Key Points – Reactivating or building new Iowa-class battleships for the US Navy is an impractical notion. These World War II-era giants, despite a storied service history including shore bombardment with their 16-inch guns, are now over 80 years old.
-Their armament and 1940s steam propulsion are obsolete for modern naval warfare, and they lack defenses against contemporary anti-ship missiles.
-Upgrading them or constructing new ones would be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming, far exceeding their limited utility in an era dominated by aircraft carriers and long-range precision missiles.
-The US shipbuilding industry also lacks the capacity for such a monumental undertaking.
Iowa-Class Battleship Comeback? Nope
The US Navy’s battleships have been retired and unretired several times in the past. Today, some want them to be unretired one more time. After more than 30 years, that may be easier said than done.
The big battlewagons of the Iowa class were the last and biggest battleships built by the United States. The Navy initially planned to build six big battleships, but only four were built. But they were replaced by aircraft carriers.
They were the largest and most expensive battleships ever produced by the United States.
During World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Lebanese Civil War, and Desert Storm, the big battleships more than proved their worth, especially during amphibious landings. Their 16-inch (406 mm) guns could pound coastal defenses and surface ships, and the battleships could launch 2,700-pound projectiles more than 20 miles inland.
But the battleship was a weapon, like the propeller-driven fighter planes, for days long gone. By the end of World War II, it was obsolete, except for coastal bombardment during amphibious landings.
Why Would The Navy Want a Battleship Today?
What would be the motivation for building a battleship or reactivating one today?
Battleships could be reactivated relatively easily during the Korean War and Vietnam, but maintenance was expensive and time-consuming, even during the World War II and Korean War years. Reactivating one today, about 80+ years after they were built, would take much longer. Spare parts are probably nonexistent today.
While the big 16-inch guns were impressive in shelling a coastal area for an amphibious landing, their range in today’s battlefield is still limited. Unfortunately, at sea, those 16-inch guns are basically worthless. And ammunition for them has not been made in decades.
The guns are from a bygone era; it is doubtful that any sailor has ever trained on one, let alone fired one. Regardless, the big guns would have to go. They would have to be replaced by hypersonic missiles.
They’d need either V-STOL aircraft or helicopters. The same could be said for the power plants. Steam is rarely used anymore. Well, 1940s steam plants. Nuclear power plants operate on steam, but it is vastly different from the steam technology of the WWII era.
But again, as armored as they are, could the old battleships survive the modern anti-ship missiles with no anti-aircraft defenses? Doubtful. And those armor plates on the big battlewagons are over 80 years old.
The big battleships have no role in the modern Navy today. As heavily armored as they were, they couldn’t survive against modern Chinese anti-ship missiles in a sea battle. The cost of upgrading its defenses would be astronomical.
US Shipyards Could Never Build an Iowa-class Battleship Today
Okay, we’ll assume for the sake of argument that the Navy wants to build a new big battlewagon of the Iowa class.
In the 1940s, a battleship would take nearly three years in the old Brooklyn shipyard. And the kicker is that it would take 71,000 shipyard workers. And that was with shipyard workers who were active around the clock. Those personnel numbers and 24-hour days seem like a long time ago because they were.
Today, the US shipbuilding industry needs an overhaul.
The Design of the Iowa-class Battleships Was Beyond Extensive
It took a team of designers 3,432,000 man-hours—more than 206 years of draftsman hours—to complete the final design of the battleship. The completed plans weighed 175 tons!
When laid out, the plans were 30 inches wide and 1,100 miles long. Of course, there weren’t computers to download all of the information back then, but those plans were massive.
What Would Be the Cost of an Iowa-class Battleship Today?
In the 1940s, the Iowa-class battleships cost $100 million, which was a tremendous amount of money at the time. Today, that amount comes out to $1.775 billion. Considering that a modern aircraft carrier costs $13 billion today, it is a pretty good bargain.
But would the cost be $1.775 billion today? Not a chance. We live in an era of massive cost overruns and constant delays, and qualified shipyard workers are scarce today. At a minimum, the cost is around $3.5 billion. But in reality, shipyards today probably couldn’t produce a battleship like the Iowa-class.
No, the Iowa-class battlewagons are not going to be unretired again. Their days in the sun have long since passed. They are still serving their country in the best way possible today, serving as floating museums of the power of those big ships. Until the aircraft carrier made the ocean a battlefield where you no longer had to see your enemy. The sea hasn’t been the same since.
About the Author
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
Fighter Jet Fails
