerce raiders. Battleships lingered as long as they did out of tradition, since some navies took a while to understand the effectiveness of carriers (and also submarines). I’m curious how much longer Battleships could have perservered in an enviroment that neglected naval aviation. Maybe carriers exist in this alternate timel…

In the World Wars (I & II) should battleships have been used more aggressively?

When looking at both WWI and WWII we see that battleships were usually kept well back from danger and rarely used to do what, presumably, they were meant to do…beat the crap out of the opposing navy. Certainly in WWII they were vulnerable to planes and, while true, they did not sail alone and had protection and were very resilient. Anytime we see a battleship in WWII go down it takes a massive effort (Yamato, Bismarck). Would it have made sense to form robust fleets around these ships and use…

Bring back the battleships

Ever since Billy Mitchell, a lot of people have claimed that battleships are obsolete–a sentiment that became common after WW2. I don’t believe it. I believe that battleships have a role to fill in modern force-projection. The trouble is that almost everybody is stuck 70 years in the past. I contend that a modern, well-designed battleship would be able to take care of itself quite well. One of the most common arguments against battleships is that they are an inefficient use of manpower. T…