Just how big were the Iowa class battleships?

[ABNAK]

Pic of the USS Wisconsin sitting next to the resurrected hulk of the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor, circa 1944. Oklahoma was a Nevada class, old-style battleship.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File...ma_H78940t.jpg

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

They made them long to get the speed up. I saw a recent video of models of the Iowas versus the Yamato, and I was surprised that the Iowas weren't that much smaller looking. I think the Yamato had a higher freeboard though. When I went to Pearl Harbor and walked the deck of the Missouri(?), I was surprised how much of an up-swing there was to the bow. It looks flat in pics, but it seems you are pretty high up when you get all the way to the bow.

[ABNAK]

They made them long to get the speed up. I saw a recent video of models of the Iowas versus the Yamato, and I was surprised that the Iowas weren't that much smaller looking. I think the Yamato had a higher freeboard though. When I went to Pearl Harbor and walked the deck of the Missouri(?), I was surprised how much of an up-swing there was to the bow. It looks flat in pics, but it seems you are pretty high up when you get all the way to the bow.

Yes, each progressive class past the old WWI battleships (like were at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941) got longer: the South Dakota class was longer, then the North Carolina class was a bit more, and then finally the Iowa class was our longest. In fact, the Iowa class was ~ 140' longer than the North Carolina vessels , which in turn was ~ 50' longer than the South Dakota ones. They sure stretched them out.

[StainlessSteelRat]

"The lowas were immense ships, with
some 175 tons of blueprint paper alone
in the class's 430,000 man-days of
design and each vessel's 3,300,000 man-
days of construction time
Each was crafted with:
4,300,000 feet of welding
90 miles of piping
15,000 valves
300 miles of electric cables (some of
them armored)
900 electric motors
312,000 pounds of paint
15 miles of manila and wire rope
1,857 access openings (161 hatches, 844
doors, and 852 manholes)."

USS Iowa is the only one I've seen up close, and it was an awe-inspiring experience. I'm not ashamed to say, an emotional one too. It's crazy they were built using drafting tables and slide rules. Not to mention the ass-busting labor that went into the construction.

[ThirdWatcher]

IIRC, the post-WW1 Washington Naval Treaty limited the size of warships (which forced some undesirable compromises in their designs). The Montana class battleships would have been even larger if they weren’t canceled.

[ABNAK]

IIRC, the post-WW1 Washington Naval Treaty limited the size of warships (which forced some undesirable compromises in their designs). The Montana class battleships would have been even larger if they weren’t canceled.

The Montana's would have had 4 turrets with 3 guns each; the Iowa's had 3 such turrets. The Montana class would have been 921' long, about 50'+ longer than the Iowa class.

[Coal Dragger]

Not just longer and more heavily armed. The Montana class would have had main belt armor that was resistant to 16”/50 AP shell fire, so considerable more heavily armored and still maintaining a design speed of 27-28 knots which might have been exceeded in reality.

[ABNAK]

Not just longer and more heavily armed. The Montana class would have had main belt armor that was resistant to 16”/50 AP shell fire, so considerable more heavily armored and still maintaining a design speed of 27-28 knots which might have been exceeded in reality.

Can you imagine that biotch with a nuclear reactor as a power source? Put the hammer down and it'll run "hot" indefinitely.

[anachronism]

Here's a comparison between the USS Iowa & The Bismarck:

[Caduceus]

I've been on the WI, NJ, MO and IA.

They're pretty big!