The modern fleet knows many examples of how ships built a dozen or two years ago are still quite relevant. These, for example, include the famous American battleship Iowa. What are these types of ships famous for? Until now, many historians and gunsmiths believe that these battleships were the perfect combination of armor, weapons and maneuverability. The designers really managed to create ships with excellent power reserve, speed and security.
Begin development
The beginning of work on ships dates back to 1938. The creators were immediately given the task of creating a fast and well-armed battleship that could follow aircraft carriers and repel attacks directed at them. The main problem was to achieve a speed of 30 knots. At the same time, the first problems with Japan began, soit was necessary to hurry: many understood that the descendants of the samurai would not miss the opportunity to attack the US fleet.
Without further ado, we decided to use South Dakota-class ships as the basis. As a result, the Iowa battleship received a displacement of 45 thousand tons, and 406 mm guns became the main artillery caliber. I must say that almost 70 meters were added to the length of the hull, but the width of the hull had to be left almost unchanged, since the Panama Canal dictated its own standards.
Navy Batons
The designers also used an original technical solution: a new location of the power plant. As a result, it turned out to greatly narrow the nose, ensuring excellent driving performance of the vessels. Because of this, the battleship "Iowa" was nicknamed "baton". Of course, due to the increase in the length of the hull, the weight of its armor increased, but its characteristics remained exactly the same as on the South Dakota ships. So, the main armored belt had the same thickness of 310 mm.
A total of four ships of this class were built:
- Directly "Iowa" - the battleship was the flagship.
- New Jersey.
- Missouri.
- Wisconsin.
There were also designs for the Illinois and Kentucky ships, but they were never built. This happened for a banal reason - the war was over, and spending 100 million dollars on the construction of each ship in the light of this event was stupid. By the way, the bow of the Illinois was used to repair the Wisconsin.
Where can I see the battleship "Iowa"? The 1:200 model, which can be bought on almost any ship modeling resource, will give you such an opportunity. In addition, in specialized publications there is a huge number of pictures of ships. Of course, their photos are in our article.
General Specifications
What characteristics did the battleship Iowa have? TTX were as follows:
- Displacement was 57450 tons.
- Total length - 270.5 meters.
- The width of the ship is 33 meters.
- The ship's draft is 11 meters.
- They were powered by four diesel engines, each with 212,000 horsepower.
- Maximum speed is 33 knots, which is approximately 61 km/h.
- Cruising range - at least 15 thousand nautical miles.
The armament was also quite impressive:
- Four Vulkan installations.
- Four Harpoon anti-ship missile systems (after modernization).
- Three 406mm artillery mounts (three barrels each).
- Six 125mm mounts (two barrels each).
In addition, the Iowa-class battleships received an additional 32 Tomahawks after modernization, which made them even more dangerous rivals.
New artillery systems
The length of the guns was left the same, 50 calibers, increasingbarrel up to 406 mm. New guns received the designation Mk-7. They were far superior to the 45-caliber Mk-6s that were installed on South Dakota-class ships. Among other things, the weight of artillery systems was reduced, many technical solutions of the last century were replaced with modern ones. In general, the Iowa battleship, the drawings of which are also in the article, was really an advanced ship for its time.
Scaling up
In general, this piece of weapons has an interesting history. So, 20 years before that, a lot of 406 mm caliber artillery systems were produced, but subsequently their use was limited by law. Then this restriction was abandoned, which made it possible to solve two problems at once. Firstly, the Iowa battleship acquired really worthy weapons. Secondly, there was a "legitimate" justification for the increased displacement, due to which it was possible to "squeeze" many other technical innovations into the ship.
However, it soon became clear that it would be necessary to increase the displacement by another 2000 tons, which did not fit into the terms of reference. A solution was quickly found - the guns were lightened by using other alloys for production and abandoning some structural elements. In the same period, the Americans began to widely use the method of barrel chromium plating, with a coating thickness of 0.013 mm. The life of the gun was approximately 300 rounds.
Shutter - piston type, when fired, he leaned down. After firing a shot, the barrel is forciblypurged with pressurized air. Without a shutter, the gun weighed 108 tons, with it the mass reached 121 tons.
Projectiles used
For shooting, monstrous shots were used, the powder charge alone of which weighed nearly three centners. He could launch a projectile weighing 1225 kilograms at a distance of almost forty kilometers. The range of ammunition included both armor-piercing and high-explosive fragmentation varieties. But not only these shells were in the arsenal of the Iowa ship. The battleship was armed with Mk-5 shots, the weight of which was 1116 kilograms. Closer to 1940, the US Navy also received the MK-8 projectile, which (like the older versions) also weighed 1225 kilograms.
In general, shots of this weight and caliber have become the basis of the firepower of American ships, starting with the North Carolina. It may seem incredible, but only 1.5% of the weight was directly from the explosive charge. However, this was still enough to break through the armor of enemy ships. So, in the events in the Pacific during the war with the Japanese, it was the Iowa that distinguished itself. The battleship, whose photo is in the article, repeatedly participated in the cleanup of the water area from enemy ships.
Nuclear Age
In the early 50s, the Mk-23 projectile was put into service, which was equipped with a nuclear charge, the power of which was 1 kt. It weighed “only” 862 kilograms, had a length of just over one and a half meters, and in appearance was practically indistinguishable from the Mk-13. According to the official version, special shells consisted ofin service with the US Navy from 1956 to 1961, but in reality they were always stored in coastal arsenals.
In the early 1980s, it turned out that the Iowa-class battleships had rather mediocre range results and that these characteristics could not hurt to seriously improve. To cope with this task, American engineers began developing a special sub-caliber projectile for 406-mm guns. Weighing only 654 kilograms, it had to fly at least 66 kilometers. But this development never left the testing stage.
The rate of fire of the guns was two shots per minute, and each barrel could fire independently. One tower with 406 mm guns weighed approximately three thousand tons. A calculation of 94 people (for each gun) was responsible for firing. By the way, how many people were on board the Iowa? The battleship, whose photo appears repeatedly in the article, required 2,800 sailors to fill all vacancies.
Aiming systems, gun turrets
The turret could be aimed horizontally at 300 degrees, vertically - from +45 and -5 degrees. The shells were stored in two tiers, vertically, inside the barbette of the gun mount. Between the store and the turning mechanism of the tower there were two more platforms that could rotate independently of the tower itself. It was they who received shells from the stores, after which they were delivered to the guns. Three lifts were responsible for this at once, the power of each of which was 75 horsepower.
Ammo storage
Ammunition was stored ontwo tiers in the lower compartments. The supply to the towers was also carried out by an electric motor, but in this case its power was 100 hp. As in the case of the Dakotas, the design of the ship did not contain reloading compartments that could save the crew in the event of an explosion of ammunition.
To solve this problem, the Americans have provided a rather complex system of hermetic doors. Experts often note that such a decision sharply increased the risk of death for the crew of the ship, but in practice the reliability of the battleship was confirmed. What disaster did the battleship Iowa survive? Explosion. It happened in 1989. Then the second gun turret of the 406-millimeter gun exploded, and as a result of this, 47 people died at once, and the installation caught fire. Until now, the reasons for the incident have not been precisely established.
Causes of the state of emergency
It is assumed that the explosion was caused by one of the sailors, but his motives are not clear. Another version is that one of the shells exploded due to some kind of manufacturing defect. In general, this whole story looks very bad: literally the next day the tower was completely cleaned, painted, and the wreckage was thrown into the sea.
Be that as it may, the airtight doors have fulfilled their function: the ship remained afloat, there was no serious damage. And the fact that 47 sailors died out of a total of 2,800 also speaks of the reliability of the system. The second tower after this incident was sealed and was no longer used. In addition, because of this, the Iowa-class battleship could not take part inNicaraguan events.
Combat use
All ships of this series participated in World War II, and the surrender of Japan was signed aboard one of them, the USS Missouri. In 1943, the Iowa itself took part in tracking down the German Tirpitz, and already in November of the same year, President Roosevelt was brought to Tehran on board. But real clashes with the enemy began only in 1944, when the ship took part in the liquidation of the Japanese grouping in the Marshall Islands.
There is a known case when the battleship single-handedly sank the Japanese Katori, similar in class, and also actively participated in the attack on the Philippine Islands. The high driving performance of the ship was confirmed by the December storm of 1944, when the battleship not only passed this test with honor, but also did not receive any serious damage. After that, battleships of the Iowa type in 1945 fired at Japanese territory. Shortly after the atomic bombing, the Iowa and Missouri countries hosted the Japanese delegation.
Post-war state of affairs
Despite the fact that the crews were very fond of these ships for their maneuverability and excellent armament, high driving performance and survivability, their maintenance was too expensive for the US military budget. And therefore, in the same 1945, the ships were mothballed, since the need for them actually disappeared.
But the Iowa battleship, whose characteristics were very impressive at that time, did not stay in reserve for long: already at the beginning of the Korean Incident, they were again brought to the "front echelon",then there was Vietnam. By the way, the Vietnamese events have shown that one such cruiser in some cases is capable of replacing at least 50 bomber aircraft due to the high density of fire over areas. Since a large part of the fighting took place on coastal bridgeheads, the Americans saved a lot of aircraft.
After Vietnam, the battleships were again put in canned food, but again sent to the front lines in the 70s, during the Cold War. Reagan wanted to show the USSR that America is a strong and powerful country, and several well-armed ships were the best fit for this purpose.
But everyone understood that it was just stupid: the coastal missile systems that existed by that time could turn any ship into scrap metal long before it could use its weapons.
Ship upgrades
As we have already mentioned, by 1980 the fact of the moral and technical obsolescence of the ships became obvious. Something had to be done. At one time, fantastic ideas were in the air for converting ships … into aircraft carriers. The absurdity of the proposal was emphasized by the shape of the ships, that same "club". It would take so much money to rebuild that the commissioning of a new aircraft carrier would be a little cheaper.
How was the Iowa-class battleship converted? The modernization model approved by the Senate included the installation of Tomahawk missiles, which dramatically increased the combat capability of ships. In addition, rocket launchers were mountedcomplexes "Harpoon", overhaul of engines and other equipment of vessels was carried out.
