Favorite WWII Ship

Can I list a few?

Aircraft carriers would probably be my first choice due to the rise of air power.  They essentially made dreadnought-centered navy strategy obsolete.  Probably the biggest impact on naval combat than any other ship, I imagine.

U Boats get my vote for ingenuity and stealth.  Germany worked around it’s inferior surface ships and kept the Allies on their toes in the Atlantic without conventional engagements.  I’d pick type XXI as top choice due to it’s ability and that I think it looks pretty damn nice.

Last I’d got with Higgins boats for their production and utility.  I don’t think there was a better boat for beach landings, and they were produced very quickly in a large quantity.

And the DUKW for honorable mention in the weird category.  :mrgreen:

Type VII U-Boat due to many kills they make.

I like the Kongo Battleship. I have a thing for the pagoda style battlewagon.

I also like the design for the Ise and Hyuga Battleship/carrier BBAV

http://www.hlj.com/product/HSGWL119

its incredible design feature to have both on the same ship.

AS far as firepower i prefer Musashi, because it took more punishment than any other warship to sink. Like 20 torpedoes and 15 bombs to sink it.

Battleships period. My top would be the Missouri. Aside from Japan’s surrender taking place aboard her my oldest son was born in Missouri on Sept 2. He thinks it’s pretty cool his birthday is on a plaque on the deck of his states namestake warship. He even runs around with a Mighty Mo hat on his head.

Japanese Battleships of the Kongo Class

Japanese Heavy Cruisers (these ships gave the US Navy some of its greatest whoopings in its history), Torpedo armed Heavy Cruisers!

Aircraft carrying subs of the IJN the I-400 class - how cool is that!

Italian Battleships of the Littorio Class - very sleek and very Italian in style
Italian Cruisers in general

German Cruiser Prinz Eugen - the Kreigsmarine survivor

The big heavy Cruisers of the Portland class and Pensacola Classes: USS Indianapolis

USS Alaska and Guam - America’s Battlecruisers - to cool, to bad thay never got a chance to chase down the German BC’s.

i dont know enough wwII ships to pick a favourite, although i think this one would have been really cool, if it was ever manufactured, have any of you heard of the proposal by someone from the american side to build aircraft carriers out of
ice that dosent melt, i know it sounds bizzare, they said it would have been virtually indestructable because it would have been as strong, if not stronger than concrete, and have the capacity to carry far more aircraft because of this,
i think the ice is called perma-ice or concrete ice, i dont know if it was manufactured or what, i only caught a glimpse of the programme while watching television.

@d142:

i dont know enough wwII ships to pick a favourite, although i think this one would have been really cool, if it was ever manufactured, have any of you heard of the proposal by someone from the american side to build aircraft carriers out of
ice that dosent melt, i know it sounds bizzare, they said it would have been virtually indestructable because it would have been as strong, if not stronger than concrete, and have the capacity to carry far more aircraft because of this,
i think the ice is called perma-ice or concrete ice, i dont know if it was manufactured or what, i only caught a glimpse of the programme while watching television.

The British commisioned Canada to build an Aircraft carrier out of ice,I forget where they were attempting to build the prototype in Canada but they were having great difficulty. Seemed like a wacky idea,I doubt it would have worked all that great in the end.

My vote goes to the US Navy diesel-electric submarines.  We were doing to Japan with our boats more than the Germans were doing to us, I think.  My second vote would have to go to the German subs, and my third vote, for aesthetic reasons, would go to the Japanese battleships.  Finally, I’d give honorable mention to the US carriers, they look like they mean business, but have an elegance of their own.  The Japanese carriers look quirky to me.

Enterprise.

The most decorated ship of the war.

HOLY SMOKES ENTERPRISE RULED!

though i like what it was called i think the iowa battle ship i beleive (blank in my head because i have been chilling to much)

The iowa and its sister ship were the biggest bship of ww2 and in history but i love the enterprise though as well

And yet not even a big deal compared to the ultimate commerce raider which had these stats

Displacement: 1050 tons
Length: 220 ft (67 m)
Beam: 31 ft 8 in (9.7 m)
Draft: 17 ft 8 in (5.4 m)
Installed power: 300 HP
Propulsion: Steam engine
Speed: 13 knots (24 km/h)
Complement: 145 officers and men
Armament: 6 x 32 lb (15 kg) cannons, 1 x 110 lb (50 kg) cannon, 1 x 68 lb (31 kg) cannon

CSS Alabama at sea for 534 days out of 657, never having pulled into a single Confederate port. She boarded almost 450 vessels, captured or burned 65 Union merchant vessels, and took more than 2,000 prisoners without a single loss of life from either prisoners or her own crew.

But thats another war  :wink:

The Duke of York.

Ah, another fan of the merchant raider. As a southern I’ve always loved the story of the Alabama. Had the Union not used chain-mail armor, perhaps the outcome of that duel off Cherbourg been different.

The German World War One Raider Wolf led a glormous life also.

Yep, and since I am a multi generational Floridian I am a big fan of the CSS Florida - Which ran the blockade into Mobile and escaped to boot. Took 37 prizes, two of which were converted into the CSS Tacony and Clarence which took 23 more prizes. And if not for the violation of Brazilian waters…who knows but c’est la guerre