Talk:Iowa/@comment-180.254.107.246-20160229053008/@comment-17703786-20160303070943

"USA only held an advantage cause they brought airplanes to a sea battle"

And you think the Japanese didn't bring aircraft to a sea battle either? The Japanese used their aircraft whenever and wherever they might need it - why do you think the loss of the IJN aircraft carriers signalled the beginning of the end of Japanese naval power in the Pacific, and what do you think Kamikazes are? It was a hard-earned lesson that air superiority was important in naval battles, and in fact surface action between large fleets was rather rare, hence why the battles in the Philippines were noteworthy, and even then aircraft were still a dominant consideration on both sides there. It's just that Japan lost the air war eventually, and thus could not exercise air superiority to protect their ships, leading to outcomes like that of Operation Ten-Go.

Also, the reason that Iowa is often pitted against Yamato is because despite having comparatively less armor and smaller guns, in all other aspects Iowa had technological superiority against Yamato, including in the all important areas of fire control and radar that gave Iowa the advantage when it comes to accuracy and first-strike potential. In fact, the Iowa vs Yamato debate is a complex one simply because both have advantages that they can leverage against each other depending on the tactical situation, and overall battlefield conditions at hand.