Battleship "Iowa": characteristics. Iowa type battles after modernization

The modern fleet knows many examples of how ships erected a decade or two ago are still quite relevant. To such, for example, is the famous American battleship "Iowa". What kind of ships of this type are famous? Until now, many historians and gunsmiths believe that these battleships were the perfect combination of armor, weapons and maneuverability. Designers, in fact, managed to create ships that have an excellent range of speed, speed and security.

Start of development

The beginning of work on ships dates back as far back as 1938. Before the creators immediately set the task - to create a fast and well-armed battleship, which could follow the aircraft carriers and repel attacks directed at them. The main problem was reaching the speed of 30 knots. At the same time, the first problems with Japan began, so it was necessary to hurry: many understood that the descendants of the samurai would not fail to attack the US fleet.

Without further ado, they decided to use the ships of the South Dakota type as a basis. As a result, the battleship "Iowa" received a displacement of 45 thousand tons, and the main artillery caliber steel guns at 406 mm. It should be noted that almost 70 meters were added to the length of the hull, but the width of the hull had to be kept practically unchanged, since the Panama Canal dictated its standards.

«Sea clubs»

The designers also used the original technical solution: the new layout of the power plant. As a result, it turned out to heavily narrow the nose, ensuring the excellent running qualities of the ships. Because of this, the battleship "Iowa" received the nickname "club." Of course, because of the increase in the length of the hull, the weight of his armor increased, but its characteristics remained exactly the same as those on the ships of "South Dakota". So, the main armored belt had a thickness of the same 310 mm.

In total, four ships of this class were built:

• Directly "Iowa" - the battleship was the flagship.

• "New Jersey".

• "Missouri".

• "Wisconsin".

There were also projects of the ships "Illinois" and "Kentucky", but they were never built. It happened for a trivial reason - the war was over, and spending 100 million dollars to build each ship in the light of this event was silly. By the way, the nose part of "Illinois" was used to repair "Wisconsin".

Where can I see the battleship "Iowa"? Model 1: 200, which can be bought on virtually any ship-based resource, will give you this opportunity. In addition, in specialized publications there is a huge number of ship images. Of course, their photo is also in our article.

General specifications

What characteristics did the Iowa battleship have? The TTX was as follows:

• The displacement was 57,450 tons.

• The total length is 270.5 meters.

• The width of the ship is 33 meters.

• The ship's draft is 11 meters.

• They were driven by four diesel engines, each with a capacity of 212,000 horsepower.

• The maximum speed is 33 knots, which corresponds approximately to 61 km / h.

• Range of navigation - not less than 15 thousand nautical miles.

Armament was also quite impressive:

• Four installations of the Vulcan.

• Four anti-ship missile systems "Harpoon" (after modernization).

• Three artillery 406 mm installations (three trunks each).

• Six 125 mm installations (two barrels each).

In addition, Iowa-type battleships after the upgrade received an additional 32 Tomahawk, which made them even more dangerous rivals.

New artillery systems

The length of the guns was the same as in the 50 caliber, increasing the barrel to 406 mm. The new guns received the designation Mk-7. They were much superior to the 45-caliber Mk-6, which were installed on vessels of the South Dakota type. Among other things, the weight of artillery systems was reduced, many of the technical solutions of the last century were replaced by modern ones. In general, the battleship "Iowa", whose drawings are also in the article, for its time was really an advanced ship.

Increase in dimensions

In general, this example of armament has an interesting history. So, 20 years before that, many artillery systems of 406 mm caliber were produced, but later their use was restricted by legislation. Then this restriction was abandoned, which allowed solving two problems at once. First, the battleship "Iowa" has acquired really decent weapons. Secondly, there was a "legitimate" justification for the increased displacement, due to which it was possible to "squeeze" a lot of other technical novelties into the ship.

However, it soon became clear that it would be necessary to increase the displacement by another 2,000 tons, which did not fit into the scope of the terms of reference. The output was found quickly - the tools were made easier by using other alloys for production and abandoning some of the structural elements. During the same period, the Americans began to widely use the method of chrome plating of the trunk, and the thickness of the sputtering was 0.013 mm. The life of the gun was approximately 300 shots.

The bolt is of the piston type, when it was fired, it fell back down. After the shot was fired, the barrel was forced by air under pressure. Without the shutter, the gun weighed 108 tons, with it the mass reached 121 tons.

Used shells

For shooting, monstrous shots were used, only one powder charge of which weighed almost three centners. He could launch a shell weighing 1225 kilograms at a distance of almost forty kilometers. The assortment of ammunition included both armor-piercing and fragmentation-high explosives. But not only these shells were in the arsenal of the ship "Iowa." Battleship had in service the shots of Mk-5, the weight of which was 1116 kilograms. Closer by 1940, the US Navy also received a MK-8 projectile, which (like the old varieties) also weighed 1,225 kilograms.

In general, shots of such weight and caliber became the basis of the firepower of American ships, beginning with "North Carolina". It may seem incredible, but only 1.5% of the weight was directly charged with explosives. However, this was still enough to break through the armor of enemy ships. So, in the events in the Pacific during the war with the Japanese, it was "Iowa" that distinguished itself. Battleship, whose photo is in the article, has repeatedly participated in sweeping the water area from enemy ships.

The Nuclear Age

In the early 50-ies, the Mk-23 projectile entered service, which was equipped with a nuclear charge of 1 kt. He weighed "only" 862 kilograms, had a length of just over one and a half meters, and in appearance was virtually indistinguishable from Mk-13. According to the official version, special shells were in service with the US Navy from 1956 to 1961, but in reality they were kept all the time in coastal arsenals.

In the early 1980s, it turned out that battleships of the Iowa type had rather mediocre firing range results and that these characteristics would not have prevented seriously improving. To cope with this task, American engineers began developing a special subcaliber projectile for 406-millimeter guns. At a weight of only 654 kilograms, he was supposed to fly at least 66 kilometers. That's just this development has not left the testing stage.

The rate of fire of guns was two rounds per minute, and each barrel could lead an independent fire. One tower with 406-millimeter guns weighed about three thousand tons. The shooting was answered by a calculation of 94 people (per gun). By the way, how many people were on board the ship "Iowa"? Battleship, whose photo is repeatedly found in the article, required 2,800 sailors to fill all vacancies.

Guidance systems, turrets

Horizontally, the tower could be hovered 300 degrees, vertically - from +45 and -5 degrees. The shells were stored in two tiers, vertically, inside the barbette of the gun mount. Between the store and the pivoting mechanism of the tower there were two more platforms that could rotate independently of the tower itself. It was they who received shells from the stores, after which they were brought to the guns. For this, three lifts immediately answered, each with a capacity of 75 horsepower.

Storage of ammunition

Ammunition was stored on two tiers in the lower compartments. The feed to the towers was also carried out by an electric motor, but in this case its power was 100 hp. As in the case of the Dakotas, the design of the ship did not contain reloading compartments, which could save the crew during the explosion of the ammunition.

Americans to solve this problem provided for a fairly complex system of airtight doors. Specialists often point out that such a decision sharply increased the risk of death for the crew of the ship, but in practice the reliability of the battleship was confirmed. What catastrophe did the battleship Iowa endure? Explosion. It happened in 1989. Then, the second gun turret of the 406mm gun exploded, and as a result 47 people died at once, and the installation caught fire. So far, the reasons for what happened are not exactly established.

Causes of emergency

It is assumed that the explosion was arranged by some of the sailors, but his motives are not clear. Another version is that one of the shells exploded because of some manufacturing defect. In general, the whole story looks very bad: literally the next day the tower was completely cleaned, painted, and the wreckage was thrown into the sea.

Be that as it may, the sealed doors fulfilled their function: the ship remained afloat, there were no serious damages. And the fact that 47 sailors died with their total number of 2800, also speaks of the reliability of the system. The second tower after this incident was sealed and no longer used. In addition, because of this, the Iowa class battleship could not take part in the Nicaraguan events.

Combat application

All the ships of this series participated in World War II, and Japan's surrender was signed on board one of them, USS "Missouri". In 1943 she herself took part in tracking down the German Tirpitz, and in November of the same year, Roosevelt was brought to Tehran on board. But real encounters with the enemy began only in 1944, when the ship participated in the liquidation of the Japanese grouping on the Marshall Islands.

There is a known case when the battleship alone sank a similar Japanese "Katori" class, and also actively participated in the offensive on the Philippine Islands. The high running qualities of the ship was confirmed by the December storm of 1944, when the battleship not only with honor passed this test, but also did not receive any serious damages. After that, battleships of the "Iowa" type in 1945 fired upon Japanese territory. Soon after the atomic bombing of the country, Iowa and Missouri hosted the Japanese delegation.

Postwar situation

Despite the fact that the crews were very fond of these ships for their maneuverability and excellent weapons, high driving performance and survivability, their maintenance cost for the US military budget is too expensive. That is why in the same year 1945 vessels were put on conservation, as the need for them actually fell away.

But the battleship Iowa, whose characteristics were very impressive at the time, did not stay in reserve for long: already at the beginning of the Korean incident they were again brought to the "front echelon", then Vietnam. By the way, Vietnamese events have shown that one such cruiser in some cases is able to replace at least 50 aircraft-bombers due to the high density of fire over the areas. Since a large part of the fighting took place on the coastal bridgeheads, the Americans saved a lot of aircraft.

After Vietnam, the battleships were again put "in cans", but again sent to the forefront in the 70s, during the Cold War. Reagan wanted to show the USSR that America is a strong and powerful country, and several perfectly armed ships for this purpose could not be better.

But everyone understood that this was just silly: the coastal missile systems that existed by that time could turn any ship into scrap long before it could use its weapons.

Modernization of ships

As we already mentioned, by 1980, the circumstance of the moral and technical obsolescence of ships became evident. Something had to be done. At one time, fantastic ideas of converting ships ... to aircraft carriers were floating in the air. The absurdity of the proposal was emphasized by the form of the ships, the same "club." Perestroika would have to spend such money that the introduction of a new aircraft carrier would be a little cheaper.

How did the Icov class battleship be converted? The modernization model, approved by the Senate, provided for the installation of Tomahawk missiles, which sharply increased the combat capability of ships. Besides, missile complexes "Harpoon" were installed, major repairs of engines and other equipment of ships were carried out .