1/72 Lancaster Questions

The Montana class was actually a direct descendent of the South Dakota class (BB-57), as was the Iowa class (BB-61), not a descendent of the Iowas. The Iowas were the result of the "fast battleship" program, while the larger, slower, more heavily armored & more heavily gunned "slow battleship" program would have yielded the Montanas. The slow battleship program was farther behind when all battleship construction was stopped - no units had actually been laid down.

JM

"had a beam too wide to pass through the existing Panama Canal locks."

Wow, that seems a step in the wrong direction! Cheers,

The Keeper (of too much crap!)

As did Tennessee, California and West Virginia after their post-Pearl rebuilds.

The Montanas were supposed to have four tripple 16 inch guns as main armament, and therefore a new design, drawing on experience with the IOWA's that were pretty good ships.

Actually the steam turbines on the Iowa-class battleships were built by General Electric. But the SSTGs (generators) were built by Westinghouse.

-Ben- USS Missouri FAQ:

Quick comment:

The class of battleship after Iowa was the Montana class. They were going to be huge (too wide for the Panama canal, for example) but not especially fast -- only about 28 knots design speed which is nearly 20% slower than the Iowa class.

-Ben- USS Missouri FAQ:

SSTG = ships service turbo generators (elecrical generators). I used to be qualified to start, run & secure those (a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away).

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: But the SSTGs (generators) were built by

The detailed story of the Iowa/Montana class is quite interesting, but too long for a posting here. If you want to get into it in detail I recommend: Battleships; Dulin, Garzke & Sumrall. ISBN 0-87021-099-8 U.S. Battleships, Norman Friedman, ISBN 0-87021-715-1

Bill Shuey