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Model comes on wood base with solid brass pedestals

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All 16" and  5" gun turrets rotate

The model bristles with 158 guns
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Float-equipped Vought Kingfishers sit on the catapults

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Photography by Action Asia Photo
© 2002-8 Action Asia Photo - All Rights Reserved
www.actionasiaphoto.com

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Probably the finest battleships of all time, the Iowa Class consisted of six ships, four of which were completed. At 45,000 tons standard displacement, the Iowa Class were the US Navy's first new WWII era battleships whose design was not encumbered by treaty limits. Considerably longer and faster than the preceding North Carolina and South Dakota classes, they were a new type of "fast battleship" intended to protect aircraft carriers against the threat from Japanese battleships, as well as forming a "fast wing" for the traditional battle line. They were also the Navy's most successful battleship design with the longest service lives.

The first two Iowa Class battleships (BB-61USS Iowa and BB-62 USS New Jersey) were completed early in 1943, and served for the remainder of WWII in the Pacific where they screened fast carrier task forces against air and surface threats, did occasional shore bombardment and provided flagships for tactical commanders. The second pair (BB-63 USS Missouri and BB-64 USS Wisconsin), whose construction had been somewhat delayed, came to the Pacific during the war's last year.

WWII formally ended with the Japanese signing the surrender documents on September 2nd, 1945 aboard "USS Missouri" while anchored in Tokyo Bay.

Construction of the last pair of the Iowa Class battleships (BB-65 USS Illinois and BB-66 USS Kentucky) stopped soon after the war's end, and they were scrapped; while orders for the next class of battleships - the even larger Montana class - were cancelled.

After the war, three of the four Iowa Class battleships were mothballed. In the early 1950s they were re-activated and, then, all four battleships - in their WWII configuration - employed their 16-inch guns during the Korean War. All four ships were decommissioned after that.

USS New Jersey was briefly re-activated again for bombardment duty during the Vietnam War and then placed back into reserve.

During the 1980's the entire class was extensively upgraded and re-commissioned as part of Ronald Reagan's 1980's defense buildup. Missouri and  Wisconsin provided gunfire support for the Iraq War in 1991, and thereafter rejoined their sisters in the reserve fleet.

At present, all four battleships are either serving as museums or probably soon will be. However, technically Iowa and Wisconsin are still US Navy property and could be re-activated again.