All or Nothing (armor) - in Action

In Action

The battleship versus battleship showdown that all sides planned for never came about, so the benefits of the all or nothing ship's design was never fully tested.

There were few battleship-to-battleship encounters that took place in the Second World War. In the Atlantic, these included the Battle of Mers-el-Kébir in July 1940, Battle of Dakar in September 1940, the Battle of Denmark Strait and Last battle of the Bismarck in May 1941, the Battle of Casablanca in November 1942, and the Battle of North Cape in 1943. In the Pacific, there was the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942 and the Battle of Surigao Strait in October 1944, part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf.

In the Battle of Denmark Strait, HMS Prince of Wales was hit repeatedly by 15 in (38 cm) AP shells, causing damage without seriously endangering the ship. HMS Hood was built to an early standard and suffered a magazine explosion allowed by poor deck armor. A tilt of the ship towards Bismarck in her final turn exposed the deck armor when she made ready to unmask her rear battery. Using the older banded armor design that was geared towards shorter-range fire as in the Battle of Jutland, the Kriegsmarine's Bismarck-class was well-built and compartmentalised, and proved difficult to sink. Bismarck withstood tremendous punishment during her last battle, as an expedition later found out that almost no British heavy shells penetrated the Bismarck's citadel, although some main-turret barbettes were penetrated. Bismarck's sister ship Tirpitz suffered extensive topside damage from Royal Navy aerial strikes during Operation Tungsten but her vitals were relatively unharmed.

In the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal (also known as the fourth battle of Savo Island) USS South Dakota was hit by a 14 in (36 cm) armor-piercing round from the Japanese battleship Kirishima which shattered on a barbette without serious damage. Though South Dakota was in no danger of sinking, she was put out of action by faulty circuit breakers as well as damage from smaller caliber fire.

The Battle of Surigao Strait was the last battleship versus battleship encounter. Once the Japanese forces (after first being decimated by US destroyer torpedoes) reached the main US line, the deciding factor was the much greater numbers of the American forces, plus their superior radar, so the armor scheme of US battleships were not tested.