Why Build a $23 Billion Battleship When We Already Own 4 Iowas?

A $23.4 billion warship is still only drawings and budget lines. Meanwhile, four steel battleships are tied up at piers in Hawaii, California, New Jersey and Virginia, and anyone with a ticket can walk aboard. So why is Washington designing a new one instead of bringing those back? The Iowas have been reactivated before. In the 1980s the Navy pulled all four out of storage and bolted Tomahawk launchers onto hulls built during World War II, and in 1991 Missouri and Wisconsin fired cruise missiles and 16-inch shells in Desert Storm. Lawmakers then made the Navy keep two of them ready for a possible recall. That requirement ended in 2006, when both were struck from the Naval Vessel Register. Here’s what you’ll find inside: ▸ A torpedo fired by mistake at the ship carrying Franklin Roosevelt, plus the bathtub installed for him that’s still on board ▸ The 1989 turret explosion that killed 47 sailors, and an investigation that’s still disputed today ▸ The surrender deck in Tokyo Bay, and the kamikaze dent near it that’s still in the hull ▸ The only battleship the Navy recalled for Vietnam ▸ Enemy soldiers waving white cloth at a drone ▸ A bow cut off an unfinished battleship and welded onto her sister in 1956 There’s also a number that doesn’t add up. The Navy ordered six Iowas but only four ever sailed. The video tracks down what happened to the other two, and one of them turns out to be closer than you’d expect. The short version is that money isn’t the only problem. These hulls can’t physically carry hypersonic launch tubes or generate the power lasers would need, and each one needs about 1,500 sailors the Navy doesn’t have. If you’ve ever stood on one of these decks, tell me which ship in the comments. And hit subscribe if you want more naval history like this. 📚 Research drawn from: Congressional Budget Office reporting on the BBGN battleship program Naval History and Heritage Command ship histories GAO review of naval surface fire support (1999) USNI News coverage of the Golden Fleet Battleship New Jersey Museum & Battleship Missouri Memorial #USSDefiant #IowaClassBattleship #USNavy #MilitaryHistory