i meant to do this last night but fell asleep before i got it done. these are the 4 vessels of the last class of battleships of the USN. the Iowa Class. these ships were 887ft. long, propelled by steam turbines for a top speed of 33kts. and had a main battery of 16" naval rifles. these guns could throw a 2700lb. projectile over 20 miles. one or another of these excellent ships fought in all US wars from WW2 to the Persian Gulf in 1991. the formal surrender of the Japanese Empire took place aboard the USS Missouri. they are now all museum ships or in mothballs. the 4 are USS Iowa, USS Wisconsin, USS Missouri, and USS New Jersey. these ships were the ultimate in battleship development of the 20th century. fast, well protected with armor and heavily armed they could in good hands have defeated any other battleships of the time. the only battleships that could have defeated this class were the Japanese IJN Yamato and IJN Musashi. it would have been touch and go. the Japanese ships were larger and had 18" guns with a longer range but were slower, less manuverable and not so modern i.e. radar and other ship's systems. in any case these were magnificent ships. the first picture is USS Iowa the name ship of the class. second is Missouri firing her forward main battery. if you look closely you can see the 16" projectiles against the clouds on the right side of the picture. next is New Jersey firing all of her main battery and finally Wisconsin doing the same. i was lucky enough to once go aboard USS Missouri. wish i could find the pictures i took at the time.
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