Date: 2024-07-17 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00018429
Military
Royal Navy
What is the greatest battleship of all time? ... HMS Warspite
Peter Burgess
Originally Answered: What is the greatest battleship of all time?
[Note: Answer originally from the Question “What is the greatest battleship of all time?” Why it was merged with this question is beyond me. This question implies ONLY by sheer size of the battle sheep, regardless of distinction and service career and overall historical performance, while the original question implies both]
If we’re taking about sheer firepower, the Yamato.
however if we are talking about performance and overall prestigious naval service, them at title without a doubt goes the most dinstinguised battleship of World War II AND of all of Royal Navy history. HMS Warspite.
She was shelled over 150 times during the battle of Jutland, tanking a lot of those, unintentionally saving HMS Warrior from immediate destruction.
She also wrecked destroyers at Narvik and blasted—alongside Valiant and Barham—the Italian cruisers Pola, Zara and Fiume to pieces.
And among many of major engagements she took part in, she holds the record for the longest naval shot between fighting battleships and in history (only rivaled by Scharnhorst's legendary hit on the ill-fated HMS Glorious), hitting Giulio Cesare from over 26,000 yards, and this hit was no mere luck-of-the-draw scrape either, it was very damaging and slowed her escape tremendously.
She also survived an encounter with three Fritz-Xs, one missing, another a near miss that ripped open the torpedo defenses and the other a direct hit that did heavy damage to her that incapacitated one of her main 15” turrets, rendering it out of commission for the rest of her career, as it couldn’t be repaired in time for D-Day, in which she participated with splendid performance, being the first to open fire, she also dodged numerous enemy torpedoes, shells and bombs, she laid waste to Sword and Juno Beach’s coastal batteries and enemy positions, left to re-arm and did it again, but when she returned to the Normandy beaches on June 9th, she was instead ordered to aid Omaha Beach, which was hard-pressed, while the USS Texas left the day before to restock and re-arm. Warspite decimated enemy positions and coastal batteries with her powerful 15” guns with deadly precision, WITHOUT the use of rangefinders, which garnered immense praise by American commanders.
I should also point out that she was present at Pearl Harbor a few months before the ill-fated attack by the Japanese for temporary repairs. There she was visited by men from the ships stationed there. They told the American men that they had fine ships but needed more armor and more importantly more AA armament, as they were highly vulnerable because of it. How prophetic that would be. She would leave later in August for Bremerton, Washington for permanent repairs. Ironically, had the Japanese attacked further and aimed for the west coast at Washington, well, they’d be in for a treat, as she —despite under repair, was fully armed and prepared for an airstrike, like the badass she was.
I’ll be frank, not a single ship in history, NOT EVEN USS Enterprise, can top such an awe-inspiring naval career.