Iowa-class battleship

USS Iowa (BB-61) fires a full broadside on 15 August 1984 during a firepower demonstration after her recommissioning.
Class overview
Name:	Iowa-class battleship
Builders:	New York Naval Shipyard (BB-61 & BB-63) Philadelphia Naval Shipyard (BB-62, BB-64, & BB-65) Norfolk Naval Shipyard (BB-66)
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	South Dakota class
Succeeded by:	Montana class (planned, never built)
Cost:	US$100 million per ship
Built:	1940–1944
In commission:	1943–1958 1968–1969 1982–1992
Planned:	6
Completed:	4
Cancelled:	2
Retired:	4
Preserved:	4
General characteristics
Type:	Battleship
Displacement:	45,000 tons (Standard) 52,000 tons (mean war service) 57,000 tons (pre 1980s full load); 58,000 tons (post 1980s full load)
Length:	861¼ ft (262.5 m) pp 887 ft (270 m) oa
Beam:	108 ft (33 m)
Draft:	36 ft (11 m) maximum
Installed power:	212,000 shp (158,000 kW) 8 water-tube boilers
Propulsion:	4 screws; General Electric geared steam turbines
Speed:	32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) (up to 35.2 knots (65.2 km/h; 40.5 mph) on light load.)
Range:	14,890 miles (23,960 km) @15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	~2,700 officers and men (WWII, Korea) ~1,800 officers and men (1980s)
Electronic warfare & decoys:	1980s: AN/SLQ-32(V) AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Mark 36 SRBOC
Armament:	World War II, Korea: 9 × 16-inch (406 mm)/50 cal. Mark 7 guns 20 × 5-inch (127 mm)/38 cal. Mark 12 guns 80 × 40 mm/56 cal. Bofors 49 × 20 mm/70 cal. Oerlikon Cold War, Gulf War additions: 32 × BGM-109 Tomahawk 16 × RGM-84 Harpoon 4 × 20 mm (.78 inch).Phalanx CIWS
Armor:	Belt: 12.1 in (307 mm) Bulkheads: 11.3 in (290 mm) Barbettes: 11.6 to 17.3 in (295 to 439 mm) Turrets: 19.7 in (500 mm) Decks: main 1.5 in (38 mm) second 4.75 in (121 mm) + 1.25 in (32 mm) splinter 0.625 in (15.9 mm) over machinery, 1 in (25 mm) over magazines
Aircraft carried:	World War II: 3 × Vought OS2U Kingfisher/Curtiss SC Seahawk floatplanes Korea/Vietnam: 3 × helicopters Cold War/Gulf War: 5 × RQ-2 Pioneer Unmanned aerial vehicles
Notes:	Final battleship class completed by the United States

The Iowa-class battleships were a class of six fast battleships ordered by the United States Navy in 1939 and 1940 to escort the Fast Carrier Task Forces that would operate in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Four were completed: USS Iowa (BB-61), USS New Jersey (BB-62), USS Missouri (BB-63), and USS Wisconsin (BB-64). Two more were laid down, USS Illinois (BB-65) and USS Kentucky (BB-66), but both were canceled in August 1945 at war's end, and both hulls were scrapped in 1958. Like other third-generation American battleships, the Iowa class followed the design pattern set forth in the preceding North Carolina-class and South Dakota-class battleships, which emphasized speed in addition to secondary and anti-aircraft batteries. Based on wartime experience, they were to serve as fast escorts for Essex-class aircraft carriers.

Between the mid-1940s and the early 1990s, the Iowa-class battleships fought in four major U.S. wars. In World War II, they defended aircraft carriers and shelled Japanese positions. During the Korean War, the battleships provided seaborne artillery support for United Nations forces fighting North Korea, and in 1968, New Jersey shelled Viet Cong and Vietnam People's Army forces in the Vietnam War. All four were reactivated and modernized at the direction of Congress in 1981 and armed with missiles during the 1980s as part of the 600-ship Navy initiative. The first reactivated battleship, New Jersey was commissioned for the third time on 28 December 1982. Then Iowa was recommissioned 28 April 1984, Missouri was recommissioned 10 May 1986, and lastly Wisconsin was recommissioned 22 October 1988. During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Missouri and Wisconsin fired missiles and 16-inch (406 mm) guns at Iraqi targets.