[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

That's mainly because the British actually were too close to Bismarck and as such the angle of impact was unfavourable. Bismarck's armour protection scheme makes it very difficult to penetrate at close distance. However, the very same scheme is vulnerable at long-distance, where the angle is steeper. Had Tovey not chosen to shorten the distance after spotting Bismarck he could've done more damage to her. Moreover Bismarck's underwater protection wasn't too good, as shown by Prince of Wales' hit below the waterline that damaged her fuel tanks. That said, Bismarck was designed for North Sea / North Atlantic battles with the experience of Jutland. And as such the expectation was for the battle distance to be short with low visibility (in the absence of radar based fire control).

The main reason she even sunk were bad decisions by Lütjens, if it wasn't for Lindemann she might have already sunk against Prince of Wales and Hood.

I suggest watching James Cameron's documentation on it + oneothers for more detailed information.
The one from James Cameron is special because he actually shows interior shots of the damaged hull parts, and animated diagrams of where the shells hit actually hit and went through.

Only areally small number of shots actually penetrated the Bismarck's armor and none of them seemed enough to sink her.

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

In good visibility conditions at long range Bismarck couldn't have realistically stood up to Yamato and with the Americans' radar-based firing control of the late war years she would've had no chance against Iowa.).

Uff, if we start with later technology, then I can assure you that the Bismarck would have gotten serious refits by the time she and Yamato would have inevitably clashed.
In the first place Germany put a lot of money into researching new weapons.

A notable refit we can assume Bismarck would have been the strengthening of her stern, as the Prinz Eugen recieved them too.

In the end it still took serious efforts and two fleets to sink her/get tthe German's to scuttle her.

Another thing you shouldn't forget is that the Yamato actually exploded, while the Bismarck's wreck is still in rather good condition with none of the torpedoes actually having damaged her Torpedo bulges.

So yeah all in all the Bismarck would have still had a good chance against Iowa.

Sinking a ship via artillery fire is generally not as easy as people think and takes precise shots to vital points such as the ammunition storage.

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

That's not very likely. Lindemann and Lütjens were probably killed when the bridge was hit by shells from the British battleships.).

Its likely a sailor's myth. However you can somewhat argue it out using 9/11 as an example where people survived being in one of the offices the plane crashed in, or very close to it.
I'm personally more concerned how he would have survived the shockwave than the actual explosion tbh.

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Yamato was designed to make sure it could defeat Treaty battleships armed with standard 16" guns or less. It was armored well enough to defeat 15" guns at almost any range. 16" was more difficult, and the Japanese had not planned on the American super heavies, so Iowa-class ships could take on Yamato. But the Iowa-class was not designed to take 18.1" cannon fire in return. It would matter who it first and most consistantly. The Iowas have radar fire control and the Yamato does not. However Yamato's optics are really good, having a debatable near miss that crippled an American ship at Samar from something like 30,000 meters.

TbH I doubt any modern ship could seriously withstand the Yamato's cannons. The USS Nimitz armor is mostly classified though, so thats up to speculation.

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Bismarck has no chance against Yamato. On paper at least. On paper, Bismarck has a 10 meter zone around 34,300 meters where Yamato is vulnerable to Bismarck's 15" guns. Other than that, they can't reliably penerate Yamato's armor. Belt or deck. Hitting a 10 meter target at 34,300 meters? That's Skywalker territory. Unless Bismarck wants to get in close. Close in she could probably penetrate Yamato's armor, but then Yamato will have been brutally hammering away at Bismarck the entire way in.

tbH I wouldn't say any of the Iowa/Bismarck/Yamato combination would win against the other.
We don't know what kind of refits the Yamato or the Bismarck would have gotten had they survied their battles.
Well we can from Yamato's plans, in Bismarck's case we only know that she would have gotten a strengthening of her stern, from what the Prinz Eugen got.

Iowa and Yamato are two ships you can actually let run against in Battlestations Pacific, and believe me I rued having gotten oo close to Yamato pretty soon.

Most the Iowa's Class cannons just gave me a note that they were ineffective at all and the only thing I could rely on were her 16 Inch guns.