Posted on 09/01/2015 8:15:25 AM PDT by thetallguy24
In the early 1980s, four Iowa-class fast battleships originally built during World War II—Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin—were taken out of mothballs and returned to active duty.
Nearly 900 feet long and displacing close to 60,000 tons, the battlewagons could fire a nine-gun broadside sending 18 tons of steel and explosives hurtling towards their targets.
The battleships were modernized to include cruise missiles, ship-killing missiles and Phalanx point-defense guns. Returned to the fleet, the ships saw action off the coasts of Lebanon and Iraq. At the end of the Cold War the battleships were retired again. All were slated to become museums.
Few knew, however, that returning the battleships to service in the ’80s had been only part of the plan. The second, more ambitious phase was a radical redesign of the massive warships that would have combined the attributes of battleships and aircraft carriers.
The resulting ship, a “battlecarrier,” was merely one of many schemes over the span of 30 years to modernize the most powerful American battleships ever built. The various proposals—all of them nixed—had the World War II-era ships carrying hundreds of U.S. Marines or launching Harrier jump jets or even firing atomic projectiles.
(Excerpt) Read more at warisboring.com ...
Guy can dream.
is the technology perfected?
Probably as much as the F-35
as I was asking..how is the F-35 btw?
I liked the proposal where they were going to put in two nuclear reactors, take out the aft turret and put in a bunch of vertical-launch tubes.
putting an Iowa-class battleship on permanent patrol off the coast of Somalia would end the whole pirate/hostage problem commercial vessels are encountering there.
“how is the F-35 btw?”
Just fine. Though there are a lot of know nothing haters of it around here. Funny how people can distrust the media for most things and then buy it hook, line and sinker for other things.
I agree. Keep all four on the NVR, but rotate them through refits and commissions so one is always in active service but all are relatively up to date.
Keep the one in service based near Annapolis and USNA as a training ship. Like the Coasties do with Eagle.
The whole “Phase II” thing with the Iowas in the 80s was a pipe dream to get them back into service. There’s no way that the USMC would have allowed anyone to cut those 12 16” barrels (combined) out of them without putting up a huge and messy fight.
indeed...
I know a Marine who was part of the peacekeeping force in Beruit in the 1980s.
I think he was on an amphib offshore at the time the New Jersey cut loose and sent a barrage of shells over the city and into Syrian positions on the hills above it. Said there wasn’t so much as small arms fire (let alone anything heavier) in the city for a couple weeks afterwards.
with today’s GPS shell guiding techology - seeing a broadside of GPS guided rounds would be a beautify thing
One Predator drone running up and down the coast, with an operator given authority to put a Hellfire missile into any Somali boat venturing into the commercial shipping lanes, would end Somali piracy right there, and do it cheaper.
It all comes down to having the willingness to do what's necessary.
DARPA was in the concept phase for exactly that when the ships were retired in the early 90s. 11” subcaliber sabot round. GPS guided with a range of about 100 miles.
There was also a 13” subcaliber sabot shell that was further along and almost in service too. Submunitions, 40 mile range. Not GPS, but the CEP of the Iowas’ guns meant GPS was unnecessary.
I note the name “Iowa” will be used for the next attack submarine.
Can’t disagree.
JDAMS were what killed the Iowas.
I had the pleasure of going aboard the USS Missouri when it was in commission in the late Eighties. There was a round brass marker covered with a Plexiglas bubble at the exact spot where the Japanese surrender was signed.
I’ve long been seeking some footage if 16” shells landing in an impact area, there doesn’t seem to be much of it around.
Guerrillas rely on being able to lob a rocket or mortar shell at a target, and be gone by the time our side has had a chance to scramble air support.
Having something in range which has the ability to send a few tons of explosives bracketing their position, possibly before their round even hits, does change that thinking a bit. Yes it does.
Putting armed security on shipping vessels has largely ended Somali piracy. In 2013, there were only 9 attempted hijackings (0 successful) down from 237 in 2011.
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