August
7, 1998
Really
big ships
The
Iowa class battleships are: USS Iowa BB-61, USS New Jersey BB-62,
USS Missouri BB-63, USS Wisconsin BB-64. Each is 887 feet in
length, with a beam of 108 feet and a draft of 38 feet, with
a displacement of 59,300 tons.
The full wartime crew is 2,700 officers and
men. Each ship's main engines generate 212,000 horsepower, driving
it with a speed of 31 knots. There are nine 16-inch guns, each
capable of hurling a 2,700-pound projectile more than 20 miles.
Each vessel possesses steel armor plate, 16
inches thick on the turrets and conning tower, 12 inches thick
along the sides and 5 inches thick on the armor deck. A broadside
firing of all nine 16-inch guns will move her about 40 feet in
the opposite direction.
The cost to build the battleship during World
War II was $100 million. Today, it would cost about $3 billion.
Of interest to battleship buffs, the largest
battleships ever built were the Japanese giants, Yamato and Musashi,
which carried 18-inch guns.
RAYMOND SONSINI
National Park
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