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USS Montana (BB-67)

1940 WORLD WAR 2

History of USS Montana (BB-67)

In response to the growing threat posed by Japanese warships, especially the mighty battleship IJN Yamato (considered by most to be the most powerful battleship ever built), the U.S. government authorized the construction of a A new type of battleship. Follow the previous Iowa-class in service and further strengthen the U.S. Navy for what appears to be a looming war with Imperial Japan.

Centered around firepower and heavy armor protection (albeit at the expense of speed), the new race became the Montana-class, requiring a total of five ships to be built. At least three shipyards have contracts to manufacture them - the New York Navy Yard, the Philadelphia Navy Yard and the Norfolk Navy Yard.

The Montana-class battleships went on to become the last battleships licensed by the U.S. Navy - not only during World War II, but also in its subsequent stories. USS Montana (BB-67) would of course be the capital ship of the class, and her proposed sister ships were designated as follows: USS Ohio (BB-68), USS Maine (BB-69), USS New Hampshire (BB-70) ) and the aircraft carrier USS Louisiana (BB-71).

At this point in naval history, however, aircraft carriers have proven themselves to the U.S. Navy, especially during and after the Battle of Midway, and the focus of the U.S. war effort has now shifted to designing and producing more aircraft carriers. The shift inevitably marked the end of the age of the battleship, and her reign as the undisputed queen of the seas. The U.S. Navy has learnedand in doing so effectively demonstrated to the worldthat future naval battles will be determined by air power, not by heavily armed surface warships, as in past decades.

The aircraft carrier leanings meant that no part of the Montana-class ships were produced or laid - the USS Montana itself only exists in drawings and scale models.

The Montana's design silhouette was fairly conventional for battleships of the time. What sets her apart from the previous Iowa class is her additional stern turret placement. All the main guns are housed in large armored turrets, high floors from the roof to the base, requiring dozens of gunners to manage them. Midships are bridges and main superstructures required for various war and logistical departments.

A pair of smoke funnels can be seen between the front and rear superstructures. A set of antennas and arrays dot their vertical range. The bow deck is relatively featureless, rising out of the water to cut through rough seas.

A huge auxiliary crane can be seen amidships, designed to accommodate the bulk of supplies needed for the crew and accommodation. The ship will accommodate around 2,355 standard personnel, but this number could be increased to 2,780 if needed - both in wartime and when operating as the flagship of the fleet.

Armor protection for the Montana class includes a side strap thickness of 16.1 inches (409 mm). The bulkheads are 18 inches thick, while the barbs of the turret are protected by 21.3 inches of armor. The turret itself will be held down by 22.5 inches of armor thickness. The deck's thickest plating thickness can be up to 6 inches.

The IJN Yamato measures 26 inches of armor protection at its thickest point.

The standard displacement proposed by Montana is estimated at 66,000 tons for the standard load and about 71,000 tons for the war load. She has a barrel length of over 920 feet, a beam of exactly 121 feet, and a draft of just over 36 feet.

The USS Montana will be powered by no less than eight Babcock & Wilcox brand boilers, powering four Westinghouse gear steam turbines driving four propeller shafts rated at 43,000 hp. Performance specs estimate a top speed of 28 knots in ideal conditions and a range of approximately 17,000 miles (the IJN Yamato is rated at 27 knots and 8,286 miles).

Armament is the heart and soul of every battleship, and if it were completed, the Montana would be the most powerful U.S. Navy ship of her era. Montana (and her sisters) will have a main gun consisting of 12 x 16 in (406 mm)/50 caliber Mark 7 series guns housed in four movable turrets - each The turrets can all be raised and fired individually or simultaneously. By contrast, the Yamato of the Japanese Navy deployed nine 18.1-inch gunsthe largest caliber guns ever installed on a naval ship.

Three 16-inch barrels will be installed in each turret location, two in the forward midship and two in the rear midship. This allows the power of twelve full-caliber guns to be used on a full broadside, or at least six guns each to attack targets in the front or rear. These guns can be used against surface targets at sea or against inland targets with heavy offshore artillery.

Additional firepower will be provided by 20 x 5" (127 mm)/54 caliber Mark 16 series turrets mounted around the deck - these turrets can also be used against surface or inland targets within range. Impressive network of air defense support Consisting of up to 40 40mm Bofors guns and an additional 56 20mm Oerlikon artillery systems - such defenses allow the battleship to provide screen support for fleet ships such as less-defensible aircraft carriers.

Like other U.S. Navy warships, the Montana will carry two seaplanes for reconnaissance purposes. The planes were launched via a catapult system mounted on the stern deck. Once airborne, the aircraft can be used to radio back to enemy positions for coordinated attacks, or to assist in locating main battery batteries.

The seaplane can then land on the water near the stern of the Montana and be collected using a heavy-duty crane mounted between the two ejection tracks. The aircraft can then be repaired and prepared for future missions.

The future of the Montana class was called into question on July 21, 1943, when the program was officially suspended amid the changing circumstances of the Pacific War. The Empire of Japan lost ground in the Allied offensive, and aircraft carriers played an increasing role in its demise. Aircraft carriers essentially make "gunboats" a rather novel type of offshore installation, as they prove to be large, bulky targets that require thousands of people to operate, and their fuel and oil consumption means operating a single ship Battleships are expensive. While some of these unfavorable characteristics affect the carrier itself, their ability to allow aircraft to soar, strike the heart of an enemy, or defend a fleet exceeds what a battleship can offer at this stage of war. As more and more navies work to build their own aircraft carriers, the future of warships is now mapped out.

With such a big departure from previous norms, the Montana program falls into the history of the U.S. Navy - nations will no longer devote so much of their resources to its construction and operation. Even the mythical American Iowa class was eventually decommissioned and mothballed from active duty and became a museum ship for the public. By contrast, even today, the aircraft carriers that found their use in World War II remain a true symbol of any nation's naval power, with the U.S.

Navy aptly leading the pack with nearly a dozen such ships.