The Unseen Plans to Modernize the Iowas

[@thehuscarl4835]

Drachinifel lives about 3,500 miles from New Jersey. And yet, I can hear him faintly screaming in the background over the horrifying concept of an Iowa class battle carrier.

[@F-Man]

*I smell a battlecarrier…*

[@RalphReagan]

Lol 😊

[@69Applekrate]

not with all that amour

[@shinjiikari1021]

Ooooh battlecruiser! Whenever I see or hear battlecruisers mentioned, I do what yoshikage Kira does when he saw the mona Lisa for the first time...

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

It's a good thing the hybrid carrier concept never came to be for any of the ole US fast battleships.

[@Mountain-Man-3000]

I want Drach to do a deep dive on this!!

[@obsidianjane4413]

Its not deep. When Reagan took office the MIC had an orgy of every contractor and section within each branch and agency writing the wildest BS proposals for funding you can imagine.

[@bikecommuter24]

Funny hearing Ryan a Battleship Curator saying "Beloved A10 Warthog" I worked on A10's for part of my Air Force Career, I was a Jet Engine Mechanic and later a Crew Chief.

[@acarrillo8277]

424 VLS CELLS!!!!!!! dear fluffy lord that is a lot of firepower!

[@ShanesGettingHandy]

Thanks for the update on the find! Can't wait to see more!

[@bigsarge2085]

Fascinating.

[@nigelterry9299]

Looking forward to further instalments about this. Fascinating.

[@F-Man]

Had one survived to the 80s, I wonder about the feasibility of converting an Alaska into this sort of helicopter/VTOL carrier.

[@shawnmcandrew6923]

The Removal of the 5 inch guns with VLS was an interesting take.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Speaking of replacing the 5" guns, the 3" guns of Salem were actually considered for the Iowa class.

[@obsidianjane4413]

If they had and turned the BBs into an early "arsenal ship", they might have remained in service or in reserve for longer, perhaps even up til today. Nothing would signal Uncle Sam's "intent" like sending a ship that could single handedly erase an entire country with just its onboard conventional battery.

[@FormerMushroom]

Launch cells would be insane like not hiding them underwater just walking around in the open with a big stick

[@RalphReagan]

I like the angled deck version

[@vincent_dumont]

Always thought that goalkeeper was Dutch - made by Hollandse Signaal. They were aquired by Thales of course. So it is British now.

[@drittal]

Wayne Scarpaci has some fun paintings based on possible Iowa conversions

[@squishyblade]

the "rocket ship" sounds awesome! It would have been a shame to see the big guns go away though!

[@scrapperstacker8629]

Great video. I love this subject!

[@TheRealGraylocke]

Drachinifel wrings his hands in glee and can't wait to look at this in detail.

[@patrickmccarty6953]

What a cool find. There are probably even more blueprints and designs that were proposed. It's fun to see what could have been vs. what it became.

[@jmd1743]

There's a design floating around that would put a VLS cell behind the rear turret.

[@98xjdriver]

I wonder what would have prevented Aegis from being installed.

[@robertf3479]

I believe either Ryan or Drach covered that question in an earlier video. Overpressure from the 16" guns, particularly in "over the shoulder" shots by Turret 2 would turn the exposed SPY-1 billboards and related electronics very quickly into so much expensive junk.

[@henrycarlson7514]

.Interesting , Thank You .

[@redtailpunk]

im not sure what it is, but i think us naval nerds could talk endlessly about the "what ifs" of the 80s reactivation

[@comstr]

Follow up video: where were these documents hiding and how did you find them?

[@divarachelenvy]

fascinating find wow.

[@josephpadula2283]

35 mm Kodachrome Slides on Carousel Projector …….

[@avioncamper]

"Super Cheap", the military does nothing something cheap, lol.. . Great find Ryan.

[@kirkmorrison6131]

We could use a long distance standoff Naval artillery platform today. Tomahawks 18 inch guns. They were effective in the counter terrorism role adding larger guns would increase their range

[@garymcmullen3502]

This is my idea of the Heavy Assault Ship from Proceedings magazine with modern weapons systems

[@greggweber9967]

I wonder if they passed out basic line drawings of the ship and asked the crew for any ideas just as a crew moral exercise? Get involved.

[@wadewilson524]

That would have been a scary beast!!

[@christianvalentin5344]

Coming soon to World of Warships…… BattleCarrier USS Kentucky Because this point the game maker Wargaming is just teasing us by releasing every Iowa class battleship, except New Jersey

[@USSEnterpriseA1701]

I think you mean Delaware, because that's what's already in the game with an amidships flight deck and offset superstructure, with the third turret reduced to a two-gun mount. They put in a half-line of US BBVs a good while ago. They range from the semi-reasonable almost was version of the North Carolina class to a ridiculous riff on a Montana class with 2x three-gun turrets up front and 1x four-gun turret aft overhung by a comical amidships flight deck. Personally, my favorite will remain the original Battlestar Galactica-I mean Kearsarge, based on that BBV proposal drawn up by a US yard for Russia.

[@christianvalentin5344]

@ I know. It just seems WG is toying with us with New Jersey. Because out of nowhere came Illinois, then Wisconsin.

[@USSEnterpriseA1701]

@@christianvalentin5344 I mean, my Iowa in WoWS says New Jersey on the side, but the paint scheme certainly isn't to everyone's taste. Personally though I rather like Miyu Tomita's voicework for her.

[@veganguy74]

The models and drawings of the potential different variants are all very interesting to look at, but I’m so glad it never actually happened. Those things would have been absolutely hideous

[@dennisfariello4852]

Kronkin' awesome

[@Galatz_Tirah]

Imagine my disappointment when I read the text in the thumbnail and that this is not an Iowa class equivalent of Red Alert's Kirov airships.

[@obsidianjane4413]

My thought too. Although I was picturing more like Project Orion using atomic bombs to fly the battleship.

[@All2Meme]

Do you think they were contemplating turning the Iowas into hybrid battleship/sea control ships as a counter to the Soviet Kirov class aviation cruisers?

[@JandoCalrissian]

I am not surprised that they decided not to put those 3 storey high VLS cells onto the deck like that... They would be completely unprotected! Any shell, missile or drone that touches one of those cells would probably set off the whole shabang!

[@dutchman7216]

Thankful the Navy left them alone.

[@ah244895]

Aircraft battleship from the 80s. Cool.

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

Interesting they were looking at this stuff in the Carter era.

[@obsidianjane4413]

Not Carter, Reagan.

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

@@obsidianjane4413 Date on those drawings was Jan '81. So they were made reflecting plans before Jan ;81. Regan was sworn in Jan '81.

[@obsidianjane4413]

@@AndrewTubbiolo Reagan won the election in Nov. and just like right now, the beltway shenaingans would have been in full force, since Reagan ran on "strong on defense" etc. the MIC would have been going nuts trying to sell every wild dream they could to Weinberger and crew.

[@DavidSmith-cx8dg]

Looks pretty Frankenstein to be honest . The end result being an ugly expensive conversion that doesn't have the full capabilities of ships built for purpose . They probably got it right leaving the basic ship with enhancements .

[@peterosmanski7466]

I'm so happy that they never implemented these plans. Half Battleship half carrier is a poor substitute for one or the other. If you want air cover include a real carrier in the task force.

[@Bum-gh2zi]

If you read the purpose under the Force Grouping, it was to be used for Amphibious Group, Rapid Deployment Force CVBG, SAG. It was going to be part of the Gator Navy.

[@CarreraTrackOntheFloor]

Where did these plans come from?

[@obsidianjane4413]

The Gud Idear Fairy.

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

I hope you're telling Norman Friedman about these. I don't recall much now about this in his Battleship Design History, and my copy is not here right now.

[@scrapperstacker8629]

Where was it found? On this ship or elsewhere?

[@Infrared73]

Waiting for someone to model this now.

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

The angled deck versions were basically versions of a Soviet Minsk class cruiser.

[@t1m3f0x]

*Kiev class heavy aircraft cruiser But yes I thought the same thing.

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

@@t1m3f0x Ahh, thanks for the correction. I always confused the class name even back then.

[@danielslocum7169]

Dumb question: Why is a runway needed for verticle takeoff and landing aircraft? Otherwise, it seems just removing the aft turret would provide the necessary space with an elevator and hangar deck below?

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

VT can't lift as much as even a short take off run. It's a difference between raw vertical thrust vs using wings to generate more lift more efficiently.

[@Fury-161]

It's a shame Dick Landgraff is no longer around, he could've told you all this from memory.

[@thurin84]

im so glad they didnt ruin the iowas with a flight deck.

[@eaglesblades]

Was Goalkeeper a projected replacement for Phalanx? Rather odd to see it there.

[@Erik-rp1hi]

By law you have to keep the ship able to return to service? Then this still could be done.

[@obsidianjane4413]

They just can't damage it. It would cost about as much to convert it to a halfa-carrier as it would to restore it as a gunship.

[@patrickradcliffe3837]

Wouldn't it be referred to as BV-61?

[@ZGryphon]

If they made it consistent with existing "ship with added capability" designations (e.g., SSN, DDG), it'd be BBV. But that _is_ predicated on the Navy being consistent about this stuff, so... :)

[@DrewBarkerOk]

Ok.. hear me out. instead of scrapping our aging carriers - lets refit them, and make them battle carriers. Kittyhawk would be hella fun with like 1000 missiles on board.

[@nickl7488]

do you guys need to check with the navy whether you could share this publicly, or are all documents regarding the battleships considered declassified when the ships left service?

[@wfoj2]

at 9:10 we have slow flow over cover page - It directs the document to be reviewed for Declassification in April-1999.- I will say a NO to "documents regarding the battleships considered declassified when the ships left service" (what if details on a system on BB that is still in service). I understand his excitement - but wish we were told he has already checked and told it is declassified by the Navy.

[@blshouse]

40+ year-old plans with equipment that was never used, planes that were never built, about a retired battleship that never got these modifications and that the Navy has no plans to ever reactivate ever again and documents that were abandoned and marked "Unclassified". No, no need to ask the Navy.

[@Plaprad]

If it's been classified it would show it on the document, as well as if it's been declassified. It's a pretty good system when the steps are done. The only ones I saw on here with markings are "Unclassified". If there are no markings, then no classification. But, seeing how early this was, there was probably no classification given to it. No point classifying a document that says "We're thinking about putting missiles on an Iowa." It wouldn't be until they started making plans that you'd see them classified. TL;DR, Given who this paperwork was for and what it details, there was probably nothing classified on here. Not every document in the military is classified, and there's a lot like this unclassified out in the wild. Edit: Going through again you can see one of the files was declassified, even though they did it wrong. at 9:04.

[@MidnightMoon2267]

Late to the party. Welp.

[@jamesrichardson1326]

New Jersey is a floating gun battery. She's obsolete. Give her a break. She is reitred.

[@ZGryphon]

Well, I mean, they're not gearing up to _do_ this. It's the Navy's notes from a spitballing session in 1981.

[@lightspeedvictory]

Next time, plz wear some protective gloves when handling documents like this

[@merlinwizard1000]

1st, 18 November 2024

[@franklinwerren7684]

I always hear about digital libraries on the Big NJ, so what is the URL??? DE N2JYG