List of U.S. Dreadnought Battleships, 1910 - 1944

American dreadnought battleship New York, vaporizing the sea with her cutwater during trials in mid-1914 (for an enlarged view click here). The United States built more battleships than any other nation, arriving at arguably the greatest design of all, the 882-foot Iowas of 1944. You can trace the evolution of American dreadnoughts in this page. Note that from the very first, U.S. dreadnoughts mounted their big guns in all-centerline turrets with a superfiring arrangement. Introduced by the U.S. in 1910, this scheme was eventually adopted by all the world's navies -- a tribute to its economy and sensible distribution of force.

Robustly championed by President Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. Navy played a prominent rôle in the country's rise to imperial reach and, eventually, to superpower status. Unlike the British empire, the U.S. had the economic vitality and industrial muscle to finesse the tricky technological transition to overwhelming air power during the 1940s while at the same time churning out subs, destroyers, cruisers and landing craft in record numbers. Nor was battleship construction shelved in the twilight of their prominence. During this transition to air-power, the Navy's strategists -- led by R. Adm. Raymond Spruance and Adm. Chester Nimitz -- had the vision to rethink the battleship's function. Powerful new units with speeds of 27-33 knots were assigned to beat off air attack with a heavy curtain of flak, protecting the fleet carriers. For this duty, speed was essential. The 20- and 21-knot pre-1925 battleships were still valuable for shore bombardment and convoy escort service, but as fortune increasingly smiled on the Allies from mid-1944 forward, there were enough fast battleships for their specialized duties and (with the Pearl Harbor casualties all reëmerging from the yards) plenty of older ships to fill their new niche too.

American Dreadnought Battleships by Class

The aerial bombing successes of General Billy Mitchell aside, the U.S. Navy's faith in the battleship continued into WWII; above, Colorado class battleships on maneuver between the wars, with their distinctive shark's nose bows (for an awesome enlarged view, click here). In the Twenties, older units were converted to burn oil fuel and to carry scout planes and AA guns; during the Thirties, their hulls had stout torpedo blisters added for anti-torpedo protection. In the Pearl Harbor attack most of the Pacific battleship fleet was sunk or damaged; however, all but two units sunk at Pearl were salvaged and returned to action, improved and modernized. Despite the predominance of air power demonstrated at Pearl Harbor, the Coral Sea and Midway, all battleships already under construction were completed. Later in the War, two of the projected 6 Iowa class ships were scratched, and the 4-ship Montana class (mounting a dozen 16-in guns) was canceled before being laid down. The battleships' mission morphed into AA protection and carrier escort for the fast ships, shore bombardment for the older units. In the Pacific war there was but one ship-on-ship duel, a night action between the USS Washington and South Dakota and the Japanese 14" battleship Kirishima fought in the waters off Guadalcanal on Nov. 14/15, 1942. In the opening phase of this fight, known as the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, Kirishima temporarily disabled the South Dakota but was in turn blasted by the "Lucky W," shooting accurately from 8,000 yards. His steering wrecked and his upperworks turned into a red-hot inferno by nine 16-in hits, the Japanese commander chose to scuttle his ship. With the subsequent sinking of 4 Japanese transports, the night's action presaged the withering of the Japanese effort at Guadalcanal. Later in the War, many older American battleships got in their licks during the Oct. 25, 1944 Battle of Surigao Strait (see video). The fast Iowas were away chasing a diversion, leaving a force of 6 old U.S. battleships (5 of them Pearl Harbor survivors) on guard. State-of-the-art radar aboard the West Virginia detected a Japanese task force led by Kongo-style battleships attempting to sneak into Leyte Gulf by the back door. When the ruse was discovered, American PT boats and destroyers launched a swift and devastating torpedo attack while the U.S. battleships scrambled to block the Japanese challenge. A battle royal ensued. Fuso exploded and split in two, while 4 out of 5 Japanese destroyers were disabled, 2 being sunk outright. Although only the West Virginia had the range -- thanks to her advanced targeting radar --, the amount of 14-inch ordinance flying back and forth sufficed to gratify even the crustiest battleship buff. Combined with with the aggressive use of American torpedo craft, it sufficed to snuff the Japanese advance, smoothing the way for Gen. Douglas MacArthur's reconquest of the Philippines. Though marred by sloppy shooting on both sides, this encounter was the last all-out slugfest between opposing capital ships in the Pacific. Thus, as naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison has pointed out, it stands as the definitive end of the armored battleship era begun some 85 years before with La Gloire and HMS Warrior.

Above, the USS Idaho looses a hellish bombardment of Okinawa with her 14" guns in 1945. Tremendous firepower was brought to bear on Iwo Jima and Okinawa as the Pacific War reached its climax. Older battleships such as the Texas, Nevada, Arkansas, and Idaho were instrumental in softening up the landing zones. Unfortunately their heavy artillery had little effect on the Japanese garrisons deeply dug into rock caves in the islands' craggy interiors. Bitter resistance from the stubborn, dedicated defenders made these final offensives a meat-grinder for the American infantry and Marines. The battleships' value in coast bombardment was felt around the world, but particularly in the invasions of Italy and France and the Pacific islands. While HMS Warspite and the French dreadought Lorraine were welcome partners in pulverizing enemy-held beachheads, the U.S. battleship fleet constituted the core of this effort through its sheer numbers.

From the 1907-08 voyage of the 16-battleship Great White Fleet onwards, the Navy's peacetime PR has been handled masterfully by the government. In the 60 years since the end of WWII, the USS Missouri and the other Iowa class battleships were potent symbols of America's military might sent on "goodwill cruises" to show the flag abroad and flog patriotism at home. With the retirement of the Iowas, that rôle has been transferred at last to the carriers, as witness the recent PBS series "Carrier," and the deployment of flattops to the Persian Gulf to intimidate Iran. But as befits the nation that fielded more dreadnoughts than any other, the burly battleships of WWII continue to carry their message: the U.S. has no fewer than seven war memorial museum ships in as many states (and the name ship of the Iowa class is still in existence, awaiting restoration). In the entire remaining world, there is only one comparable battleship: the venerable Mikasa in Japan, restored in part with U.S. contributions during the late 1950s. Of the battlewagons in the U.S., perhaps the one of greatest interest to the history buff is the 1914 dreadnought USS Texas, the only WWI vintage dreadnought in existence in the world today, which fought with distinction in both World Wars. She is preserved at San Jacinto State Park near Houston.

Certainly the USS Missouri may make an historic claim to fame as well, for it was on her deck that the Japanese surrender was signed on September 2, 1945, ending the Second World War. The "Big Mo" has been on permanent exhibit at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii since 1993. A thousand yards off her bulbous bow, a war memorial of another kind spans the sunken hull of the dreadnought Arizona, which entombs 1,103 crewmen in its tortured steel. After 67 years the rusty hulk still oozes oil into the fairway off Ford Island, in mute remembrance of the appalling morning of December 7, 1941.

• Global List of all U.S. Navy Battleships
• U.S. Pre-Dreadnought Battleships, 1890 - 1908
• Escape From the Jaws of Death: A Yarn of the Pacific War
• WWI-era Japanese Battleships
• USS Arizona Tribute Video
• British Dreadnought Battleship List
• British Dreadnought Battlecruiser List
• List of German Dreadnoughts in WWI
• Haze Gray's World Battleships List
• Battleships Class by Class with Plans: World War 1.co.uk
• Battle of Surigao Strait Video
• Big, Bad Battleships Global Site Nav