Iowa class battleship

The ***Iowa* class battleship** is a class of battleships serving the United States Navy. The Iowas, like other battleships, are built to counter enemy vessels, like the *Kirov* class battlecruisers in the Soviet Navy, destroy coastal defenses and provide shore bombardment support for troops on the shore and further inland, and protect and escort the new capital ships of the Navy, the aircraft carriers, like the *Nimitz* class. Four of these vessels are built; USS Iowa (BB-61), USS New Jersey (BB-62), USS Missouri (BB-63), and USS Wisconsin (BB-64).

* **Appears in:** TBA
* **Used by:** United States Navy
* **Weapons:** 9 x 16 inch/50 caliber Mark 7 guns, 12 x 5 inch/38 caliber Mark 12 guns, 32 x BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile launchers, 16 x RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers, 4 x Phalanx CIWS mounts

## About

The Iowa class battleships were constructed and commissioned by the U.S. Navy during World War II, not just to counter Axis battleships like the Japanese *Yamato* class and the German battleship Tirpitz, a *Bismarck* class, but to escort and defend aircraft carriers and provide artillery support for Allied soldiers inland as far as 26 miles. The first was the USS Iowa (BB-61), commissioned on February 22nd, 1943. The last to be commissioned was the USS Missouri (BB-63), on June 11th, 1944. All four of them saw combat in the Pacific Theater of the war, seeing action in such battles like in the Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. After World War II ended on September 2nd, 1945, with the surrender of the Empire of Japan in the aftermath of the first atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many battleships had been decommissioned. Three of the Iowas were included, but they were placed in the reserve fleet, just in case of another emergency. The USS Missouri was the only combat-ready battleship in the U.S. Navy by 1950, when the Korean War started. After the start of the fight for Korea, the other three battleships were recommissioned for shore bombardment for United Nations forces. At the end of the war in 1953, all four of the *Iowa* class battleships were still in active service for the time being. All four of them had been decommissioned and returned to the reserve fleet in the mid to late-1950's, leaving the U.S. Navy without a single battleship since 1895. The USS New Jersey, which is the most decorated of her sister ships and any other battleship in American history, was called back in the active fleet in 1968, for the Vietnam War, until called back into reserve in December 1969. In 1980, the Soviet Union introduced and commissioned their own large surface combatant, the battlecruiser *Kirov.* Under president Ronald Reagan's plan for a 600-ship Navy, the Iowa class battleships were preparing for recommissioning once again, to counter the Kirov and her sister ships. They were all being upgraded with 32 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile launchers and 16 RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers for longer-range attacks, and 4 Phalanx Close-In-Weapons-System mounts for defense against enemy aircraft and missiles. The USS Wisconsin is still going under upgrading as of 1987, when World War III was getting closer.

## World War III

The Iowa class battleships will answer America's call into action, whenever the Soviet Union declares war on America and her NATO allies. The USS Wisconsin will still be in upgrading and modernization by then. Will all 4 of the Iowas survive the war? Will the USS Wisconsin be ready for war in time?

## Trivia

* In the real-world, when the Cold War ended in 1989, the Iowas were being decommissioned again, for the last time, in the early 1990's, with the exception of the USS Missouri and USS Wisconsin fighting in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm. After ODS, both of the last battlships in the world were decommissioned, the last being the Missouri, on March 31st, 1992. They all still exist, serving as museum ships dedicated to the time when battleships ruled the world's oceans.