Most people’s first thought of the naval war titans of World War II is usually the Iowa-class battleships. They were fast, well-armed, and renowned for their firepower, and they became the crowning pride of the U.S. Navy. But lost in the annals of naval history is a class of battleships that, if ever built, would have overshadowed even the gargantuan Iowas—the Montana-class battleships.
Conceived in 1939, before America’s official entry into the war, the Montanas were intended to be the ultimate climax of battleship power, giants that could outrun and outfight any foe on the water.
The Iowa-class had nine 16-inch guns apiece, each of which could launch shells the length of small autos over vast distances. They were priceless as carrier escorts and heavy artillery ships against sea and land targets. But the Montana-class was designed to take it further still. They would have twelve of the same size guns in four triple turrets.
This was almost a third more firepower than the Iowas could deliver, with shells of as much as 2,700 pounds landing over 25 miles away. Each of the guns fired every two minutes, delivering an impassable wall of steel and flame which no hostile ship could withstand.
Protection was the other feature of the design. The Montanas would have had armor thicker than any battleship the United States ever launched. Their armored belt was to be over 16 inches, with internal bulkheads adding still more layers.
The turrets alone would have had faces over 22 inches thick, while their decks averaged nearly 10 inches of steel plating. They were built to tussle with the heaviest of foes and take blows that would cripple or sink lighter ships.
They were gigantic compared to the Iowas—over 10,000 tons more massive. They would give up a bit of the Iowas’ speed to gain this enormous boost in firepower and protection. Indeed, the Montanas were themselves conceived particularly to counter Japan’s Yamato-class battleships, the world’s largest warships.
The U.S. Navy had five Montanas to commission: USS Montana, USS Ohio, USS Maine, USS New Hampshire, and USS Louisiana. Philadelphia, New York, and Virginia shipyards had been scheduled to give them life. But the path of history otherwise.
The Pearl Harbor attack and the ensuing battles transformed naval warfare forever. The aircraft carrier, not the battleship, was the ultimate determinant at sea. America’s unscathed carriers dominated the Pacific War. Resources were scarce, and the strategic landscape was altering, so the Montana-class was quietly terminated before any of their keels ever entered the water.
If they had been constructed, these warships would have been the most powerful battleships ever built by America, and perhaps the world. They would have complemented an already dominant fleet, providing America with unprecedented superiority on the oceans.
Instead, they are one of the greatest “what ifs” in naval history—completely designed, carefully planned, but never constructed. The Montana-class is a reminder of the final great era of battleships, immediately prior to carriers assuming their throne and battleship warfare receding into the mists of history.