No More U.S. Battleships?

“For the first time since the 1890s, the U.S. Navy soon could be with­out a bat­tle­ship,” Defense News says.

The Senate, in its ver­sion of the fis­cal 2006 defense autho­riza­tion bill, autho­rizes the Navy to dis­pose of the bat­tle­ship Wisconsin and trans­fer it to the state of Virginia.
And a pro­vi­sion in the House ver­sion of the defense bill would trans­fer the bat­tle­ship Iowa to the Port of Stockton, Calif.
Only two bat­tle­ships remain in Navy cus­tody: the Wisconsin, berthed at Nauticus mar­itime cen­ter in down­town Norfolk, Va., and the Iowa, moored in a moth­ball fleet at Suisun Bay, Calif. Per an agree­ment dat­ing from the 1990s between the Navy and the Senate, the ships have been kept because their 16-inch guns can pro­vide fire sup­port for Marines on shore. The agree­ment man­dates the Navy to keep the ships until an equal or greater fire sup­port capa­bil­ity is oper­a­tional.
But the Extended-Range Guided Munition (ERGM) intended to pro­vide that new capa­bil­ity remains mired in devel­op­men­tal prob­lems, and its not clear when or even if that weapon ever will be fielded.
Two other ships in the four-ship Iowa class, the Missouri and New Jersey are now museum ships in Hawaii and New Jersey, respectively. 

May 25th, 2005 | Ships and Subs | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.