[Camel Joe]

Are these two the North Carolina Class or the newer Iowa Class?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Had to be the Iowas...

[KarlInOhio]

Iowa class. The North Carolina is mentioned elsewhere in the article.

[Moose4]

I *think* they’re the first two of the Iowa class. The North Carolina and her sister ships are mentioned in the article as already under construction. But I can’t remember if there was another intermediate class of BB in between those or not.

}:-)4

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

The article states that 6 ships of the North Carolina Class were under construction, that these two new ships would be nearly 30 percent larger, unless it was decided to make them North Carolina Class size. If they were larger they would have been the first two members of the Iowa class.

[Polybius]

Are these two the North Carolina Class or the newer Iowa Class?

At 45,000 tons and with post 1939 construction, they would be Iowa class.

The North Carolina class (1937 Building Program) and subsequent South Dakota class (1939 Building Program) were both 35,000 ton limit "Washington Treaty" ships.

The keel of USS Iowa (BB-61) was laid in June 1940.