Guy Off the Wall

...eventually leading to a situation where any naval gunnery with a modern FCS is a quantum leap ahead of the optically controlled gunnery of WW1 or early WW2. As Range and accuracy go way up, the value of rate of fire gives way to the value shell caliber. I would bet that a modern FCS controlled Iowa class BB could beat all 4 Iowa class BBs of the WW2 era. Hits would be scored at distances rarely encountered in earlier eras. Instead of just laying alongside an opposing ship and fighting at close in distances a modern FCS controlled ship could fire while manuevering. The older FCS ships would have to constant readjust their fire and would forever be playing catchup. An optically controlled BB would be trashed long before they could get of a salvo. PS: according to my college professor the computers of today got their start doing ballistic computations for naval artillery. Our more advanced ones just do it better. Counter battery fire calcs the origin point of an incoming round.

The critical factor here is the relative sophistication of the fire control system. In the era of optical range finders, volume of fire may dominate shell caliber. But as the sophistication of fire control systems improves (radar / computer) the bigger guns can be used to fuller advantage. If I am not mistaken the USS Washington fought and won a nighttime engagement using radar controlled fire alone. <font size=1>[Edited by Guy Off the Wall (24 Nov 2003).] [Edited by Guy Off the Wall (24 Nov 2003).]

The 1kt advantage of the Des Moines may not be all that decisive. A Des Moines would first have to survive the ride through the Alaska's imunity zone before she could swamp the Alaska with her 8 inchers. The Alaska could just maintain distance until it damaged the Des Moine enough then swoop in for the kill. A Des Moines is not designed to withstand that caliber of shell.

The Graf Spee's 11inch guns had a higher muzzle velocity which would have implied (at least under certain situations) a flatter firing trajectory compared to the Alasks 12 in guns. This means that there would be relatively less of a threat of plunging fire from the Graf Spee than the Alaska.

As near as I can tell the USS Alaska (the US battle crusier) was closest to the Graf Spee (12in v 11in main guns). Both were bigger than the standard heavy crusier but smaller than a battleship. Is this a fair assessment? How would they have faired if they had squared off against each other?