![]() The designation given to battleships that exceeded the 45,000-ton limit of the last Treaty (BBB) was applied to Montana as the first American warship to do so. The US Navy had not one but FIVE under construction. ![]() The results are the most powerful Allied gunships in the world, a match for all foreign designs except perhaps the Führer and the zenith of battleship configuration and construction. The DP guns, contrary to the initial design, are sited higher (like Iowa) but use a two-up/three down pattern instead of the Iowas' three-up/two down. The boat deck designed to be between the funnels is stuffed with AA guns instead. A longer, Iowa-style bow is put on her to help weather the heavy seas of the North Atlantic and to gain an extra knot of speed. The Iowas are being built at the same time in different shipyards and are 'competing' to see which can be finished first. In "Grand Fleet", the American naval buildup comes earlier, and two of these giants, Montana and New Hampshire, join the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, respectively, as fleet flagships in mid-1943. By the time the Montana-class could be readied for construction it became obvious that carriers were the "capital ships" now needed in naval warfare, and the orders for five Midway-class CV's replaced those for the Montanas. None of these ships were started due to more urgent repair and construction needs in shipyards at the time. ![]() A broad beam deliberately too wide for the Panama Canal was a first for American warship construction, but the trade-off was the lesser chance of sinking in an engagement due to her great size. The extra tonnage (over the Iowa-class) was mainly used up in mounting a fourth heavy turret, and a double armor belt somewhat like Yamato. Because of her great size, this class would not be able to steam at the 45,000-ton Iowa-class' 33 knots, but at the more sedately 28-30 knots of the South Dakota-class. In July of 1940 the US Congress authorized their "Two-ocean Navy" construction program and among the ships to be built were five super-battleships in the 58,000-ton range that had been design-studied a few years earlier.
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