Not likely.
I’ve walked the deck of the Missouri and noted the electrical cable from the wheelhouse down to the boiler room ladder.
All would need to be stripped out. It’s over 55 year old and full of sea salt.
16 inch guns are primitive and slow to reload. Missiles would carry the day against an “Iowa.”
Then, there’s the radar signature of these BBs. Can’t very well hide em from today’s satellites.
Anyway, Go Hawks !
“16 inch guns are primitive and slow to reload. Missiles would carry the day against an “Iowa.””
Nope. The Iowa’s have missile defense in the form of screening DD’s with standard missiles specifically for that, and the Iowa’s also have CIWS.
Then, for the rare missile that makes it through, one final surprise. Modern anti-ship missiles are designed to attack modern warships that are essentially unarmored. They have splinterproof Kevlar armor in spots. A modern missile has no ability to defeat 12 inches of the steel armor from WWII.
This armor is not just a flat plate, in a BB it is sloped, and built in depth with critical areas of the ship getting even more special treatment.
A modern antiship missile carries a 500 pound charge, and impacts often with less speed than an old AP battleship shell. And it isn’t a hardened penetrator. So of the very few that get through, 90% of modern antiship missiles will leave scorches and little damage.
Modern ships can be penetrated by a warthog all day long. An Iowa ain’t the Sheffield or a pissant modern cruiser. For extra fun, no surface combatant has an effective way to attack a battleship, and had better stay at least 20 miles away.