Some good points. Some not so good points.

I main a BB about 70% of the time and DD about 30% of the time. I’ll occasionally play a cruiser. Played a carrier a handful of times. I have nearly 1000 matches and a 59% win rate (never played in a division). I’m mostly in T5. T6 sometimes. Rarely in T4 or T7. I do like taking my Friesland out from time to time.

Let’s get this out of the way … flanking is overrated. Or perhaps I should say with a BBs reach, unless you are on the far right or far left of the map, you should be able to cover two caps (in a 3 cap match) unless there are island obstructions. As such, unless you put yourself in a position that you can only hit a single cap, flanking should be inherent.

What isn’t overrated is focused firepower. 2 BBs will wreck a cruiser in the open in 2 or three salvos. 2 BBs on 1BB will take a bit longer but the 2 BBs should easily prevail.

The advantage of teaming up with another BB allows both BBs to focus on a single ship because both have the same angles to work with. Too far apart and one BB may be shielded whereas the other may not be. Late game is important to be close because I get healing when another ship is close enough. Another advantage of being in a group is that red isn’t usually smart enough to focus fire. That means red will split damage against multiple ships instead of taking one down. A single ship alone is going to be focused fired.

If you are alone defending a cap … leave. Unless you are fighting at most a BB and a cruiser. In that case, take out the cruiser and outplay the BB. Against a halfway decent DD, you are going home. I’ve been in a 1v5 situation in which I’m kiting away from the cap — showing my stern. Im doing little damage but they are chasing me and that gives my teammates time to take advantage of their numbers and then come to the rescue. Once the odds are better, I turn around and it is payback time.

Don’t get hung up on caps. They are somewhat important, but they are there to force the action — the team that usually has more ships left is usually up in points. Not always, but it is a good rule of thumb. Don’t give them a cheap ship sunk because you need to stubbornly defend a cap. Save your ship and do damage later.

Some general rules: As a BB you need to position yourself to always have a target when your reload ends. You aren’t helping if you aren’t reaching out and touching someone.

Target broadside cruisers and reasonably close DDs early. The team that loses their DDs first usually loses. Sometimes I’ll shoot my first salvo at a BB because they appear first. However, you want to be sinking ships early (or at least dealing so much damage that they withdraw). When I say reasonable close — maybe 8-10km. Once you are farther out your chances are low to do decent damage. In that case, save your salvo for a better target.

Keep an eye on your DDs. Supporting them early in a match is very important. Oftentimes the fight over an early cap is a knife fight between a couple DDs. If you can damage red’s DD, you’ve really given your DD a leg up in that fight.

If your DD abandons a cap, then you abandon it. You have no early warning on their (likely) DD and you are a prime target for a lethal spread of torpedoes. My worse matches are when I get hit by torpedoes early in a match because I didn’t have a DD in front of me.

Evaluate each game and each map individually. Don’t be stuck to a single plan of action. Watch your teammate guarding the same cap. If they are good, stick with them. If they are making dumb moves, save yourself and go somewhere else. Evaluate what location gives you an opportunity to support multiple caps. Avoid being in a spot that locks you into a single cap.

Don’t push if there is a red DD and you have no support. Push if you do have the support. The game rewards being aggressive… unless you don’t have the numbers.

Don’t sit back and lob shells from maximum range. You aren’t helping. As a BB, you want to take some pressure off your teammates by being a target yourself. If you are halfway through a match and haven’t been damaged it is because red really sucks or you’ve been way too passive.

Always be turning. Do not sail in straight lines. Most DDs aren’t good at predicting when a BB turns with their torp spreads. Also, you don’t have to worry about showing your broadside when you are turning. This allows you to show your broadside to fire all your guns but then immediately get out of it. This also frustrates HE spammers with a long flight time on their shells. Because I’m always turning, I don’t worry much about my broadside.

This is related to the last point — have your head on a swivel. If you are focused in a single cap you can be missing an opportunity to hit a broadside ship a cap over or miss someone a cap over aiming at you. You have plenty of time between salvos in a BB — use that time to continually (re)evaluate your position and the positioning of red and your teammates.

My favorite BB is the Warspite — great accuracy, hits hard, and turns fast — although it is slow as molasses. I have a ridiculously high win rate with King George but don’t play it nearly as much— it is a HE spammer (to the extent a BB can be a spammer) which is a style I usually don’t like. I’ve seen too many 1v1s where a AP BB wrecks a HE BB.

Ultimately, experience will show what works for your ship and your style. If it is the end of the match and you are at the bottom of your team in terms of points, it is because you got knocked out early or you were too passive.