Are any of our Iowa class battleships in a condition where they could be refurbished to useful fighting condition? Or are the main components of the ships worn out and not feasible cost effective to restore or replace? Like drive system, firing aiming analog systems., steering, 16 inch gun turrets, etc?
Which Museum Ships Would be Brought Back First if Needed?
IF we have to bring back the NJ we’re in a bad spot war wise and nukes probably have been used.
The were several reason the Iowa's were decommissioned in the 1990s. The USSR had collapsed, and the ships were getting worn out and it was increasingly difficult to maintain them.
No one was making 200,000 SHP water tube boilers or 16" shell hoists anymore.
There is a reason we no longer deploy battleships. Why no blue water navy deploys battleships.
Going to have to go back to the drawing board on the engines and turbine. No one alive and deployable knows how they work. Could pull them and drop in couple of AW4 nuclear reactors and she’d scream.
“Fun to know the Navy could bring the ship back. However, seems like fantasy.”
Most of our Cold War navy was scrapped and I suspect most of its steel was sent to China. Would have been nice if the Neocons had kept a few boats around for their ‘adventures’.
Dockyard worker’s union is all in favor but that’s about all.
Why do you continue to post this garbage?
How about an answer?
Interesting this is the first time I've heard about this. I guess political correctness was in earlier than I knew. I guess it kinda makes "sense" based upon the posturing in politics.
I was thinking about the 16" Gun Turret Accident that occurred. But I was mistaken because that actually happened on the Sister Ship, USS Iowa killing 42 and injured another 16 out of 58 Crew Members in the USS Iowa's #2 Gun Turret. The Accident occurred on 19 April, 1989. And that is a very busy and sometimes very unfortunate date in American History at times.
Interesting - thanks for posting. I don’t see that ever happening - they’re obsolete and too vulnerable...
with all the higher power laser and gps guided missles and bombs, the thought of kicking 16” shells is realistically a step back(or 10) in warfare.
Ryan Szimanski, the curator of the New Jersey, highly doubts that. Among the things he mentioned in his YouTube videos:
It would cost billions and years to refurbish to commission status.
NJ has about half the firepower of an Arleigh Burke destroyer.
The engines haven’t run since 1991.
It would take a minimum crew of 1600 to operate.
There are few, if any personnel, who know how to fire the 16 inch guns.
NJ would require escorts since it has limited AA and AS capability.
I used to work with a guy that served on the Wisconsin during the run-up to the Gulf War. He said that the Navy still had a Chief Petty Officer’s in the service that had worked on the New Jersey the last time it had been in commission (Vietnam). Add to the fact that there were still a lot of Boiler Technician Ratings in the service. Neither of those are true today. Just for those 2 reasons, I doubt the US Navy would ever pull the New Jersey back into service.
Saw them replace the barrel on the New Jersey in 1984. My ship was at the next pier over. The Navy filmed the process so they would have a record.of how to. . Word was they had to locate some retired shipyard workers that had actual experience swapping barrels out back in the 50’s.