Per naval experts, each 16 inch shell cost about $500.
https://www.g2mil.com/battleships.htm
A Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, which is the closest US missile counterpart and was the other option available to the New Jersey in dealing with a land target, costs $1.87M apiece.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk_(missile)
The recent exception to that rule was the Advanced Gun System’s LRLAP 155mm round which was going to cost $800K-$1M per shot and was comparable in effect to an AGM-119 Penguin, which is less than $800K per missile.
$500 per 16 inch shell... Maybe in 1945 dollars (does it include the propellant cost?).
Currently the regular 5 inch shell (plus propellant, shell is no good without it) costs more than $500. If they were still producing 16 inch rounds, I’d expect them to be a bit more expensive than 2000 pound bombs.
Per naval experts, each 16 inch shell cost about $500.
First, let me state, this is not my line of work and I suspect you are intensely familiar with the newer equipment.
Not trolling or trying to prove any points.
The projectile is 2,700 pounds and I don’t know how many hundred pounds of powder are used for each round.
And the barrel life is about 300 rounds $$$
Nothing Mil-Spec that weighs in at ~3,000 pounds ever cost $500?
I recall seeing an unexploded projectile next to the trail in I Corps RVN. HUGE!
The New Jersey and Puff were always a fun hot topic at the time.