why is Bismarck so weak?

[Schlachtschiff Bismarck]

What I want to know is why Bismarck is armor 8 when Iowa is armor 9?
Between the two Bismarck has the heavier armor belt 12.6(320mm) in where as Iowa had 12.1. The deck armor was adequate enough to stop british tall boys (on tirpitz) How many times? and we won't even mention the 220mm(8.7in) internal "Citadel". I also don't recall hearing about any other BB completely repelling 14in shells fired at point blank and only allowing 3 16in shells ,again at point blank range, through (but not through the citadel. source: James Cameron's expedition Bismarck)
Looking it up it goes
washington 12in(305mm)
Iowa 12.1in(307mm)
Bismarck 12.6in(320mm)
Richelieu 12.9in(330mm)
Rodney 14in(356mm)
this puts Bismarck easily in the armor 9 category so why 8?

['Warspite']

Originally Posted by Schlachtschiff Bismarck

The deck armor was adequate enough to stop british tall boys (on tirpitz)

Ehhhh? The Tallboys sliced straight through her and exploded underneath, that was why she capsized.

I once visited Boulogne Harbour and I saw the damage which Tallboys did to the roof of the ferro-concrete E-Boat pens. Tallboy could penetrate more than 20 feet of ferro-concrete or 80 feet of earth/clay/chalk with ease. Eight inches of armour and some constructional steel is no challenge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallboy_bomb

There was nothing 'magical' about the Bismarck or the Tirpitz - both were competent designs but both were also based on WW1 designs (Bayern and Mackensen) while the use of separate weapons for anti-destroyer and AA was certainly a backward step. Both vessels needed a dual purpose weapon but neither received one.

As to the armour rating you will have to ask the game's designers but bear in mind that, on some surfaces, even HMS Hood had thicker steel than Bismarck/Tirpitz.

[Andras]

The Bismark's side armor was vertical. The Iowa class side armor is inclined 19*, giving it the equivalent protection of 17.3" vertical plate (439mm).

[Schlachtschiff Bismarck]

tirpitz capsized because of a mistake by the crew in counter flooding. (the more I look into it the germans sank more of their fleet than any other country LOL) This attack was by far not the first and none of the previous attacks did significant internal dammage.

I have heard that Bayern Mackensen argument before, If you actually look at the designs they are completely different. the main rifle configuration (but not the actual rifles) and the three shaft design are the only caryovers. the comparison would be similar if i said that the iowa was based on the Yamato, their configuration is similar and they are both battleships but that is about it. The bayern class most directly compares with the queen Elisabeth and "R" class

The plain and simple fact is that there was no single ship in 41 that could take them on their own terms.

[Schlachtschiff Bismarck]

Originally Posted by Andras

The Bismark's side armor was vertical. The Iowa class side armor is inclined 19*, giving it the equivalent protection of 17.3" vertical plate (439mm).

what is your source? (truely interested)

[Schlachtschiff Bismarck]

Rereading warspite's post I also have to mention that the lack of dual purpose armor was intentional, they had considered a dual purpose design but the germans were completely paranoid of the british destroyers.

On a side note they also considered a tripple turret design (12 15in) but figured that the dual design would be more efficient in rate of fire (shot up to 3.2 rounds per gun per min) and less apt to have mechanical breakdowns

[Andras]

Originally Posted by Schlachtschiff Bismarck

what is your source? (truely interested)

Dulin, Garzke; Battleships, Vol I (US) and Vol III (Axis)

[babs]

Actually, I think the incredible belt protection from the Bismarck in her final moments stemmed from her deck armor and not her belt. The Bismarck had a very low placed belt (inversed turtle config). As a result, when you fired at her at point blank range, shells first went through the belt and then had to go true (from horizontal pov) a strongly inclined deck, which is virtually impenetrable.

The bad side of the low deck, was that a lot of vital systems were located above it and very suspectible to plunging fire.

Babs out!