![]() ![]() "The battleships performed marvelously in the 20th century, with 20th-century technology. ![]() "The issue here is the need to press forward with a new ship and new technology to meet 21st-century threats," said Landon Hutchens, a Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman. Cruisers and destroyers serve that purpose now, and the Navy expects the new DD(X) destroyer to take over the job when it goes into service in 2014. The Navy expects that most future battles will be in or near coastal waters, and that it will need ships that can deliver huge amounts of gunfire to support land operations. ![]() The Iowa would become a floating museum in Stockton, Calif., and the Wisconsin would become a museum in Norfolk.Ĭritics warn that the move could leave Marines vulnerable. The Iowa and the Wisconsin are each nearly three football fields long. ![]() A GAO report said the Iowa and Wisconsin together cost about $1.4 million a year to maintain. troops ashore was the USS Wisconsin in 1991.Ĭongress will decide whether to decommission the two battleships for good as lawmakers try to complete the defense authorization and spending bills. The last ship to fire its guns in support of U.S. They were last deactivated in 1991, but Congress ordered them back into reserve status five years later after determining that the Navy would have a gap in its ability to support Marine Corps land operations until early in the 21st century.įrom World War II until the 1991 Persian Gulf War, support for the Marines was provided mostly by the Iowa-class battleships' 16-inch guns, which can hurl a 2,000-pound projectile 24 nautical miles. Now they are facing their final deactivation and could be turned into museums. battleships - the USS Iowa and the USS Wisconsin - have been decommissioned and reactivated several times in their 60-year history. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |