That’s interesting. I remember being fascinated with the Japanese warships of WW2.
British ships are my personal favorites.
Japanese WWII ships are so-so. I personally find the pagoda towers rather ugly.
Yes, japan built the largest battleship of time, but it was:
Horrifically inefficient on fuel
Steel was of inferior quality (
Yamato had ~16 inches of belt armor, but it was effectively ~14 inches due to the poorer quality of steel compared to other capital ships)
18" guns were overkill (16" was more than sufficient)
Japanese anti-air was stuck in the inter-war period- the mounts themselves turned way too slow to effectively track modern fast aircraft. Combined with the massive amounts of muzzle flash, outdated targeting systems, lack of radar, etc... Japanese AA was horrifically ineffective.
British warships were far more innovative in my opinion. In fact, Japanese ship design was heavily influenced by British and later German designs.
My personal favorite ship, the Hood:
She went ~31-32 knots in
1918. Most light cruisers were struggling to reach 30 knots in those times! Most capital ships slugged along at glacial speeds (18-24 knots)
Unlike other Battlecruisers, she did not sacrifice armor for speed. Initially, she was armored like any other battlecruiser- however, as time went on, she was progressively up-armored (Earlier battlecruisers had a reputation for exploding spectacularly- which was mostly due to the highly unsuitable and flammable explosives they used, not the lack of armor.) until she had a respectable 12" of main belt armor which was the average battleship armor for the time while being much much faster. (Do not confuse battleship with warship)
Her guns were also the largest of the era. The 15" British naval gun is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time.
Of course, she had her own problems. Her high length-to-beam ratio meant the ship was quite unstable due to the hull bending stresses. She was also known for getting quite wet due to being overweight from all the extra armor.
Both the battleship and battlecruiser (and their subgroups) were killed off by the emergence of the aircraft carrier and the proliferation of nuclear submarines.
How many models do you have?
4.
Titanic
HMS Hood
KMS Bismarck
KMS Scharnhorst
USS Iowa
I'm planning to build more in the future, but they're pretty expensive, especially for a neetcel like me. (~200-300 euros)
Are you interested in the ocean or sea as well?
Yes, I'm somewhat interested in marine biology and paleontology.
Personally, I find pirate ships, colonial era ships from the Age of Discovery the most interesting.
Sorry for the late reply. I was gooning LOL. My personal opinion is that the age of sail-type warships isn't as diverse as later designs but I am ignorant.
