Iowa Class vs Kirov Class

**eocoolj** · 31 Dec 07,, 19:41

i dont believe I have seen a post about this on here, but according to some sources I have read, one of the primary driving forces behind reactivating the Iowas in the 1980s was the Soviet Kirov Class Battlecruiser. My question is, if these two were to encounter each other, who would be the winner? If I am not mistaken, the Kirovs were the closest thing to another battleship that the Iowas could hope to cross swords with.

What do you think?

**dundonrl** · 31 Dec 07,, 20:07

if they crossed paths.. it would depend on the range they were.. the Kirov if it was within 25 miles would be blown apart by the 16" guns of the Iowas.. if I remember correctly, the Kirov had quite afew large antiship missiles, so who knows what would happen at long range.. since the Iowas also carried long range anti ship missiles..

**omon** · 31 Dec 07,, 20:21

whoever hits first.

**Silent Hunter** · 31 Dec 07,, 20:31

The Iowa had Tomahawks, which balances things in its favour.

**TopHatter** · 31 Dec 07,, 20:42

Originally Posted by Silent Hunter

The Iowa had Tomahawks, which balances things in its favour.

But not all of those Tomahawks were the TASM variant, and quite frankly the TASM compared to the Shipwreck is well, no comparison.

Once again, these ships don't operate all be themselves.

**ace16807** · 01 Jan 08,, 16:54

Assuming it was a 1v1 engagement, assuming they both were updated to today's standards, I'd say they would both take on serious damage, probably beyond repair. They both have anti-missile systems to my knowledge, but I'm not entirely sure about the Kirov's. I'm gonna say the Iowa class will stay afloat longer.

**zraver** · 01 Jan 08,, 20:35

Do any of the Kirov's missiles even have the ability to penetrate the Iowa's armor belt? The Missouri after all took a direct hit from an 8,000lb Kamikaze at several hundred Km/h the pilot and plane only scratched the paint. The Kirov might well waste every missile it has and never breech a critical part of the hull or super structure.

**TopHatter** · 01 Jan 08,, 22:10

Originally Posted by zraver

Do any of the Kirov's missiles even have the ability to penetrate the Iowa's armor belt? The Missouri after all took a direct hit from an 8,000lb Kamikaze at several hundred Km/h the pilot and plane only scratched the paint. The Kirov might well waste every missile it has and never breech a critical part of the hull or super structure.

An SS-N-19 Shipwreck would be striking the ship somewhere around Mach 2+
That's a 750 kg warhead moving at 2400+ Km/H

I wouldn't want to be on any other ship but an Iowa if that happened, but I highly doubt that even her armor belt could defeat something of that magnitude.

**zraver** · 01 Jan 08,, 22:26

Originally Posted by TopHatter

An SS-N-19 Shipwreck would be striking the ship somewhere around Mach 2+
That's a 750 kg warhead moving at 2400+ Km/H

I wouldn't want to be on any other ship but an Iowa if that happened, but I highly doubt that even her armor belt could defeat something of that magnitude.

A naval guns 14" (BL-14/45 Mk II) shell with 721kg total weight traveling at 732m/s hits at 2672km/h and has a nice robust brass/steel armor piercing construction and was considered completely inadequate vs a post Washington treaty battleship.

BL 14 inch / 45 mk VII naval gun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Shipwreck doesn't have an Armor piercing design any more than a kamikaze plane does and I believe would suffer the same inability to translate its potential power into penetration vs a truly massive armored target.

**Gun Grape** · 02 Jan 08,, 00:12

Originally Posted by zraver

Do any of the Kirov's missiles even have the ability to penetrate the Iowa's armor belt? The Missouri after all took a direct hit from an 8,000lb Kamikaze at several hundred Km/h the pilot and plane only scratched the paint. The Kirov might well waste every missile it has and never breech a critical part of the hull or super structure.

I'm betting they would, depending on the attack profile.

Straight in shot against the armor belt? Probably not.

Pop up then plunge into the deck? Yes. Bomb deck is only 1.5 inches of armor
May make it through the Armor Deck but even if it doesn't, the size of that warhead is going to rip sh*t up.

**zraver** · 02 Jan 08,, 02:31

Does the 80's era shipwreck have a top-down attack mode?

**Blademaster** · 02 Jan 08,, 04:01

I am not sure about the Shipwreck but the Yahmont does. Zraver, you have to remember the Shipwreck were designed for the aircraft carriers. Since the aircraft carriers's sole defensive and offensive power comes from its aircrafts, an attack by the Shipwreck would completely foul up the flight deck and render the aircraft carrier practically useless. In short, it would become a sitting duck and tie up valuable manpower and ships just to protect her from any further attacks and thus render the entire CVBG useless and out of the war. That is the value of the Shipwreck.

**gunnut** · 02 Jan 08,, 04:17

Hmmm...that's a hard one to call. Super duper heavy weight Soviet anti-ship missiles from a ship with virtually no armor, against a battleship designed to withstand heavy weight AP shells but not a whole lot of long range firepower but crap load of close and personal destructive power...

It'll probably be like what omon said...whoever hits first.

**Blademaster** · 02 Jan 08,, 04:27

Then the Kirov would win just because of her superior long range weapons. If I was the captain of Kirov, I would never let the Iowa class battleships get in the firing envelope of my ship. I would send out corvettes or frigates out as screens and pinpoint the battleship and launch the Shipwrecks. The Shipwrecks doesn't have to breach the armour belt to do her job. She just need to take out the turrets. Once the turrets are disabled, the Iowa class battleship is basically a sitting duck if she runs out of Tomahawks.

**ArmchairGeneral** · 02 Jan 08,, 06:24

Originally Posted by Blademaster

Then the Kirov would win just because of her superior long range weapons. If I was the captain of Kirov, I would never let the Iowa class battleships get in the firing envelope of my ship. I would send out corvettes or frigates out as screens and pinpoint the battleship and launch the Shipwrecks. The Shipwrecks doesn't have to breach the armour belt to do her job. She just need to take out the turrets. Once the turrets are disabled, the Iowa class battleship is basically a sitting duck if she runs out of Tomahawks.

De turrets be the baddest part of the ship. If it can't penetrate the armor belt, it certainly can't penetrate the turrets.