You can check out our guides on YouTube, community-made guides and also read up on the Codex in-game.
Other than that, it is a lot of experience, using the armor of your ship to your advantage and learning from what went wrong and right in a battle.

Simple solution:

Stop showing your unangled side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTRzK0d95Y

super quick 3 minute guide explaining how to avoid this

Same, I am trying to get back into this game (I quitted when it was having the HDR issue) but I can't keep it up with the gameplay, which ship to use, how and so on... it's very different compared to tanks or planes.

Originally posted by ~ Requiem ~:

Same, I am trying to get back into this game (I quitted when it was having the HDR issue) but I can't keep it up with the gameplay, which ship to use, how and so on... it's very different compared to tanks or planes.

i see a lot of people suggest the like US battleship line for newer players and i just dont get why i had a horrible horrible time playing the early US battleships compared to other popular nations they felt so slow and sluggish i take so much damage comapred to others for some reason i dont hit anything either since they dont get the early aiming system upgrade for some reason but get an upgraded one in later tiers??

i know the British destroyers are super nice for new players though not loosing speed when you turn makes dodging stuff so much easier and the short cooldown smokes are nice

cruisers id def avoid trying to learn the game the random one shots or random shot dealing 30% of your health is weird ive had some success with the german cruisers

There is, quite simply, nothing you can do about this, other than minimizing the amount of damage you will take.

Armor angling only works on certain scenarios but it is the effective method, and you will always want to be angled. Broadside is just giving up your citadel. If you are angled, you will at worst only eat full pen damage. But the overmatch mechanic will make angling useless, because certain Calibers will not bounce off on your bow armor when angled, which is the whole point of angling. To make shells bounce off. In worst case, as is often the case, the shell will simply find it's way to citadel through the bow when overmatch happens. This however, rarely happens in lower tiers unless you are playing Cruisers though.

And then, we have HE. This you cannot avoid, and is the most simple and the most effective method deployed against any ship that is angled, and especially effective against BBs, because HE doesn't need to care about richochets. The enemy will simply target your superstructure and will keep on starting fires, and it will also deal explosive damage to your secondary guns, AA guns, and torp tubes, which often destroys them if you get spammed enough.

So.... How do you go about this? How do you leverage your position as a BB, when everything is seemed to be stacked against you?

Position. Use islands for cover. They can't hit what they can't see, and they can't hit you even if they can see you if you are behind cover. Equip the ship with Propulsion Mod, so you can accelerate and deaccelerate faster. Poke out a bit, take a pot shot and get back in. Always be aware of where you are and where enemy is, if you know the cover is compromised, wait for enemies to fire their shots, and move out of the cover, turn your back towards the enemy at an angle and shoot them while slowly moving away.

Always be with your teammates. Never be alone. A lone ship is the perfect target and almost everyone will start targeting you if you are alone. You are likely to be spawned in with a Cruiser and a DD. Follow that Cruiser close. This will do two things. It will keep your Cruiser alive (if he is not stupid) and it will help you get rid of CV planes.

These things cannot be learned overnight. It comes with experience. Play and observe.