I mosty use Kirishima yes,because tank ship is alwais needed in wof , and not many players in Kido has such, so i had to use it and teammates with less tanky ships use sniper types, but i wellcome any oportunity to use J44 whenever somone who do have good Tank ship is in team.
And yes, German battleships are mostly very weak,but thats trait of their ships: good range, bad battleships,strong Fighters on CV, great SS and great CA. Every nation suck in something and it is good in other areas, thats how game is designed.