In 1941, the planning stages of World War II, inspired in no small part by their Japanese rivals, saw the U.S. Navy conceive of the battleship class of the future, and one that would better serve their needs than the so-called super-dreadnoughts then in production. Authorized in the 1940 “Two Ocean Navy” building program and funded in Fiscal Year 1941, the five Montana-class battleships would allegedly exceed the unit firepower of the two preceding South Dakota-class battleships while boasting armor and underwater protection superior to even the North Carolina- and South Dakota-class battleships. Indeed, at 60,500 tons, the standard displacement of the Montana-class ships was almost a third larger than their predecessors, the Iowa-class, and they mounted twelve 16″/50 guns, a three-gun superiority over the Iowas.
The Montana-class battleships were designed to be better protected against underwater weapons and shellfire than the Iowa class, making the new U.S. World War II-era battleships the only ones adequately armored against guns of the same power as their own. This, however, came at a cost. The Montana class, although slower at maximum speed, was very fast compared to the Iowas, and its beam was too wide to pass through the existing Panama Canal locks.
Had they been completed, the Montana-class would have given the United States in the late 1940s a total of seventeen new battleships, a number extraordinary in its own right and unmatched by any other nation. The only American ships that were close to equaling it were the American vessels to the massive Yamato Japanese. But the wartime requirement hastened in light of the need for more aircraft carriers, amphibious, and anti-submarine vessels, suspending the Montana class in May 1942 before the laying of their keels. Its in-applicability was driven home and underscored by facts of July 1943 that showed battleships no longer formed the predominant factor in sea power.
• Montana (BB-67) – Building at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Ohio (BB-68) – Building at Philadelphia Navy Yard.
• Maine (BB-69) – Building at New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York.
• New Hampshire (BB-70) – Building at New York Navy Yard.
• Louisiana (BB-71) – Building at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia.
The design features of the Montana class included a 60,500-ton standard displacement, 70,965-ton full load, 921′ 3″ overall hull length, 121′ 2″ maximum beam, and a powerplant of 172,000 horsepower steam turbines, to produce a 28-knot maximum speed. The main battery consisted of twelve 16″/50 guns in four triple turrets; the secondary battery included twenty 5″/54 guns in ten twin mountings.
The cancellation of the Montana class was a major pivot in naval strategy. The U.S. Navy concentrated more on aircraft carriers and other more versatile vessels that proved more practical in modern war. The Montana-class battleships, while they could boost morale after Pearl Harbor, did nothing to change the fact that they had been rendered obsolete due to the ever-evolving nature of naval warfare and the need for the allocation of priorities of resources.
The story of the Montana-class battleships is just a reminder of the incredibly fast technological and strategic changes during World War II. These unbuilt titans remain a fascinating “what if” within the annals of naval history, an aspirational zenith of battleship design that was never realized.