@ricdale7813
King George V is in my Top3. Really wish Britain would had kept a few BB's like the US did for historical posterity.
@ernestcline2868
I'd like to still have the first American dreadnought, USS South Carolina .
@kebabsvein1
Parts of Tirpitz armor plates are still used as tools in construction in Norway. They are heavy steel plates used to make large vehicles cross ditches during construction and road works.
@chopper7352
I'm 100% with Ryan. HMS Warspite should have been preserved given her service in both WW1 & WW2. Also the fact that HMS Vanguard wasn't preserved given she was the last British Battle Wagon, was mind blowing.
@nomar5spaulding
I like the bits about what got you two interested in battleships. For me, it was from books. My elementary school library had a book about Robert Ballard's expedition to find the Bismarck and it had a ton of photos of the RV and the dive sled they used to search, and the wreck. It told the story of the search, but it also told the story of the Bismarck's only mission and had tons of paintings and photos. I've put a link to the book down below. The other thing that got me into battleships was a series of books my dad owned. Back in the 80s, he had a subscription to Time Life Books, and he got most of this big series of books on WWII males to him. They were black, hard covered books, and he made me wash my hands before touching them. One was called "War on the High Seas," and was about the Kriegsmarine fighting in WWII. It mainly talked about the surface fleet, so there were lots of pictures of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the Deutschland Class, Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen, but also lots of stuff about auxiliary cruisers and things like that. It was pretty cool. I'll see if I can find a link to that book as well. This massive link is the Robert Ballard book about the a Bismarck. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325320051188?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=325320051188&targetid=2295557533670&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=9002849&poi=&campaignid=19851828444&mkgroupid=160536780385&rlsatarget=pla-2295557533670&abcId=9307249&merchantid=459450367&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvb-zBhCmARIsAAfUI2sxOqxBZda0COmwzCWQmIzjxe0KVIZhojxiylyBKXVNFKzgvOjTNSUaAhIlEALw_wcB This link is to the entire Time Life Third Reich series that has War on the High Seas in it. https://www.ebay.com/itm/156193171203?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=156193171203&targetid=2295557531670&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=9002849&poi=&campaignid=19851828444&mkgroupid=160536780385&rlsatarget=pla-2295557531670&abcId=9307249&merchantid=6296724&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvb-zBhCmARIsAAfUI2v0eb9lQhS90k6n79YI01Vu32QVOWoqOytxU2_utejFSDMQZICqKrQaAqcVEALw_wcB
@davidstange4174
My first museum battleship was the U S S Alabama . The cool part of it all was I got to see her 30 years later in the expanded museum
@jackmarknagington3254
I totally agree with Ryan, warspite should 1000% have been saved the grand old lady served so well and should have been kept as living history, but also agree with you there jack about vanguard, she also should have been kept they where both amazing ships in there own right, vanguard was the last great crusade of the battleship construction in the uk if not the world, and the grand old lady was a war time hero that made it through it all such rich history just scrapped, was a total shame as an English man it is such a travesty they both are not around today, if hood could have survived the war she would have made a fine ship to been kept on display to walk aboard, as she is my all time favourite war ship she just looks fantastic to the eye
@crazyeyez1502
As a fellow Baltimore Maryland native, and I'm sure Ryan would agree.... USS Maryland. Park her right there at the Navel Academy. Would've been an amazing backdrop to the football stadium.
@phillipbouchard4197
I am enjoying your podcast as I have been and am a Battleship enthusiast since my childhood as well. Suffice to say that I find myself in agreement with both of you gentlemen as I have always thought that Washington BB - 56 should have been preserved as a museum ship for the reasons you enumerated. In regards to Massachusetts BB -59 I visited there as a boy with my Dad and my Uncle who both served in the U.S. Navy in W.W. # 2 - my Uncle on U.S.S. New Hanover AKA - 73 a Tolland class attack cargo ship and my Dad on U.S.S. Boyd DD - 544 a Fletcher class destroyer. Their naval careers sparked my interest in Naval ships and my early visit to Massachusetts has resulted in many return visits including my most recent in November of 2022 for a " Firepower Tour " with Dr. John Scholes. We spent four hours on board and did not complete our tour which will require a return visit ! I also was able to view Massachusetts in drydock in Boston I believe in 1999 but could not actually get down in the drydock. I look forward to the drydocking of New Jersey next year and hope to see her in dock.
@ThumperE23
My first battleship was Massachusetts, when I was younger she was the only North-Eastern Battleship. It set me on a quest to visit all the Battleship Museum Ships, I have gotten three done so far.
@KPen3750
My favorite one for US: New Jersey (though Washington is a very close second) Axis: the Scharnhorst Twins. There’s just something about the way they are designed aesthetically and their proportions that make them one of the prettiest battleships built. Non-US ally: Richelieu. She is just so quirky and weird and yet still went on to have a pretty decent world war 2 career, something most French ships never got.
@tedmiles2110
I have visited the bow of the USS Tennessee in Nashville; She was a strongly decorated vesel that should have been saved. I think that because there was no place in Tennessee to display her, she was allowed to go to scrap. TM likes museum ships.
@SomeRandomHuman717
Hey I was like number 62! "Black Dragon" all the way!
@alexfogg381
The Cruiser USS Portland, sister of the USS Indianapolis that is one of the ships that I wish had been saved for display.
@randyfant2588
My favorite (aside from Texas of-course) was USS Tennessee. When I was in grade school, one of my first intros into the Navy, and the first place I remember the word Battleship from was a little kids book in the library about Army vs Navy and in it was a drawing of a Battleship. I remember the 2 triple forward turrets and the twin cage masts, but I can't quite remember the mast tops so it may have been New Mexico but I think it was Tennessee (or her sister) still I think this class was the most inspiring class of any,. Even after being rebuilt with tower masts, they remain aw inspiring. I think California should have preserved their namesake. Of the non-US capitol ships operating in WWII, I think it would have been fantastic if the newly formed West Germany had purchased back the SMS Goeben (Yavuz) from Turkey to turn into a museum, perhaps along with SMS Weissenburg (Turgut Reis)
@Echowhiskeyone
Ryan said about Arizona. I say Pennsylvania. Sister ships, but Pennsylvania survived WWII to be sunk after Operation Crossroads.
@Scott11078
Hopefully in some alternative universes Warspite, Vanguard and Jean Bart ended up as museum ships in America or atleast somewhere
@DaveBierig
My favorite is North Carolina because her hull shape was not distorted by Panama Canal limits as the South Dekotas and Iowas were
@aw34565
One point about the 'English Empire', Hood, Barham, Repulse, Duke of York, Vanguard, all built by John Brown & Company on the River Clyde in Scotland.
@theTokyoBill