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Mahogany wood base, real brass pedestals and descriptive plate enhance this elegant historical model


CIWS (white), Tomahawks in box launchers and
Harpoons were added during the modernization

Probably the finest battleships of all time, the four Iowa Class battleships (BB-61 to BB-64) served in WWII - a conflict that ended with the Japanese surrender taking place aboard USS Missouri while anchored in Tokyo Bay on September 2nd, 1945.

After WWII, three of the four Iowa Class battleships were mothballed. In the early 1950s they were re-activated and, then, all four battleships - in their WWII configuration - employed their 16-inch guns during the Korean War. All four ships were decommissioned after that.

New Jersey was briefly reactivated again for bombardment duty during the Vietnam War, then placed back into reserve.

Iowa Class modernized

During the 1980's, the entire class was extensively upgraded and re-commissioned as part of Ronald Reagan's 1980's defense buildup. The main armaments of the battleships are 16 Harpoon anti-ship missiles held in four quad launchers and the 32 Tomahawk cruise missiles held in eight armored box launchers.  Both missile types can attack either land or ship targets. Defensive armament (besides the existing guns) are the four 20mm Phalanx Close-In-Weapons-System (CIWS) which are primarily for anti-missile defensive.

The ships radars were extensively modernized so that they carry SPS-49 Air Search Radar, SPS-67 Surface Search Radar, four Mk-37 Gun Fire Control radars, two Mk-38 Gun Directors, one Mk-40 Gun Director, SLQ-25 NIXIE, SLQ-32 EW system, and one SPQ-9 on BB-61.

In 1991 Missouri and Wisconsin provided gunfire support for the Iraq War, and thereafter rejoined their sisters in the reserve fleet.

At present, all four battleships are either serving as museums or soon will be. However, technically Iowa and Wisconsin are still US Navy property and could be re-activated again.
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