USS Illinois ( BB - 65 ) " Illinois " ( BB - 65 ) was to be the fifth constructed for the United States Navy and was the fourth ship to be named in honor of the 21st US state . Hull BB - 65 was originally to be the first ship of the s , but changes during World War II resulted in her being reordered as an . Adherence to the " Iowa " - class layout rather than the " Montana " - class layout allowed BB - 65 to gain eight knots in speed , carry more 20 mm and 40 mm anti - aircraft guns , and transit the locks of the Panama Canal ; however , the move away from the " Montana " - class layout left BB - 65 with a reduction in the heavier armaments and without the additional armor that were to have been added to BB - 65 during her time on the drawing board as USS " Montana " . Like her sister ship , " Illinois " was still under construction at the end of World War II . Her construction was canceled in August 1945 , but her hull remained until 1958 when it was broken up . Design . The passage of the Second Vinson Act in 1938 had cleared the way for construction of the four " South Dakota " - class battleships and the first two " Iowa " - class fast battleship s ( those with the hull numbers BB - 61 and BB - 62 ) . The latter four battleships of the class , those designated with the hull numbers BB - 63 , BB - 64 , BB - 65 , and BB - 66 were not cleared for construction until 1940 , and at the time BB - 65 and BB - 66 were intended to be the first ships of the " Montana " class . Originally , BB - 65 was to be the United States Navy ' s counter to the Empire of Japan ' s s , whose construction at the time was known to the highest - ranking members of the United States Navy , along with the rumors that the " Yamato " - class ships would carry guns of up to . To combat this , the United States Navy began designing a 58 , 000 ton ship with an intended armament of twelve guns . This battleship took shape in the mid - 1930s as USS " Montana " , the lead ship of her class of dreadnought battleships . She would have fielded three more guns than those mounted aboard the " Iowa " class , a more powerful secondary battery of / 54 caliber Mark 16 dual purpose mounts , and an increase in armor designed to enable " Montana " to withstand the effects of enemy guns comparable to her own . The increase in " Montana " s firepower and armor came at the expense of her speed and her Panamax capabilities , but the latter issue was to be resolved through the construction of a third , much wider set of locks at the Panama Canal . As the situation in Europe deteriorated in the late - 1930s , the USA began to be concerned once more about its ability to move warships between the oceans . The largest US battleships were already so large as to have problems with the canal locks ; and there were concerns about the locks being put out of action by enemy bombing . In 1939 , to address these concerns , construction began on a new set of locks for the canal that could carry the larger warships which the US had either under construction or planned for future construction . These locks which would have enabled " Montana " to transit between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without the need to sail around the tip of South America . As USS " Montana , " BB - 65 would have been the only battleship class commissioned by the US to approach the Imperial Japanese Navy ' s " Yamato " class on the basis of armor , armament , and tonnage . By 1942 the United States Navy shifted its building focus from battleships to aircraft carrier s after the successes of carrier combat in both the Battle of the Coral Sea , and to a greater extent , the Battle of Midway . As a result the construction of the US fleet of s had been given the highest priority for completion in the US shipyards by the US Navy . The " Essex " - class carriers were proving vital to the war effort by enabling the Allies to gain and maintain air supremacy in the Pacific War , and were rapidly becoming the principal striking arm of the United States Navy in the ongoing effort to defeat the Empire of Japan . Accordingly , the United States accepted shortcomings in the armor for their s , " South Dakota " - class , and s in favor of additional speed , which enabled these battleship classes to steam at a comparable speed with the " Essex " - class and provide the carriers with the maximum amount of anti - aircraft protection . Development . When BB - 65 was redesignated an " Iowa " - class battleship , she was assigned the name " Illinois " and reconfigured to adhere to the " fast battleship " designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair . Her funding was authorized via the passage of the Two - Ocean Navy Act by the US Congress on 19 July 1940 , and she would now be the fifth " Iowa " - class battleship built for the United States Navy . Her contract was assigned on 9 September 1940 , the same date as " Kentucky " . " Illinois " s keel was laid down at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard , on 6 December 1942 ; her projected completion date was 1 May 1945 . This amounted to a construction time of about 30 months . She would be tasked primarily with the defense of the US fleet of " Essex " - class aircraft carriers . In adherence with the " Iowa " - class design , " Illinois " would have a maximum beam of and a waterline length of , permitting a maximum speed of . Like " Kentucky " , " Illinois " differed from her earlier sisters in that her design called for an all - welded construction , which would have saved weight and increased strength over a combination riveted / welded hull used on the four completed " Iowa " - class ships . Engineers considered retaining the original " Montana " - class armor for added torpedo and naval mine protection because the newer scheme would have improved " Illinois " s armor protection by as much as 20 % . This was rejected due to time constraints and " Illinois " was built with an " Iowa " - class hull design . Funding for the battleship was provided in part by " King Neptune " , a Hereford swine auctioned across the state of Illinois as a fund raiser , and ultimately helped raise $ 19 million in war bonds Fate . " Illinois " s construction was put on hold in 1942 after the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway , while the Bureau of Ships considered an aircraft carrier conversion proposal for " Illinois " and " Kentucky " . As proposed , the converted " Illinois " would have had an long by wide flight deck , with an armament identical to the carriers of the : four twin 5 - inch gun mounts and four more 5 - inch guns in single mounts , along with six 40 mm quadruple mounts . It was abandoned after the design team decided that the converted carriers would carry fewer aircraft than the " Essex " class , that more " Essex " - class carriers could be built in the same amount of time to convert the battleships , and that the conversion project would be significantly more expensive than new " Essex " es . Instead , " Illinois " and " Kentucky " were to be completed as battleships , but their construction was given very low priority . Ultimately , the ship was canceled on 11 August 1945 , when she was about 22 % complete . She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 August 1945 . Her incomplete hulk initially was retained on the belief that it could be used as a target in nuclear weapons tests . The cost to complete the ship enough to be able to launch her — some $ 30 million — was too great , however , and the plan was abandoned . She remained in the dockyard until September 1958 , when she was broken up on the builder ' s ways . The ship ' s bell was cast , and is now at the Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign . It reads " USS Illinois 1946 " . The bell is on loan from the Naval Historical Center ( Accession # 70 - 399 - A ) , Washington Navy Yard , Washington DC , to the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps ( NROTC ) at the university . The bell is traditionally rung by NROTC members when the football team scores a touchdown or goal . References . Bibliography . 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