The 20 Largest Battleships of All Nations in World War II

Not a single active U.S. battleship afloat in early December, 1941 makes it on the list of the 20 biggest battleships in WWII. The 624-ft. USS West Virginia (BB-48) was the newest U.S. battleship in the Pacific when Pearl Harbor was attacked. She was commissioned in 1923.

However, once the four USS Iowa class battleships were built, they were the biggest ever in U.S. Naval history, and rank 3,4,5,and 6 on the list below.

Japan had the biggest and most powerful battleships ships of the war. In 1937 the Imperial Navy ordered two giant battleships, the Yamato and the Musashi, in total violation of the Washington and London naval-treaties, because of their size and armament. Each ship was 862 feet long.

Carrying crews up to 2,500 men strong, the ships had a range of 7,200 miles and could hit a top speed of 27 knots.

However, some records put the simarity of armament in question and claim the Yamato actually had a slight advantage in firepower. For this reason Yamato is listed ahead of Musashi on the list as well as the fact she spent more time at sea during the war. In other documents naval authorities question whether Musashi did inteed have 18.1 inch guns

Above all, the guns on the Yamato and the Musashi made the ships unique, whether or not they were identical in this regard. They reportedly both possessed 18.1 inch guns. Nothing afloat was comparably equipped. The ships had nine of the giant guns apiece, each of which could hurl a shell 35 miles and pierce 16 inches of steel plate. A single hit was deemed sufficient to knock out a carrier, and it was assumed one 18.1 inch shell could kill a concentrated battalion of ground soldiers.

For all this, the ships were flops. They were already obsolete when commissioned. Of the two others in the class (ordered later), one was converted to a carrier (Shinano) after the Battle of Midway. Construction of the other (hull number 111) was simply halted.

The Yamato's record illustrates the point. Although it saw considerable action (the Battles of Midway, Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf), it is believed to have sunk only one ship, the destroyer Hoel in the Battle of Samar. But in this action, the Yamato's smaller, conventional guns provided the kill, not the 18.1 inchers. While it carried 1,080 giant shells, it fired only 81 and probably none of them hit anything. And this was the only time the Yamato ever fired the big guns.

U.S. aircraft finally sank the Yamato on April 7, 1945.

Yamato and Musashi were the same size but Yamato was the only battleship with 18-inch guns. She was sunk after three hours of bombing and torpedo attacks during the Okinawa campaign in April 1945. Despite their size the guns were considerably less accurate than the 16-inch guns of the four American Iowa class battleships.

The Musashi's record was even less impressive, though it took 20 torpedo hits and 17 bombs to sink her in the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf. The contribution of these two large battleships to the Japanese war effort was practically nil.

Ship and Country
Tonnage
Length (feet)

Yamato,Japan
72,809 & 862 ft.
Musashi, Japan
72,809 & 862 ft.
Iowa, U.S. (BB-61) 55,710 & 887 ft.
New Jersey, U.S. (BB-62) 55,710 & 887 ft.
Missouri, U.S. (BB-63)
55,710 & 887 ft.
Wisconsin, U.S. (BB-64)
55,710 & 887 ft.
Bismarck, Germany
50,153 & 823 ft.
Tirpitz, Germany
50,153 & 823 ft.
Richelieu, France
47,500 & 812 ft.
Jean Bart, France
47,500 & 812 ft.
Hood, Great Britain
46,200 & 860 ft.
North Carolina, U.S. (BB-55)
44,800 & 729 (entered service, June, 1942)
Washington, U.S. (BB-56)
44,800 & 729 ft.
King George V, Great Britain
44,780 & 754 ft.
Prince of Wales, Great Britain
44,780 & 754 ft.
Duke of York, Great Britain
44,780 & 754 ft.
Anson, Great Britain
44,780 & 754 ft.
Howe, Great Britain
44,780 & 754 ft.
Nagato, Japan
42,785 & 725 ft.
Mutsu, Japan
42,785 & 725 ft.

The USS Tennessee (BB-43) and USS California (BB-44), at 624 feet long and 40,500 tons, would rank 21st and 22nd on the above list. The USS West Virginia (BB-48) although the same length, came in at 33,590 tons.