This is a good summary booklet (40+ pages) on the unbuilt very large battleship projects considered in the late 1930s / early 1940s. As far as I can determine, there is no original research. It is based on material contained in the nine books cited in the Bibliography on page 47. If you have most of those books, you probably don’t really need this one.

I was a bit surprised that the booklet includes the British “Lion” class of 1939 as a “super battleship” design. The “Lion” class was smaller than the USS “Iowa” and the latter is not included in the booklet.

There is a curious statement on page17: “British armor was excellent and was about 25% more resistant to damage than comparable USN armor.” Author Mark Stille offers no source citation to support or explain this assessment. The data given in “Heavy Naval Armour 1922 – 1954” (see below) do not support this statement.

The best book available on the Japanese “Yamato” class and the even larger proposed “Super Yamato” A-150 class to be armed with 20-inch guns is “The Yamato Class and Subsequent Planning” (2014) by Langerer and Ahlberg. Where this book really offers something new is in the level of detail regarding the specific design issues of armor and armament. Separate chapters are devoted to each subject.

Much of the discussion on the Japanese strategic thinking behind the “Yamato” class ships is covered in “Warship Volume VII” (1983, edited by John Roberts.

Some other books that provide much detailed information on specific aspects of these proposed super battleships are:

• “Heavy Naval Armour 1922 – 1954” (2021) in two volumes by Forest. These books provide detailed tabulations of ship dimensions, displacements, machinery horsepower and speed, armament, and armor thicknesses. What is really unique about them are the longitudinal views and transverse sectional drawings showing the locations and thicknesses of the side and deck armor arrangements. All the dimensions are in millimeters, by the way. Then there are sketches depicting the immunity zones for each ship class. These immunity zones are presented for magazines, machinery spaces, and for side and deck armors. Finally, there are rosette diagrams (if that is the correct terminology) showing immunity zones versus target angle and armor thicknesses and locations against various assumed opposing shells. There are approximately 30 pages of Appendices that discuss subjects such as Japanese and German armor qualities and characteristics compared to US and British armor, how immunity zones are calculated, angles of descent of projectiles versus range, and striking velocities of projectiles versus range.

• “Yamato vs Iowa” (2021) also by Forest. The book (140+ pages) offers a fascinating comparison of the armor and guns of the two ship classes similar to the above-mentioned books. The text in Chapter 3 “Protection” and the final chapter “Conclusions” discuss the armor schemes of the ships. A major problem for the American “Iowa” class was that the armor was designed to resist 16-inch / 2240 lb shells. The American designers had no knowledge of the 18-inch / 3220 lb shells of the Japanese “Yamato” design. The diagrams and plots of the immunity zones clearly show the consequences. The “Iowas” would have been in serious trouble in a straight slug-fest against the “Yamatos.” Overall, I think the 65 000 ton “Yamatos” would likely have sunk the 48 000 ton “Iowas” in a sea battle as envisioned by their respective naval leaderships when the ships were designed in the late 1930s / early 1940s. This should probably be no surprise. A more apt comparison would have been a sea battle between the Japanese “Yamatos” and the proposed but never built American 58 000 - 63 000 ton ”Montana” class ships.

• “Warship International” Volume XXIII November, 1986. I bought this volume specifically because of the article “Iowa vs Yamato — Another View” in pages 118 - 136. It analyzes the results of a theoretical combat encounter between the Japanese battleship “Yamato” and the U.S. battleship “Iowa.” It particularly discusses the lack of accurate US intelligence on the Japanese ship. Figure 1 on page 119 shows what the US Navy thought: 40 000 tons displacement, armament nine 16-inch / 45 caliber guns, 12-inch side armor, 6.4-inch deck armor. In April of 1943, they thought it was roughly comparable to the USS “Idaho” built in 1921! Figure 2b on page 124 compares the true armor penetration capabilities of the “Yamato” versus the “Iowa.” An “Iowa” class ship would have been in serious trouble against the Japanese ship. The article discusses fire control, speed, weaponry, and armor. The text is accompanied by several US Navy diagrams of immunity zones and armor penetration data.

• “Combined Fleet Decoded” (1995) by Prados describes (page 534) the first real intelligence the US Navy obtained when American B-24 photo reconnaissance planes overflew Truk in February 1944. One of the photos showed one of the Japanese battleships. ONI brought in ship designers to review the photos. They concluded that the ship must displace around 60 000 tons and was likely armed with nine 18-inch guns. As might be expected, ONI ignored the assessments and still listed the ships as being 40 000 tons and armed with 16-inch guns.

• For you frustrated battleship designers, a really must-have book is “Battleship: Design and Development 1905 – 1945” (1978) by Friedman. The book discusses design aspects and inter - relationships of issues such as armor, armament, under water protection, speed and propulsion machinery, and hull hydrodynamic considerations. You don't need to be a naval architect or a marine engineer to appreciate the book and follow its discussions. There is also much history of the changing views over time on issues such as the relative importance of side and deck armor, arrangement of main armament turrets, and importance of secondary armament. There is also discussion on the interplay of fundamental issues such as arrangement of VTE engines / casement secondary weapons / limitation of two main centerline turrets for pre - dreadnought and early dreadnought designs.

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Super-Battleships of World War II: Montana-class, Lion-class, H-class, A-150 and Sovetsky Soyuz-class (New Vanguard, 314)