[Rembrandt]

"The Iowa class battleships are a national treasure; they're the one thing we have which could plausibly sail straight into the straits of Hormuz with no fear of any conventional weapon."

SR-71's are supposedly mothballed yet they are still resurrected occasionally and put into service flying super hi speed trips or recon. I suspect the battleships could likewise be pressed back into service without a great deal of trouble, perhaps even those being used as museums. Alas, my poor super-connies are long gone.

[middie]

The huge costs of placing either the battleships or SR-71s into active service are prohibitive, as well, the logistics and personnel demands are virtually impossible given our force transition program to small, reactive and aggressive units.

[btcusn]

I suspect the battleships could likewise be pressed back into service without a great deal of trouble, perhaps even those being used as museums.
Wish it were that easy, the Navy doesn't have the men with the training to operate a 600 psi manually operated steam plant any more. And it isn't something you learn from a book.
And the 16" guns are the same, no trained men to operate them.
You could call back the old 50+ yr old retired to train the crews, but it would take a lot of time, and many of us wouldn't fit down the scuttles any more.
Jack