Montana class battleship

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Montana-class battleship
A 1944 model of a Montana-class battleship
Class Overview
Class type:	Battleship
Class name:	The State of Montana
Preceded by:	Iowa class
Succeeded by:	N/A, Last battleship line authorized
Ships of the line:	Montana (BB-67), Ohio (BB-68), Maine (BB-69), New Hampshire (BB-70), Louisiana (BB-71)
General characteristics (USS Montana)
Displacement:	65,000 tons (standard); 70,500 tons (full load)
Length:	921 ft 5 in (280.9 m)
Beam:	121 ft 0 in (36.9 m)
Draft:	36 ft 1 in (11.0 m)
Speed:	28 knot (52 km/h) maximum
Complement:	2150
Power:	4 × 43,000 hp (128 MW) steam turbines
Drive:	4 screws; geared turbines
Armament:	12 × 16 in (406 mm) / 50 caliber guns in four triple turrets, 20 × 5 in (127 mm) / 54 caliber guns in ten twin mountings (ten guns on each side of the ship), various medium and light AA guns
Armor	Belt: up to 16 in Bulkheads: up to 18 in Barbettes: up to 18 in Turrets: up to 18 in Decks: up to 6 in

The Montana class battleships of the United States Navy were proposed successors to the Iowa class, being slower, but larger, better armoured, and carrying more guns. Five ships of the Montana class were approved for construction during World War II; however, changes in priority during the war resulted in cancellation of the new design in favour of aircraft carriers before the first keel was laid.

The Montana class was the last approved design for a U.S. Navy battleship; to date, the last United States battleships actually commissioned were the four ships of the Iowa class.

[edit] History

The United States Navy authorized five battleships of the Montana class under the 1940 "Two Ocean Navy" building program; funding for the new ships was approved in 1941. These ships, the last battleships to be ordered by the Navy, were to be designated BB-67 through BB-71.

The five ships were to be constructed at three Navy Yards:

Montana (BB-67), to be built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania;
Ohio (BB-68), to be built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard;
Maine (BB-69), to be built at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York;
New Hampshire (BB-70), to be built at the New York Navy Yard; and
Louisiana (BB-71), to be built at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia.

Completion of the Montana class would have given the late 1940s Navy a total of 17 new battleships, a considerable advantage over any other nation, or probable combination of nations. The Montanas also would have been the only American ships to come close to equalling Japan's massive Yamato in terms of sheer size and raw firepower.

However, WWII's urgent requirements for more aircraft carriers, amphibious and anti-submarine vessels resulted in suspension of the Montanas in May 1942, before any of their keels had been laid. In July 1943, when it was clear that the battleship was no longer the dominant element of sea power, their construction was cancelled. Thus, the four battleships of the Iowa class were the final battleships actually built by the United States.

Interestingly, the cancellation of this battleship class meant that Montana became the only one of the lower 48 States never to have a large capital ship of any kind actually commissioned in its name.

[edit] Design

With an intended standard displacement of 60,500 tons, the proposed Montana class ships were nearly a third larger than the preceding Iowa class, and would have been the largest warships in the American fleet until the postwar Forrestal class carriers, the first of the "supercarriers." The Montanas were intended to carry twelve 16 inch (406 mm) guns of 50 calibers in length, three more guns than the earlier class. Protection against underwater weapons and shellfire was also greatly enhanced; they would have been the only new World War II-era U.S. battleships to be adequately armored against guns of the same power as their own. The weight of the broadside would also have surpassed any other battleships. To achieve these advances, the Montana class returned to the 28 knot maximum speed of the North Carolina and South Dakota classes, rather than the 33 knots of the very fast Iowas. Because of the lowered speed, they probably would have seen the same fate as the North Carolina and South Dakota class ships post-war: Laid up for many years, then finally scrapped or handed over as museums.

The new ships, being significantly larger than the Iowa class, would have been too wide to pass through the existing Panama Canal locks. However, at the time the Montana class was authorized, work was already under way to construct a third, larger, set of locks on the canal; these new locks would have comfortably accommodated the Montanas, thus maintaining the U.S. Navy's ability to rapidly deploy its ships between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The canal expansion was cancelled at the end of the war, after the cancellation of the Montana class.

Had the Montana been completed, she would be one of the most powerful battleships to ever set sail. Only the Japanese Yamato-class would have had stronger armor and heavier shells (Montana would have had a heavier broadside overall, at 32,400 pounds vs. 28,800 for Yamato). While the Montana-class was never completed, her hull design served as a model for the aircraft carrier USS Midway. Although the Midway was over 45 years old at the time, she was selected as the flagship of US forces in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, mainly based on the ship's superior maneuverability over all other fleet carriers. This enabled the Midway to fly twice as many missions as any other carrier in the conflict.