Battleship

:This article is about the type of warship. See also Battleship (game).

Post World War II

After World War II, several navies retained battleships, but they were now outclassed by carriers. The Italian Giulio Cesare was taken by the Soviets as reparations and renamed Novorossiysk; it was sunk by a German mine in the Black Sea 29 October 1955. The two Doria-class ships were scrapped in the late 1950s. The French Lorraine was scrapped in 1954, Richelieu in 1964 and Jean Bart in 1970. Britain's four surviving King George V-class ships were scrapped around 1958, and Vanguard around 1960. All other surviving British battleships were scrapped in the late 1940s. The Soviet Union's Petropavlovsk was scrapped in 1953, Sevastopol in 1957 and Gangut in 1959, Brazil's Minas Gerais was scrapped in 1954 (sister ship Sao Paulo sank in a storm in 1951), Argentina kept its two Rivadavia-class ships until 1956, Chile kept Canada until 1959, and the Turkish battlecruiser Yavuz (formerly the German Goeben, launched in 1911) was scrapped in 1976 after an offer to sell it back to Germany was refused. Sweden had several coastal battleships which survived until the 1970s. The Russians also scrapped four large incomplete cruisers in the late 1950s. There were also some old sailing battleships still around. All but HMS Victory were sunk or scrapped by 1957.

Related Topics:
''Giulio Cesare'' - 29 October - 1955 - ''Doria''-class - ''Lorraine'' - ''Richelieu'' - ''Jean Bart'' - ''King George V''-class - ''Vanguard'' - ''Sevastopol'' - ''Gangut'' - ''Minas Gerais'' - ''Sao Paulo'' - Argentina - ''Rivadavia''-class - ''Goeben''

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The battleships gained a new lease of life in the USN as fire support ships. Shipborne artillery support is considered by USMC as more accurate, more effective and less expensive than aerial strikes. Radar and computer controlled gunfire can be aimed with pinpoint accuracy to target. The United States recommissioned all four Iowa-class battleships for the Korean War and New Jersey for the Vietnam War. These were primarily used for shore bombardment. All four were modernized and recommissioned under the Reagan administration and converted to carry Tomahawk missiles, with New Jersey seeing action bombarding Lebanon, while Missouri and Wisconsin fired their 16-inch (406 mm) guns at land targets and launched missiles in the Gulf War of 1991. This will most likely be the last combat action ever by a battleship.

Related Topics:
''Iowa''-class - Korean War - ''New Jersey'' - Vietnam War - Reagan - Tomahawk missile - Lebanon - ''Missouri'' - ''Wisconsin'' - Gulf War

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All four were decommissioned in the early 1990s, the last battleships to see active service. Missouri, and New Jersey are now museums at Pearl Harbor and Camden, N.J. respectively. Wisconsin also functions as a museum (at Norfolk, Va.), but is still on the NVR, and the public can only tour the deck, with the rest of ship closed off. Iowa (at Suisun Bay) and Wisconsin are in the Naval Reserve Fleet, and could be re-activated.

Related Topics:
1990s - Pearl Harbor - Camden, N.J. - Norfolk, Va. - NVR - ''Iowa'' - Suisun Bay - Naval Reserve Fleet

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From the late 1970s onwards, the Soviet Union (later Russia) built four large nuclear-powered Kirov-class missile cruisers (Raketny Kreyser (Rocket Cruiser)), one of which is still running as of 2005. Their introduction had been one of the factors leading to the re-instatement of the Iowas. The ships, while comparatively big for a cruiser, are not battleships in the traditional sense; they adhere to the design premise of a large missile cruiser and lack traditional battleship traits such as heavy armor and significant shore bombardment capability. For example, at ~26,000 tons displacement they are near double the Krasina-class missile cruisers (~11,000 tons), but half the Iowa class (~55,000 tons).

Related Topics:
Soviet Union - ''Kirov''-class - As of 2005 - Cruiser - ''Krasina''-class

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Battleships still in existence as museums include the American USS Massachusetts, North Carolina, Alabama and Texas, the British HMS Mary Rose, Victory and Warrior, the Japanese Mikasa, the Swedish Vasa, the Dutch Buffel and Schorpioen, and the Chilean Huascar. (See :Category:Museum ships for other museum ships).

Related Topics:
USS ''Massachusetts'' - ''North Carolina'' - ''Alabama'' - ''Texas'' - HMS ''Mary Rose'' - ''Victory'' - ''Warrior'' - ''Mikasa'' - Vasa - ''Buffel'' - ''Schorpioen'' - :Category:Museum ships

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USS Iowa and USS Wisconsin are maintained in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996, which includes the following battleship readiness requirements:

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• List and maintain at least two Iowa-class battleships on the Naval Vessel Register that are in good condition and able to provide adequate fire support for an amphibious assault;
• Retain the existing logistical support necessary to keep at least two Iowa-class battleships in active service, including technical manuals, repair and replacement parts, and ordnance; and
• Keep the two battleships on the register until the Navy certified that it has within the fleet an operational surface fire support capability that equals or exceeds the fire support capability that the Iowa-class battleships would be able to provide for the Marine Corps' amphibious assaults and operations ashore. (Section 1011) Source

Current plans in the United States Navy call for keeping Iowa and Wisconsin on the register until the naval surface fire support gun and missile development programs achieve operational capability, which is expected to occur sometime between 2003 and 2008. If and when Iowa and Wisconsin are removed from the Naval Vessel Register there is a high probabilty that interest groups will request that they be placed on donation hold and transfered for use as museums.

Related Topics:
2003 - 2008 - Naval Vessel Register

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