The tonnage here refers to standard displacement. Most nations tended to favor a particular combination of the three main aspects. On 19 June 1944 a Japanese torpedo bomber attempted to attack the ship, but Indiana's anti-aircraft gunners managed to destroy both the aircraft and the torpedo it had dropped, with no damage to the ship. [16] The issue of aircraft rankled; but while Pengelly produced a derived design with a hangar and a secondary armament of just eight 5.25-inch guns, 16C/38, he apparently did not like it. To counter this threat, the US Navy decided that it needed to create a faster battleship. 294-295. Minor repairs were carried out in Norfolk, after which the big ship returned to Casco Bay to conduct training maneuvers with her sister, South Dakota. Conceptual drawing of a ship built to design 16B/38, by Bombhead and Krakatoa, via Shipbucket. After that, she joined other battleships that were providing gunfire support to the ground troops in the Marianas islands. It was hoped that extending the armor belt to the triple bottom where it tapers to 1 in (25 mm) as one of the torpedo bulkheads can help increase the protection of the system compared to the one used by the previous North Carolina-class. [6], To minimize the drawbacks of the inclined belt, it sloped outward from the keel, then back in towards the armored deck. Larger propellers were also required, and all four shafts would have had to have been completely rebuilt to accommodate the changes.
Returning to carrier protection after the latter bombardment, Massachusetts provided anti-aircraft defense while Allied air attacks were sent against Saipan, Tinian and Guam; she also supported later invasions of the Caroline Islands and Hollandia. A problem with this idea was that fast battleships were incapable of operating with slower battleships. Historically if your carriers do 32 kts, doing 27 means you may struggle to escort them. Detailed Information. [5], There was a great deal of debate on the requirements for the new battleships. The South Dakota class also had the slightly less capable version of the 16 inch guns, at 45 calibers long, and also crew accommodations were smaller compared to the Iowa class, since the South Dakota class was smaller at 680 feet long, but how cramped was it, was it unreasonably cramped? Want to follow Navy General Board on Social Media? Inevitably there were compromises. By the end of the war, the ships were equipped with air and surface-search radars and radar fire-control. However, in late 1936, cryptanalysts deciphered radio traffic from the Japanese navy which revealed that the battleship Nagato was capable of speeds in excess of 26 knots.
The US wanted battleships that could easily operate with one another in battleship divisions. [2] Naval Limitation Treaty (Second London Naval Treaty) of 25 March 1936, Part 2 Article 4 (2), text at https://www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000003-0257.pdf. Design work started in March 1937 and the draft for two battleships was formally approved by the Secretary of the Navy on 23 June. At the most basic level of design, a battleship is designed around three primary aspects: firepower, armor, and speed. Battleships were THE Capital Ships of any Navy. The starboard outboard propeller was damaged, along with the shaft upon which it was mounted. Massachusetts and Tuscaloosa sank the destroyer Fougueux, and at 10:05 a 16-inch shell from Massachusetts struck the destroyer Milan, and put her out of action.
There was also a structural difference. Now check out my book Dreadnoughts Unleashed, an introduction to the story of battleships and battlecruisers in the twentieth century. She was tasked with providing anti-aircraft support to the fast carrier groups that were launching air strikes on the Japanese main island of Kyushu. After she arrived on 22 April, Massachusetts was decommissioned on 27 March 1947 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet; she was struck from the Naval Register on 1 June 1962, but not scrapped. They were by far the best of the ‘Treaty limited’ battleships and an excellent demonstration of US technical ability and industrial capacity.
That said, I don't think that the difference between the two classes would be all that great, except for speed where the difference is obviously significant. This ultimate insistence on speed presaged the development of the next generation of battleships, the largest, fastest, and final built by the U.S. Navy, the Iowa class: The South Dakota-class battleships were 666 ft (203 m) long at the waterline, 680 ft (207.3 m) overall, and 108 ft 2 in (33 m) in beam. At the maximum effective elevation to engage surface targets, 45 degrees, the guns could hit targets up to 17,392 yards (15,903 m) away. What stands out about Design 16B/38 is the broad similarity with the South Dakota class. While the armor was good compared to many battleships used by other navies, some felt that it should have been much stronger for ship of 45,000 tons. Jan 10, 2010 #1 Again, keep in mind that I am referring to the post-WW1 South Dakota (BB-49) which was never completed not the South Dakota II (BB-57) class Assume good weather conditions with maybe just a tiny touch of haze.