page_title: Montana-class battleship
section_title: Aircraft
hierarchical_section_title: Montana-class battleship / Specifications / Aircraft
context_page_description: The Montana-class battleships were planned as successors of the Iowa class for the United States Navy, to be slower but larger, better armored, and with superior firepower. Five were approved for construction during World War II, but changes in wartime building priorities resulted in their cancellation in favor of continuing production of Essex-class aircraft carriers and Iowa-class battleships before any Montana-class keels were laid.
  Intended armament would have been twelve 16-inch Mark 7 guns in four 3-gun turrets, up from the Iowas' nine Mark 7 guns in three turrets. Unlike the three preceding classes of battleships, the Montana class was designed without any restrictions from treaty limitations. With an increased anti-aircraft capability and substantially thicker armor in all areas, the Montanas would have been the largest, best-protected, and most heavily armed U.S. battleships ever. They were also the only class to rival the Empire of Japan's immense Yamato-class battleships.
  Preliminary design work for the Montana class began before the US entry into World War II. The first two vessels were approved by Congress in 1939 following the passage of the Second Vinson Act.
context_section_description: The Montana class would have used aircraft for reconnaissance and for gunnery spotting. The type of aircraft used would have depended on when exactly the battleships would have been commissioned, but in all probability they would have used either the Kingfisher or the Seahawk. The aircraft would have been floatplanes launched from catapults on the ship's fantail. They would have landed on the water and taxied to the stern of the ship to be lifted by a crane back to the catapult.
caption: Stern view of a Montana-class battleship model, showing the catapults and tail crane for launching and recovery of floatplanes.
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