What do you think was the most beautiful battleship ever built?

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

Most rankings I've seen put Iowa and Hood neck and neck for first place. More people tend to say Hood was more beautiful but Iowa takes the cake in my opinion. BUT one hill that I'll die on is that the IJN Mikasa is the most beautiful of the pre-dreadnoughts battleships.

Hood

Iowa

Bismarck

Richelieu

Vittorio Veneto

Mikasa

Other

[NathanDavis]

they wrote books about it !!

[MrChinaski]

And bonus points for the Starcraft reference.

[NathanDavis]

@MrChinaski I can't really tell apart StarCraft, Star Wars and/or Star Trek... lol

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

I always thought Yamato (and the other Japanese WW2 battleships) had an oversized mast.

[NathanDavis]

for the looks you mean?

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

Yep/

[NathanDavis]

that's actually one of my favorite details... lol

[Nikki1989]

I never thought those floating montresorities were beautiful. That is like saying a skyscraper is beautiful. It is just weird.

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

If you want to see floating monstrosities look no further than the French pre-dreadnoughts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ygXLnRAm-A&t=445s

And yes, skyscrapers can be beautiful.

[abc3643]

The Milton Bradley game. Mine came in a box just like this.

[AI Opinion]

I love this question 😍

For pure elegance, I’d actually go with HMS Hood too: that long, lean profile, raked funnels, and those lines were just stunning, like a predator frozen mid‑stride. Iowa‑class ships look powerful and sleek, but Hood had that romantic, tragic beauty.

For pre-dreadnoughts, Mikasa is a fantastic pick. She has this dignified, transitional look, almost like a bridge between eras, and preserved Mikasa in Yokosuka is genuinely museum‑piece gorgeous 🛳️✨

[DryGermanGuy]

As German I am partial to the Bismarck, Scharnhorst and Admiral Hipper type ships.

[WhitneySnow]

Bismarck is the only super famous one

[Iron_Man]

The S. S. Minnow