![]() More to the point, perhaps, this formidable array of artillery can penetrate 30 feet of concrete at 8,000 yards. Each gun can hurl a 2,700-pound projectile 22 miles. ![]() ![]() All are in mothballs and in varying states of repair.Ĭurrent plans call only for the reactivation of two of these Iowa-class warships, the Iowa itself and the New Jersey, but a number of senior naval officers are known to favor putting all four to sea.Įach battlewagon bristles with nine 16-inch guns in three turret. But, surprisingly enough, the Navy still retains four of the sleek band that helped bring imperial Japan to its knees -the New Jersey and Missouri at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., and the Iowa and Wisconsin in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Most World War II-vintage fast battleships, which could steam at up to 33 knots, have either been scrapped or preserved as memorials. Weinberger requested the money for just such a project on Wednesday when he asked Congress to approve a $32.6 billion increase in the defense budget. Bringing back 40-year-old battleships may seem like an act of desperate folly in an age of nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, but that's what the Navy has set its heart on.ĭefense Secretary Caspar W.
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