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Iowa-Class Battleships
- Thread starter ace22
- Start date
On board the Mighty Mo in 2008:
Close up of the plaque mentioned in earlier post:
Close up of the plaque mentioned in earlier post:
MTC(SS)Ret
US Veteran
USS New Jersey BB-62 museum and memorial has an excellent YouTube channel with hundreds of videos.
My cousin was a GMG1 during it's Vietnam service and was part of the Number 1 16" turret crew.
My cousin was a GMG1 during it's Vietnam service and was part of the Number 1 16" turret crew.
The Navy’s next generation destroyer DDG(X) is projected to cost between 2.3 - 2.4 billion dollars per hull. However a estimate from the Congressional Budget Office puts the cost at 3.1 - 3.4 billion per hull. It addition to the massive cost overruns in military spending programs consider how long it takes to build warships due to limited number of ship yards.
Image if a Iowa class battleship was modernized. Replace the engines with a nuclear powered one. Now the ship has unlimited cruising range.
Remove the aft 16” gun turret and install vertical launch missile tubes in it’s place and on the afterdeck. Lot of space to work with. Maybe several hundred missiles tubes.
Use the space for the old 20 and 40mm guns to install state of art anti-aircraft guns and missiles.
Modernization will reduce crew size.
The BB are made of high grade steel that is no longer produced. Modern warships can be heavily damaged or sunk by a single missile. Look at what happened to the British Navy in the Falklands War. Plus consider how well protected the crew is in the event of attack.
A BB will have plenty of well protected room for the most advanced radar and electronic systems.
A BB would provide excellent anti-aircraft protection for the carriers.
China is the now our greatest enemy. At least according to the Admirals. We will still need large scale ground bombing of any islands we want to capture hence the benefit of those 16” guns.
Alas I know it is just a dream. Still a fun, what if dream.
Image if a Iowa class battleship was modernized. Replace the engines with a nuclear powered one. Now the ship has unlimited cruising range.
Remove the aft 16” gun turret and install vertical launch missile tubes in it’s place and on the afterdeck. Lot of space to work with. Maybe several hundred missiles tubes.
Use the space for the old 20 and 40mm guns to install state of art anti-aircraft guns and missiles.
Modernization will reduce crew size.
The BB are made of high grade steel that is no longer produced. Modern warships can be heavily damaged or sunk by a single missile. Look at what happened to the British Navy in the Falklands War. Plus consider how well protected the crew is in the event of attack.
A BB will have plenty of well protected room for the most advanced radar and electronic systems.
A BB would provide excellent anti-aircraft protection for the carriers.
China is the now our greatest enemy. At least according to the Admirals. We will still need large scale ground bombing of any islands we want to capture hence the benefit of those 16” guns.
Alas I know it is just a dream. Still a fun, what if dream.
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To be in gun range of a battleship puts the battleship in range also.
Rodan
SWCA Member
The battleship would be in range of shore based missiles and aircraft long before it would be in gun range for shore bombardment.
And the swarms of UAS will foul virtually everything above deck in short order, at minimal cost, and given AI integration, will be adaptive and circle waiting for the humans to come out. Air intakes will be exploited.
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That's pretty much what I said.
Targets Guy
US Veteran
Already happened in 1954, with BB-66 USS Kentucky! Aft turret was removed and replaced with RIM-2 Terrier surface-to-air missile launcher, and redesignated as BBG-1 USS Kentucky in 1956! Then proposed to swap out Terrier missile launchers with two Polaris nuclear ballistic missiles, but idea was abandoned in 1961 because of the conversion cost of having to modify the ship to be able to actually house and launch them…
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
The other night I said that before my medical providers told me to lay off the alcohol that I didn't drink enough of my favorite malted beverage to float a battleship, but maybe enough to float a cruiser.
I tell people that in my former career as a lush, I probably spilled more than ordinary men ever drink...The other night I said that before my medical providers told me to lay off the alcohol that I didn't drink enough of my favorite malted beverage to float a battleship, but maybe enough to float a cruiser.
...Bensnowman
Member
Thanks to you fellows who answered my question. I'm interested in these things, but haven't read enough to keep up with it all.
But it raises another question in my mind: With the exception of modern missiles(which one of you mentioned), how would the situation now differ from the WW2 era when the battleships were still utilized for shore work? Weren't the Yamato and the Tirpitz also sunk by ordinary bombs/torpedos mounted on aircraft? Hope my question makes sense, and thank you for any further input you have to offer.
Regards,
Andy
But it raises another question in my mind: With the exception of modern missiles(which one of you mentioned), how would the situation now differ from the WW2 era when the battleships were still utilized for shore work? Weren't the Yamato and the Tirpitz also sunk by ordinary bombs/torpedos mounted on aircraft? Hope my question makes sense, and thank you for any further input you have to offer.
Regards,
Andy
SnidelyWhiplash
Member
Both Yamato and Tirpitz were sunk by aircraft. In a conventional warfare scenario a battleship requires affective air cover to operate.
When the Iowas were recommissioned during the ‘80s they formed what was referred to as “Surface Action Groups” and used for action where a carrier battle group wasn’t required…but the ability to counter them was nowhere a sophisticated as today.
Still…to see an Iowa was a very effective tool. It could stand off and attack with Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as strike surface targets with Harpoon cruise missiles or its main battery.
They were weapons not to be trifled with but still not unsinkable.
When the Iowas were recommissioned during the ‘80s they formed what was referred to as “Surface Action Groups” and used for action where a carrier battle group wasn’t required…but the ability to counter them was nowhere a sophisticated as today.
Still…to see an Iowa was a very effective tool. It could stand off and attack with Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as strike surface targets with Harpoon cruise missiles or its main battery.
They were weapons not to be trifled with but still not unsinkable.
snowman
Member
I'm sorry; I apparently failed to communicate. I wasn't suggesting the Iowa ships were unsinkable; is that how I came across? I hope not -I know better than that.
I'm sitting here trying to think of how to clarify what I was asking, but it's past midnight and I'm afraid nothing is coming to me. Maybe tomorrow.
Regards,
Andy
I'm sitting here trying to think of how to clarify what I was asking, but it's past midnight and I'm afraid nothing is coming to me. Maybe tomorrow.
Regards,
Andy
bwade
SWCA Member
Anyone seen the movie "Battleship" ? Its science fiction, but I liked it and it will make you feel the pride with our Navy and spotlights the USS Missouri with our WWII veterans.
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SnidelyWhiplash
Member
Every June the USS New Jersey hosts a beer festival in the tent on her fantail. Every time I've attended I've wondered what Admiral Halsey would say about that if he were alive today...
He’d probably enjoy it…maybe even be the honorary brewmaster. Halsey was known as a “sailor’s admiral”.
There’s a story about Halsey…supposedly true…where some sailors were talking about him. One said “I’d follow that old ******* to hell and back”…not knowing Halsey was present. Halsey replied “Son…I’m not that old!”
