Now that we have articles on the Japanese 18.1″/45 and U.S. 16″/50 guns themselves, let’s see how they stack up against each other in terms of their armor penetration capabilities.
A bow view of the battleship USS IOWA (BB-61) firing its Mark 7 16-inch/50-caliber guns off the starboard side during a fire power demonstration. 
Subscribe to get access
Access the rest of the article by purchasing a subscription or logging in below.
Fair Winds & Following Seas 
A duel between an Iowa and a Yamato would likely come down to which ship landed a critical hit on the other first, and there are many variables which can influence that including a bit of luck. It is fortunate that the IJN did not commit the Yamato to the Solomons campaign.
LikeLike
Indeed. The Naval Battles of Guadalcanal are two of my favorites. Of course, the second one had one of the few instances of a battleship v. battleship engagement. Thankfully, Adm. Willis Lee knew how to use radar effectively at night. If South Dakota hadn’t suffered a power failure, then Kirishima would’ve been hurting even more. Still, she didn’t fare well against the Washington.
LikeLiked by 1 person