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Iowa Class Battleship
The Iowa-class battleships
were the biggest, the most powerful, and the
last battleships built for the United States
Navy. Four were built in the early 1940s for
World War II. All were decommissioned, then
recommissioned in the 1980s and decommissioned
again in the 1990s. Two
more were laid down but were scrapped prior
to completion. Built with cost as no object,
"The Iowa class fast-battleships were
arguably the ultimate capital ship in the
evolution of the battleship.[2]". Their
true rival, however, was the aircraft carrier,
which proved its title as the most important
naval vessel during World War II naval battles
in the Pacific.
The Iowa-class battleships
improved upon the earlier South Dakota class
with more powerful engines, longer caliber
guns giving greater range and an additional
200 feet (60 m) of length for improved seakeeping.
The Iowas are widely considered to be amongst
the most attractive battleships ever built,
with a long, narrow, elegant bow and three
powerful gun turrets. While excellent sea
boats, the ships are quite wet forward due
to the long bow, and the narrow forecastle
made armoring No. 1 turret difficult. Like
all American battleships of her generation,
her armament was laid out in two turrets before
the superstructure and one after ("2-A-1"),
with the 5-inch dual-purpose secondaries (anti-ship
and anti-aircraft) flanking the superstructure.
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