Ship vs Ship - Who Would Win - Episode 001 

Hooray!! Iron Duke My grandfather served on the gunnery of the Iron Duke at Jutland (aged 16). Glad to hear praise about the gunnery accuracy...well done granddad!

I love how the intro sounded like a gentle reprimand from a college tutor who was ever so slightly disappointed with the maturity levels displayed during a lecture

Love this! But really you dont want an equal fight.... *Cough Johnston and S.B.Roberts*

Drachinifel, sir, I have never known someone with more knowledge of naval history and ship design than you. You could easily teach at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. My heart bleeds Army, but I love naval history and am a firm believer in combined arms theory. I also enjoy your sense of humor. In one video you were discussing French (interwar years or floating hotels maybe?) battleships and you said they added four torpedo tubes because, well they could. Lol! If I might be permitted, I would like to request a video. Could you please do a video about the victories versus the greatest odds, the most epic last stands, and the valiant sacrificing of a ship for the mission or fellow sailors and ships. Perhaps a top ten type video? I would be very obliged, sir. Thank you, sir!

RU-vid's autogenerated subtitles: "Sean Horse"

How about a Fletcher class DD vs. the Yamato. Oh wait, we already know how that went.

Wow! 6 Five minute guides in one episode! Incredible value!

18:11 - 18:23 I never thought I'd see a Crimean War (1853 - 1856) joke! :)

When are we gonna get another ship vs ship vid drach?

I would be very much interested in how the Austrian WW1 Battleships would have faired against Italian ones on 1 vs 1... I once read/heard that their navy was actually not so bad for what it was intended to do

Hi Drachinifel, this was yet another great video. Thank you so much for your research and presentations. Regards, Greybearddad

Geez Drach just when I thought you couldn't top yourself, you did! another great video and discussions. intermediate dreadnought matchups:Lord Nelson vs Schlesien .... New Hampshire vs Slava....Radetzky vs Regina Elena ... Tsukuba vs Verite. Thanks again Drach!

Enjoying these videos. How about the Hood after proposed rebuild vs Bismarck?

Washington's gunnery at Guadalcanal was phenomenal. Ripped Kirishima to shreds, at night,. The admiral commanding was a radar gunnery expert, which would be a major advantage.

Golden BB. I love this phrase. Every time I listen to you I learn something :D

Zara Class vs Algerie class heavy cruisers Atago vs New Orleans class heavy cruisers Le Fantasque Class vs Capitani Romani Class destroyer/flotilla leaders Shimakaze vs Gearing vs Daring class late war destroyers Roma vs KGV class Battleships

I like the idea to split this kind of topic up in a different "stream". I like also the discussion of the topic you did.

Love this channel! What you can never account for in these discussions/comparisons is lady luck. Fantastic research and knowledge though!

Keep up the excellent content!

Love your videos! My father was a WW2 Navy man who taught the Seebees how to fight! The movie the fighting Seebees with John Wayne my father was in those battles and a few others! It was extremely hard to get him to talk about the war but when he did it was usually to correct history in a WW2 movie when there was a part that was wrong in his eyes! So I remember the things we did talk about and when I listen to your videos it brings back memories of my time discussing WW2 with my father! We went to see the USS Alabama and the USS Drum and I remember his face lighting up when he talked about the ships! I have photos that he took in his time in the Navy and it's crazy the things soldiers went through in WW2! Anyway keep up the good work bro really love the videos!!!

Discovered in Jan 2022, after watching the channel for last 2 years... I want another

...... HMS New Zealand (the ship that never got hit) vrx HMAS Australia (the badly tempered Australian sister) Taking into account the actual performance of their contempory crews. Maori warclothes and lucky Necklace ignored (because Australia cannot hit a ship with that much luck)

Can you give us an answer to the long standing question, "What do you do with a drunken sailor?" Early in the morning would be a good start, but any time of day would be fine.

Hipper is always outclassed :(

Another really interesting video, well reasoned.

HMS Vanguard vs USS Iowa? As they would appear in 1946.

5:37 "Therefore the battle in these two ships in open ocean is very likely to go the North Carolina's way simply because it can hold the range and just pummel away the Nagato-" Nagato: *laughs in Big Seven - Sakura*

Minor point of fact: the NC's main batteries were in three-gun turrets, not triple turrets, as each gun could be elevated and fired independently, whereas in a triple, elevation and firing were simultaneous.

Great video, I have an idea for an engagement. It’s kind of a lol and unusual one. USS Drum vs. U-505

How about a a fight of a Bayern-class against a Queen Elizabeth-class in ww1 configuration?

Like to see the HMS Dreadnought vs USS South Carolina

You realize your now going to face a sea of Coke vs Pepsi and Blonde vs. Brunette ship questions? 🙄 Good luck.

French ALGERIE SAP shells will work perfectly against HIPPER due to no face-hardened (Krupp post-1936 KC n/A) on the German ship. ALGERIE has some Schneider et Cie., Creusot, face-hardened armor, but the German APC will be able to penetrate that due to its hard AP cap. Thus, your statement that the French shells give more "bang for the buck" is quite correct since a hard AP cap is not needed and the thinner German homogeneous, ductile (Krupp Wh) armor can be penetrated quite well by large-filler SAP ammo. Face-hardened armor has two advantages when hit at close-to-right-angles impact: It can shatter the nose of uncapped shells and thus significantly increase their needed striking velocity to punch through and, in many cases, even if the cap works and prevents this, at impacts with some oblique angle where the shell is slowed considerably by the armor, the hard face can severely damage the projectile as it tries to pass through the plate, making the shell act more like broken solid shot with much lower damage-causing capability. To do similar projectile damage with homogeneous, ductile armor takes a much thicker plate, on the average, at any given oblique impact angle.

thank you really enjoyed that

How about a Washington Naval treaty (Ish) matchup? King George V vs Richeleui vs Vittorio Veneto vs South Dakota.....

I think this vs type episode was well worth doing again with other ships...good fun

Please do more of these videos!

You brought out the accurate gunnery of the Iron Duke, so in fairness you could have mentioned that in actual combat, the Washington fired very fast and very accurate. In something like a 12 minute battle with Kirishima, the Washington had 10 16" hits and 40 5" hits, pretty much tearing the Kirishima apart. While there Tirpitz was a lot tougher, the lighter shells of the Rodney and KG V rendered the Bismarck a mission kill in short order. Unless Tirpitz got real lucky, real fast, I would expect the Washington would knock most of the fire control systems out very quickly. At Savo Island, the Washington did exactly that to the Kirishama, with the 10 x 5" guns concentrating on the superstructure.

It would be awesome if you did more of these!

If Washington had the level of gunnery competence insisted on by Admiral Willis "Ching" Lee, she would have taken Tirpitz or Bismarck apart in short order, a la Kirishima at Guadalcanal in November 1942. "This is Admiral Lee. Get out of the way, I'm coming through!"

If you thought the Admiral Hipper 8in ap shell's bursting charge of 2.3 kg was pathetic check out the the 8 in ap shells of the Northampton class, it's a measly 1.7 kg bursting charge😅

(Non-serious suggestion, feel free to ignore) "Iowa versus Yams! Iowa versus Yams! Everybody-wants-to-see-this-hap-pen! Iowa versus Yams! Iowa versus Yams!"

I went to The Show Girl today. Awesome, beautiful ship. Go Heels.

Kinda fun, comparing the verdicts here to the "World in Flames" Collectors Edition counter sheets. Like, say - Washington vs. Tirpitz are almost rated the same.

Loved this line up! Definitely some interesting duels. I would say however, that Vanguard and Scharnhorst may not be as quick and easy. You have to bear in mind that though Duke Of York landed substantial hits, the Scharnhorst was "blind in one eye" due to Sheffield's hit to her main radar. Plus, in the end, Scharnhorst's death came from + - 13 Torpedo hits and scuttling. Though the Scharnhorst is certainly not well equipped to face heavy units, in a 1v1 scenario I think it would be far more potent provided it enters the fight in proper order.

The primary key is being able to have fire control that is both accurate and sufficiently rapid. My thinking is that a ship that is less capable on paper but with a well trained / disciplined crew has a better than even chance against a less capable crew. Hits from even lighter guns can make a big difference.

I loved this, put in on in the background while playing a relaxing game and I had myself a lot of fun!

HMS Trafalgar predreadnought vs Ugg's Floaty Log vs the USA 2016 Olympic Women's Water Polo Team on a dark and stormy night in the Bay of Biscay.

I thought I remembered Texas having the first fire control computer on a battleship and in fact did very, very well in gunnery when it joined Home Fleet.

Ooooh, can we have Kamchatka versus admiral jellybean in a steel bathtub with a slingshot?

Mr Rogers vs Everyone

Drachinifel! This is very perfect! I have always thought of the Richelieu vs. the Bismarck. My assumption is that this battle would be down to the sea were it would happen. In open sea with plenty of room to maneuver the advantage may fall to the French, while in a more constricted sea lane, the Germans may have the edge. Your thoughts?

Iowa and New Jersey straddled Nowaki at 35,000-39,000 yards several times with straddles close enough to cause splinter damage and casualties onboard. And that was a destroyer.

How about a fight between Drachinifel and the Mighty Jingles?

The voice of reason! S Dakota Class over Bismarck class - Thank You! N Carolina class vs Bismarck - more even yes, but with updated targeting radar and Bismarck being prone maybe to knocking its own radar out from own guns percussion ...... ?. .

A-150 japanese battleship vs H-44 German battleship.

Hi there Drachnifel I just finished up your three part series on the Battle of Jutland . I found it VERY interesting . Your telling of the Battle of Jutland was rivoting . I think that Admiral Jellicoe and Admiral Scheer were both brilliant strategists. They made some boldest moves and sometimes not actually some of the best . But I was not happy that when you mentioned that Admiral Beaty just broke off contact with Jellicoe and did his own thing . Do you think that doing so put those sailors blood on his hands ? When they got back to England they should have had some kind of inquiry . In my opinion . Because someone should have had to answer to all the loss of lives and the loss of all that shipping . But all in all it kept me spellbound . Sir I commend you on that series . The eyewitness accounts and how it was laid out you sir are a brilliant historian . Thank you . Too bad Hipper ,Scheer , Jellicoe and Beaty couldn’t have went for a beer after the outcome of Jutland and discussed their strategies . Thank you again fo tor telling the greatest sea battle of all time . It sir was definitely the Clash of the Titans .

What would a Jutland-style clash of the fleets look like in mid-1942, with the following conditions?: UK, USA, USSR, plus French battleships Richelieu and Jean Bart vs. Germany, Italy, and Japan Bismarck still exists Discounting other events, a hypothetical battle with the full capital ship strength of each side No carriers involved

18-inch gunned H-39 with a 2 inch reduction in armor belt vs the Montana class!

Alaska Class vs Scarnhorst Class?

I've always wondered how effective the N3 might've been with a deck layout similar to Nelson.

Modernised G3 vs Lion class.

Alaska vs. Scharnhorst? Baltimore vs. Deutschland? If the latter wins, how about Des Moines vs. Deutschland? Admiral Hipper vs. Tone? New Mexico vs. Bayern? And for something a bit crazy, I'd like to hear your thoughts on what would have happened if Vice Admiral Mitscher had not taken the initiative to attack the Yamato with planes, and instead let Rear Admiral Deyo proceed with his force of three dreadnought (Arkansas, New York, and Texas) and seven super-dreadnought (Maryland, Colorado, Tennessee, Nevada, Idaho, West Virginia, and New Mexico) battleships to attempt to intercept the Yamato.

We needed Incomparable vs H43/44 vs Yamato.

Richelieu vs Littorio?

In the Battle against Washington, where did Tirpitz find German destroyers as late in the war as it could have fought?

Oh, I like the abundance of speculative fights like these. Well then, a Tegetthoff class ship (not Szent Istvan though) vs a Conte di Cavour class. Also, Ersatz Monarch vs Francesco Caracciolo, just to go full hypothetical. And to cap this series of requests off, could you model a large battle between the Italian battle line and the Austro-Hungarian battle line in 1916 (after Leonardo Da Vinci blew up)? It really wouldn't be neccessary if you think it would take up too much time. I'm not sure there's enough interest in that very particular section of the Med being rehashed from episode to episode, to warrant you doing all these.

The question I would like to know some ship crews were a step above the rest which ship were the best handled and best shots and why.

Always kinda wondered, just how one sided would the possible engagement between Bismarck vs HMS Ramillies of been? Btw, love your work!

I love your videos! Do you think you could to The Alaska class battle cruiser vs the Roma battleship?

Also would be interesting to see a comparison between the West Virginia and the Nagato, covering both the original configuration and after their respective rebuilds and upgrading. Nagato in the 30s and the West Virginia post Pearl Harbor. Excluding the new battleships, these two were the most powerful veteran battleships in the Pacific. Adding the legendary Warspite for a British flavor would be cool too, as after refits in the 30s, the three upgraded QEs were the best WW I era RN battleships. To my way of thinking, no other navy had a WW I era ship equal before the war to these three, and certainly not after in-war upgrades that were accomplished.

the USS Colorado is guarding a merchant convoy. And its attacked by the Bismark. Bismark has to sail around the Colorado to get at the convoy. Colorado 8x16 inch guns to Bismarks 8x15 guns. BUT Bismark is five or six knots faster, and is a bigger and more modern ship. Given that respective pair of missions. Who wins?

Washingtons eXcellent gunnery may level the early salvo portion of the battle.

Bayern vs Revenge vs Pennsylvania vs Fuso. (All in their 1916 configuration).

Two ships with allegedly similar arrangements - Scharnhorst versus Alaska?

5:57 To hold the distance, that either assumes the Nagato crew is unaware of the armor situation -- which is not the premise of the discussion -- or North Carolina would be rear-facing Nagato's front. That would be a significantly different match-up compared to broadside on at 20k yards.

King George V + Renown. vs. Tirpitz + Gneisenau

I was thinking about this one: IJN Asashio (normal 610mm torpedo launchers) vs USS Kidd

North Carolina vs Nagato is not even fair...

The USS Lexington, if it had been completed as a battle cruiser instead of as an aircraft carrier. Pitted against any actual battle ship or battle cruiser of WWII of your choice!

OK, for your consideration 1) The USN planned to use aerial spotting extensively- even to the point of firing from over the horizon. How would that affect South Dakota's ability to hit Nagato at, say, 30000 yards. 2) The ability of the RN's armor piercing shells to penetrate armor was a disaster at Jutland. "The British in particular had badly misjudged how their shells would be used in action. They had based much of their doctrine around long-range engagements with common shells, intended to destroy the enemy’s unarmored upperworks, start fires and demoralize the crew, with AP shells to be held for finishing off enemy ships at closer range. This was used as a justification for not carrying out oblique impact tests on their AP projectiles, which turned out to be a serious mistake at Jutland, where few projectiles penetrated heavy German armor." So much so that an entire new generation of shells had to be designed and issued - the "Greenboys". So, you have to take into account when the Texas vs Irion Duke engagement occurred. 3) After the US entered the war, FDR ordered the US Atlantic Fleet's battle force (BB's, CV's, CA's, CL's and newest DD's) to be concentrated into Task Force 99 operating out of Iceland under Home Fleet operational control 4) Algerie vs Hipper. By repute, the British and Germans had the best fire control and armor quality, with the US right behind. The French were down with the Japanese, with the poor Italians at the bottom. Would this make a difference in this battle 5) When the battle occurred can be vital. US radar fire control led the world by a considerable measure in 1944-45 which would tip the odds in the US favor as opposed to, say, 1942. Is Texas vs Iron Duke fought in 1915 or 1918 with or without Greenboys....

One for the alternate history, what if the london naval treatys failed and therefore the british build the lion class without weight restrictions in mind? Would it still have a similar layout to the KGV class secondary wise and armor etc or would we see the class split the secondary to defined anti surface and AA like this Bismarck and Roma? Or maybe they would stick with the multipurpose guns but have 6 abreast rather than 4? Could we see the torpedo protection introduce the two stage system planned for the G3 class?

Bismark Vs Vanguard.

Colorado Vs Nagato Vs Nelsons. As they were in 1930. 16 inch showdown. Duke of York and Nelson vs Tirpitz and Bismark Vanguard vs Vittorio Venetto

If you ever make another of these videos can you please do warspite vs bismarck, Rodney vs dunderque and vanguard vs tirpitz

Floaty log Vs Bismarck, let's goooooooo!

Here are some of my suggestions: König vs Bretagne Kawachi vs Nassau Iowa vs Littorio Nelson vs Nagato Montana vs Yamato Gangut vs Tegethoff

Would you be able to do a IJN B65 vs. USN Alaska?

I think in ship vs ship situation, above specifications there is crew skill and captain skill. Also any of these two can just score very lucky hit killing captain and most important crew, rendering even better ship useless.

Vanguard was a fine ship. The Iowa's were fine (and completely new) ships with heavier and more armament , the finest fire control (visual and radar) systems and damage control in the world and a higher battle speed. The 2700 lb Yank shell could penetrate any of vanguard's (and Yamato's) armor. The 15" gun was never terribly accurate compared to the British 14" which could penetrate anything the 15" could up to its maximum range. Two good ships. But Iowa wins.

Yo u should do a video about the Kongo Class. Made in Britain but serving Japan, she is one of the fastest battleships ever. If I remember correctly she was also the most active Japanese Battleship and basically fought the whole war.

Just remember - Luck. Hood was hit and sunk by a one-in-a-million hit. Bismark lost both front turrets (effectively) and the bridge with all personnel from one 16" hit. No matter how one-sided a battle, a battleship sized shell can do critical damage to the fighting ability of any ship regardless of armour - a shell hitting a turret doesn't need to penetrate to put it out of action, jams, shock killing the crew etc - ditto radar and directors. I often imagine Warspite getting a couple of decent hits at long range (which she was very good at!) against the Yamato and then proceeding to calmly pick it apart leaving a floating hulk...

I would like to know who'd come out on top in a battle of Destroyers. Namely between a US Fletcher class vs a German Z36 class. Thanks

County class vs hipper?

Canoe vs a kayak?

hey Drachinifel,..............have you ever done an episode on the use of the Torpedo nets the dreadnoughts would extend out over the side of the ships. I recently saw a model of a dreadnought with the torpedo nets extended and thought it to be quit unusual,........just a suggestion,....enjoy the channel,...thx

How about the 2 big gun battle wagons “Alabama vs Tirpitz” a battle that could’ve happened, since the Alabama while operating in North Atlantic was actually looking for a fight with the German battle wagon

American FC systems employed by far the most advanced stable vertical elements in the world. In practical terms, this meant that American vessels could keep a solution on a target even when performing radical maneuvers. In 1945 test, an American battleship (the North Carolina) was able to maintain a constant solution even when performing back to back high-speed 450-degree turns, followed by back-to-back 100-degree turns.7 This was a much better performance than other contemporary systems, and gave U.S. battleships a major tactical advantage, in that they could both shoot and maneuver, whereas their opponents could only do one or the other.

The monitor Novgorod versus USS Monitor. Or one of the later, double ended, monitors. There's a 10-15 year space between the two, but the tech is roughly similar. The Spinning Top" against the "Cheesebox on a raft". Weather conditions: a freeboard friendly calm.