Believe it or Not: The Unlikely Transformation of Iowa-Class Battleships

Believe it or not…. This was almost a thing….

The Iowa-Class Battleships Reactivation

Now we all know that when the U.S. Navy began to bulk up its fleet in the 1980s, they reactivated and modernized all four of the Iowa-Class Fast Battleships. The common story is that these vessels were reactivated in response to the Soviet Navy’s Kirov-class Battlecruisers.

But no one in the Navy actually believed these ships would be an equal match for the Soviet Cruisers. The age of the Battleship was long over, and modern missiles made the 16-inch gun rather irrelevant. That didn’t stop the Navy, however, from pulling these ships out of reserve and prepping them for reactivation. It was during this time that the Martin Marietta Corporation came up with a rather interesting idea for the Iowa Battleships.

A Radical Proposal by Martin Marietta

They proposed that the rear gun turret be removed and, in its place, an angled flight deck with hangar facilities be installed. This would allow the vessels to carry up to 12 aircraft such as helicopters and the “new” AV-8B Harrier Jump Jet that had recently been introduced to the Marines. All the while, they would keep the forward turrets and add VLS tubes.

The idea was that the Iowas could be used as support ships during amphibious assaults with a combination of 16″ gunfire and air support by the embarked aircraft. It was even said the USMC were quite interested in the idea.

The End of an Ambitious Plan

But ultimately, the plans were dropped in 1984, and the ships re-entered service as simply modernized battleships. It was an interesting idea, I will give it that, but I am really not sure just how well it would have worked out in practice.

~NC