Wow! Widewing and Impackt your knowledge makes my 2 years of reading books from the 6th to 8th grade and watching history channel since kindergarten just fun facts. I thought I was a pretty smart person for World War 2 history. I thought I knew what I needed to know and I thought that I could at least talk on par with historians. I don't think I can match up with you guys and that my opinions will completely smashed like a fly and burnt like a marshmallow here I go.
Well first we need to look at what battleships accomplished during the war. I do not no of any major Battleship conflicts were battleships made any major contributions. I do know of many conflicts were battleships were easily sunk by aircraft. Pearl Harbor, Taranto, the British attack on the French fleet, etc. Also flak guns on battleships still couldn't stop the enemy. The Yamato with some of the most advanced anti-aircraft guns was easily sunk with only minor losses to the Americans. I know of no incident were battleships actually were able to survive by themselves if attacked by aircraft. The Bismarck was crippled because it couldn't shoot down a biplane. I would have to say that battleships played no major role in World War 2 and I do not know of them serving any major purpose besides supporting invasions which could also be done by other means. If either of you can pull up anywhere were BBs played a decisive role I would like to see it. I have to say battleships were simply figureheads of power kind of like the queen of England. They were really expensive valuable ships that had a lot of time put into them and if they were sunk would be considered as a large loss.
I bet you could make a pretty good book out of this post.
Look on my face as I as I wait for widewing's flyswatter of ultimate knowledge to crush me.
