I know that feel bro, and the only BB2 line i have is New Mexico. hah
this is how I survive that stage, so last year there was a event.and there is a random drop thingy stuff and I got a lot of smokes. and I take that as a extra advantage

at the start of the game go middle. so most higher tier BBs are busy fighting in north or south. now you just have to wait for the right moment when your target is fighting another BB North or south ,use smoke.. attack..make as much damage as you can and go home if possible while still shooting with the back gun(that's my playstyle xD) 

when the enemy is blind I just rush and hope for the best. I sunk Blind L1 and make a good damage on warspite or hyuga(not sure) before I get sunk on my NM45.guess I was lucky that day.

or play like a CA ,be a escort of BBs on the frontline shoot whatever gets in range.



that's just my experience .. 

Hurm. That depends on the BB line you chose. The Nevada line doesn't get serious AA until NorCal. But the Alaksa line can AA (somewhat) in the Guam. The New Mexico(1930) can't AA at all. But the remod NM(1945) can do it a tad better. The other thing you can do is stay back at the beggining of the battle and rush in when the enemy is blind. It's not like you're gonna kill anything, but you'll get some attack.

I use 3"s to AA. The reload isn't bad, but they don't hit too hard, so you'll have to hit an enemy plane a couple of times before it goes down.

The suggestion of being a support BB for higher lvl BB's is a good one and one that I've done many times with good success.

With a BB1 and BB2, (excluding BCs) your range is limited and often the spread is poor.  Speed is limited.  AA ability, for the most part, is poor. 

Even with light HE shells, which will increase your range, you will still be outranged.  You should be using light shells in your main magazine...and perhaps heavys in your second.   You won't get much chance to use the heavys but in a rare close in fight, you need to deal out as much damage as possible. 

You can sail slightly behind the main battle line and watch for charging smaller ships such as DDs, CL, or even CAs.   You can fire salvos at these and protect your bigger BBs.
You can also watch an SS or ASW battle, keeping the battle in gun range.   When a damaged enemy sub surfaces, blast away.....making sure that your crappy spread will not take out any friendlys.  You'll sink subs.   If you are AA inclined, go ahead and blaze away.   Enemy planes will be in range, even if enemy ships are not.

On occasion, you will get some shots off at enemy BB's and manage to get a few hits or even sinking a damaged one.   In a winning situation, you might get in close enough to sink a CV or two.  Or at least nail their covering AA ships.  

I was pleased that my Nevada, which was a slow, short ranged BB1 with little AA ability, did very well in this role and gained experience at a fairly quick rate.    Did I get sunk a lot?  Yes, but I still had fun and was an asset to my team.

To survive in something like the Nevada or other BB1/2s , you need at least two engineers with engines that have long overheat periods.  Rember that engineers do not truly stack their ability.   The first one has 100% but the second one adds something like 75% of its ability.  A 3rd one adds about 25% of its ability.  (Going from memory here so percentages could be off)
It's a trade off...3rd engineer or a repair/restore sailor.  Speed is key to survival in a BB1/2.

 A few bulkheads to keep speed up when damaged along with restorers that turn damage to Burn down will help you survive.  The longer you are afloat, the more experience you will gain.    A slight amount of belt helps reduce damage some and enough bulge will protect from torps until your speed drops, then back off 1.    No amount of Armor can save a BB1/2 from the really big guns.

Add repairers to your T slots and you will keep your BB1/2 running for a while.   Get your SD as high as possible to help you survive.

Finally, if the battle line that you are covering goes to hell....RUN!    After sinking the big boys, the enemy will target you as easy pickings.   The longer you survive, the more EXP you will get and the faster you will level up.   You might team up with another survivor and cover him the best you can.

Along with your support role, your other mission is launching and controling scouts.   You can be an asset to your team by giving them vision.  You may not be able to target an enemy ship but you can help others target them.   You will get maximum experience if your team wins and you are still afloat at the end of the game.

You will be surprized at how fast you will gain experience in this role.


 

Im in a colorado right now (supposedly the best USN BB2).  I feel your pain.  Your spread is definitley under par and range aswell.  If it is any consolation, all nations have BB12s that have trouble competing in a GB1 environment.

Your best option is instead of following the the BB45s north and south time it right and rush middle when your enemy is distracted.  Most of the time you will only get a few shells in but somtimes you will do some damage, but in my experience its the most consistant way of ensuring some attack 

You're level 65 in a New Mex?  Drop back to Guam until you're ready for NM45 remodel.

The Guam is faster, allowing you to exploit enemy blindness better, and it mounts a meaningful AA armament.  The 5"/38 mk38L duals aren't long ranged (golden angle 36), but they're fast firing, hit hard, and hold ample ammo. 

To maximize the use of your AA armament, you'll want to run along with the N/S battleship line, but further from the enemy than the BB doing all the shooting.  This way you are close enough to cover them with your AA guns and can snipe at any smaller ships that attempt to close.

Other people will tell you to ignore your AA guns and put support crew in your T slots so you hit 900 SD faster.  But the US (and ONLY the US) can do BOTH !!  Here's how....

SUPPORT GUNNERS - make two crew with reload 12 or 13 into SUPPORT SAILORS at level 12 and then never class them up again.  They will give decent repair and restore skill and will be able to use all the T slot weapons you need (3"/70 mk23N, 5"/38 mk38L, hedgehogs), allowing you to hit 900 SD earlier while still having T slot armament to fire.  When you have 900 SD without these sailors, swap them out for reload gunners or repairers (since you've been levelling a second set of crew for the extra BB5 and BB6 engineers and repairers you'll need anyway... right?).

i hated guam, so i used balty with AA and good gunners until NM.. and, i really liked NM, in my opinion, if you use it well it will work properly, you wont take down a lion but you will get nice exp.. 

hey... there are some sayings for this matter

1) there is no such thing as a "not bad" bb1... they are all crappy in all nations... if you go for nevada you should learn how to die with honor... because you will get sunk in almost every battle. (the same goes for every premod as they are all BB1) if you get good at your bb1 play you will be able to make something like 20k every battle.
If you picked up Alaska go back to baltimore for the most time you can... Alaska/guam is the worst BC/BB1 in the game (Iowa Size, low caliber guns, 45º degree and glass jaw) so keep the baltimore until you reach lvl 60 or so to suffer the least possible

2) premods (tenny, penny and newmex) are quite better than nevada/guam. Even being a BB1 they have better turning speed, more firepower and somehow usable T-slots (bad compared with any good AA, but good enough to kill enemy scouts) still, its a good idea using those T slots to put Rep. or to put PHH

3) who said US BB2 are bad? newmex and penny are not the best ones, you should wait for colo or tenny, but even with those you have good firepower (anyone tried KM bb2?) the triples 14 mk7 have bad spread, but they can hit hard (except against bb3 uk and anything above) while Colo's Dual 16mk2 have better spread and better firepower, able to punch hard even to armored Lion 1 (with AP). besides all the BB2 have usable T slots (for HH or 3.70's AA)

4) your Playstyle should be going middle and wait for a chance to hit any high tier BB... in fact... this is the way to play for any low tier BB... its a range matter... even with a EBB3 Maryland you can't go for the line unleast you have really good engie to enter range...

5) going "support" on BB line at north or south its just noobish... if your bbs win the battle you'll never get to hit anything as they have better OH and range than you to kill the remains of enemy team... if your bb line looses you'll be eaten in no-time by high tier enemy bbs with no chance to hit 'em back. This is a playstyle for CA's as they are in no consider for enemy bbs and you can go OH and get in range... but if you try to do this with a BB you'll end up with a rain of HE shells on your head.

6) if you go middle you should consider in putting HH in your T-slots because many subs go middle and kill you before you can even start fighting... AA it's ok but SS are more dangerous nowadays... the other way to play is to put 2 reps on your T slots leaving your support slots for engies... anyway keep a scout (there are many blind battles in this days) try to increase your SD quickly, this is the only real defense of your Ship... this last one its my personal playstyle and i use it like this in order to gain 1 knot or 2 that might be the difference between life and death.

7) Armor? 0 deck, 0.2 belt, 2 or 3 bulkhead and the rest in bulge untill loosing a knot

there are several options you should try during your lvling but try to go for colorado, its by far the better BB2 in US and one of the best in the game (my record with colo its above 100k damage)

yeah! i agree with their suggestions! i also had that problem being a pick target by higher tier BBs coz im a BB1 or 2. and in your case having a crappy spread in your main guns... i think the best solution to that is to used AA much in your ship and level more your support crews.. AA will help you boost more expert and further leveling it will later improve due to its guns attributes.. mean while leveling support crew will help you ease your problem when you're already in higher tier BB's.....

If ur rich then u can buy pbb US sevas.