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    Iowa Class Battleships
    Iowa Class Battleships
    Iowa Class Battleships
    Ebook153 pages56 minutes

    Iowa Class Battleships

    By Lester Abbey

    ()

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    About this ebook

    The 'ShipCraft' series provides in-depth information about building and modifying model kits of famous warship types. Lavishly illustrated, each book takes the modeller through a brief history of the subject class, highlighting differences between sister-ships and changes in their appearance over their careers. This includes paint schemes and camouflage, featuring colour profiles and highly-detailed line drawings and scale plans. The modelling section reviews the strengths and weaknesses of available kits, lists commercial accessory sets for super-detailing of the ships, and provides hints on modifying and improving the basic kit. This is followed by an extensive photographic gallery of selected high-quality models in a variety of scales, and the book concludes with a section on research references books, monographs, large-scale plans and relevant websites.The Iowa class were the largest, fastest and most modern US battleships of the war, and the formal surrender of Japan was signed on the deck of one of them, USS Missouri. Modernised post-war, they served in Korea, Vietnam and as late as the first Gulf War. They are among the most popular subjects of all for model kits.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateAug 30, 2012
    ISBN9781473815568
    Iowa Class Battleships

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      Book preview

      Iowa Class Battleships - Lester Abbey

      coverpage

      SHIPCRAFT 17

      IOWA class BATTLESHIPS

      Lester Abbey

      Plans and colour artwork by George Richardson

      The publishers would like to thank A D Baker III for help with photographs.

      The four Iowa class battleships operating together. In their whole careers they were only together operationally for this one day, 7 June 1954. Even though they comprised a squadron, one was always either building or refitting. The Iowa is in the foreground, then the Wisconsin, Missouri and New Jersey.

      CONTENTS

      Design

      Careers

      Model Products

      Modelmakers’ Showcase

      Camouflage Schemes

      Appearance

      Selected References

      Copyright © Seaforth Publishing 2012

      First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Seaforth Publishing,

      an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 47 Church Street, Barnsley,

      S Yorkshire S70 2AS

      www.seaforthpublishing.com

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      A CIP data record for this title is available from the British Library

      ISBN 978-1-84832-111-3

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced

      or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or

      mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any

      information storage and retrieval system, without either prior

      permission in writing from the publisher or a licence permitting

      restricted copying.

      Typeset and designed by Stephen Dent

      Printed and bound in China

      Design

      Of the 59 battleships commissioned by the US Navy 55 followed the same design principle: heavy armament and protection at the expense of speed. The last four, the Iowa class, did not; they were very fast. They also had the longest and most active service life of any class of battleship. The Iowas were also well armed and well protected, but no more so than their immediate predecessors, the South Dakota class.

      Like all battleships built just prior to the Second World War, these classes had their genesis in the Washington Naval Treaty. In 1922 all the major naval powers signed this treaty that was intended to stop competitive naval building programs where each great power tried to outbuild the others with more and larger ships of each category. The treaty limited the number of battleships and total naval tonnage that each country could build, and also set a maximum tonnage for new battleships. Furthermore, a battleship ‘holiday’ was declared – no new battleships could be built until the 1930s.

      Therefore, when it came to replacing the oldest battleships in the US Navy, the General Board had plenty of time to decide what was important for the next generation of battleships. The following issues were considered – armament, speed and protection. With regard to armament the General Board of Construction favoured the 16in gun, which it had used successfully in the Maryland class built in the early 1920s. However, the London Treaty of 1930 limited displacement to 35,000 tons and 14in weapons. Their first designs (which were to become the North Carolina class) were for a ship armed with twelve 14in guns (in quadruple turrets) and protection against 14in gunfire. The speed was set at 27kts – 6kts faster than the Maryland class but slower than most of the other battleships building abroad. The speed of 27kts was decided upon to counter the Japanese battlecruisers of the Kongo class, which were thought to have a speed of 26.5kts. Actually the Kongos had been rebuilt and were now classed as battleships but could achieve 30kts. At the last moment, the General Board took advantage of a get-out clause in the London treaty and upgraded the armament to nine 16in guns in three triple turrets. It was too late to increase the protection so the North Carolinas were a bit under-protected considering their armament. The secondary armament consisted of twenty 5in 38-calibre dual-purpose weapons in ten twin housings. The dual-purpose armament was an advanced concept and recognised the importance of anti-aircraft armament.

      The North Carolina class was succeeded by the South Dakota class. The protection was upgraded to be able to withstand 16in gunfire while keeping the same armament, speed and displacement. This was achieved by some design compromises, notably a reduction in hull length so as to reduce the extent of the armour belt. The result was a solid but somewhat cramped ship with reasonable speed, good protection and heavy armament.

      The Iowa class were a response to the need for a fast battleship to keep up with the new aircraft carriers and to be able to cope with rumoured new Japanese ‘super-cruisers’. These design requirements were intended to produce a special type that could be put into service without too much delay or deviation. The next design – the Montana class – was to be the definitive battleship. To achieve the General Board’s requirements, the South Dakota design was the starting point, but lengthened by 200ft and displacement increased by 10,000 tons to accommodate the extra machinery and provide a hull shape to achieve a 6kt increase in speed.

      A view of the New Jersey as first commissioned in 1943. One can see the purposeful lines, the two graceful and well-proportioned funnels, and the long sweeping bow that distinguished this class from its predecessors.

      The General Board of Naval Construction considered the Iowa class an aberration with a specific mission and immediately went back to designing the type of battleship they really liked: powerfully armed, well protected and not too fast. Had this design ever been completed as the Montana class, it is hard to imagine them having as long and as successful careers as the Iowas. In fact this ‘aberration’ is considered one of the best battleship designs ever.

      The 16in 50-calibre weapon was chosen over several other alternatives. The 16in/45 used in the South Dakotas and North Carolinas was considered but abandoned because it was felt that for the extra tonnage and expenditure some increase in firepower was required. Even 18in guns were investigated – they offered a better range and heavier projectile but they were very heavy, so only six could be mounted in place of nine 16in guns. A

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