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OOC: This hopefully will be loved by the BB lovers on this board.

IC:

As World War II draw to a close and the USN pared back its fleet, a question was soon burning in many minds. What is the future of the battleships that navies around the world used?

Aircraft carriers had been proven superior by engagements in WWII, first by Japan's destruction of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, then by the destruction of Germany's Tirpitz and by America's destruction of Japan's giant Yamato. The fast Iowa class ships stayed in commission, as it was seen as they could provide all the anti-aircraft support a fleet needed. Also staying were the Alaska-class battlecruisers, which finally gained their BC designation in 1946.

The vessels were tested once more by Korea. The Korean War proved the worth of the Iowas and Alaskas, which pounded the sludge out of DPRK positions, shore emplacements and in many cases, land units that stupidly came too close to shore. The landing at Inchon had Alaska, New Jersey and Iowa backing it up, the largest fleet of surface power that any navy in the world could come up with.

The victory in Korea and the need to provide support for troops caused a realization - the Battleships did have a usage. And as the idea of missile cruisers grew, with the first being authorized in 1952 and commissioned in 1955, so did the idea of missile battleships.

The reducing of size of the navy again post-Korea led to the Iowas and Alaskas being decommissioned in 1956, but at the same time all four of the old South Dakota class ships found new life. All four were sent to be rebuilt into guided missile battleships, all with nuclear reactors. The first to recommissioned was USS Indiana, which recommissioned on September 23, 1961, losing the title as the world's first nuclear surface ship to USS Long Beach by just two weeks. All the vessels lost their back battery of 16-inch guns and most of their 5-inch guns, them replaced by Talos and Terrier SAMs, a helicopter hangar and other facilities, as well as new 8-inch guns. They also became among the first flagships with the ASROC anti-submarine rockets.

All four of the big battleships served in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and also often served as flagships for Fleets. Massachusetts served as the flagship for the 6th Fleet based in Italy for nine full years, from March 18, 1966 to August 27, 1975.

In 1960, Alaska also got a new lease on life. Preparing to be sold for scrap, the Royal Canadian Navy bought it. Renamed HMCS St. Lawrence, the battlecruiser served until 1966 in its original configuration, then was rebuilt. It stayed in service post-Forces unification, staying in service until 1987. From 1971 to 1987, the ship served as the Canadian flagship.

Vietnam saw the beginning of a new need for giant guns, and congressional pressure saw the recommissioning of the Iowas. All four of them were recommissioned again in 1967-68, and Congress came through to keep them in service. However, once on the firing line they held their own, as did their older brothers. All eight BBs proved to be powerful guns. When the Navy decided to decommission them in 1970, the Marine Corps angrily demanded they stay active. The commanders of the Marines also said they wanted to keep all of them, saying that nothing scared enemies like the big battleships did.

Carter reluctantly kept them on, but some figured that they would be tossed before Carter left. They turned out to be right, as South Dakota and Alabama were decommissioned in March 1980 as a cost-cutting measure, but the other two and the Iowas stayed to be part of Reagan - and his 600-ship Navy.

Reagan's defense plans included making the Iowas and South Dakotas truly modern warships. The entire forces saw their plans sped up under Reagan, and the Battleships were among his pet wishes.

South Dakota and Alabama returned to the Navy in April 1981, with rebuilding in mind. The Iowas went in first, all four of them being rebuilt from 1982 to 1984. The Iowas had their entire superstructures rebuilt, and fitted with the awesome AEGIS combat system, hooked up to two Mk 26 twin-arm missile launchers. The twin funnels were replaced with two side-by-side funnels halfway down the back on the ship, the rear Mk-26 launcher is in between the two funnels. The Mk-26 launchers were themselves modified with blast shields to withstand the massive overpressure of the main batteries. The ships also gained 6 Mk-141 and 18 Mk-143 launchers for Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles, with 8 of those Tomahawk launchers mounted on the tops of the gun turrets.

The third turret was raised 21 feet to allow the building of a helicopter hangar, which allowed the equipping of two SH-60 Seahawk helicopters. The boilers and turbines were replaced by 4 Combustion Engineering superheated boilers and 8 GE geared steam turbines, moving the power number up to 265,000 shp. 12 of the 5-inch gun mounts were removed, and all of the 5-inch guns that remained were replaced with Mark 45 54- caliber 5-inch guns. All of the 20mm and 40mm anti-aircraft guns were removed. The 16-inch guns had new loading systems installed that reduced the crew requirements. An ASROC anti-submarine missile launcher was installed on the rear of the ship, behind the helicopter flight deck. The ship had its crew requirements reduced from the 2700 of WWII to 1445 in the new version. The electronics installed were the absolute state of the art, and the ships also got eight RQ-2 Pioneer unmanned aerial drones to do gunfire spotting for the battleships. The refits cost over a billion dollars each, but the results were undeiably impressive.

The first ship, USS New Jersey, recommissioned on November 29, 1982, in Long Beach, California. The ships were absolutely the biggest monsters in service with the United States Navy. The last of the four was Wisconsin, which commissioned on July 18, 1984 in New York City. That same month, Iowa became the center of the US Navy's first Surface Action Group, even though most agreed that the Iowas needed little help in defending themselves.

The Iowas proved to be powerful warships and also proved to be versatile, and found themselves involved in a bunch of conflicts. New Jersey proving her worth by being part of the US Force supporting the Marines in America's involvement in the Lebanese Civil War. Iowa one-upped this by being part of the invasion force on Grenada in 1983, her mighty guns leveling Cuban and Grenadan defense emplacements on the island. New Jersey would serve again in supporting the strikes on Libya in 1986, and Missouri and Wisconsin served in both Operation Preying Mantis and Operation Desert Storm.

The other battleships stayed on as well. While the highly impressive rebuilt Iowas were often their own force centers, the South Dakota classes usually served as the chief support ship for a carrier battle group.

But on June 23, 1985, one of the most remarkable cases of support happened aboard Indiana, as she headed for Britain. Her radars usually kept track of airliners as practice, but off the coast of Ireland, Indiana noted a flight have a major blast and force a crash landing in the Ocean. This was Air India Flight 182, which had suffered a bomb explosion in the bay of the aircraft. The aircraft dropped to withing 2000 feet before it finally broke apart, but in an incredible coincedence the crew on Indiana directed the crippled airliner to try and set it down as close as possible to them. Indiana and her crew raced to the crash site, and her lifeboats, helicopters and amphibious craft attempted and successfully rescued 102 people from the flight. Indiana's Seahawks, and helicopters of the Irish Air Guard, managed to save the lives of most of the survivors. Indiana also recovered 146 bodies, leaving just 81 bodies not accounted for.

The actions of Indiana earned it a Navy Unit Commendation and a Presidential Unit Citation. The entire crew of the ship was also made honorary members of the Order of Canada for their actions by Canadian PM Brian Mulroney. The ship soon commanded much respect among Canadians, enough so that when newly-rebuilt Indiana made a visit to Toronto to celebrate the newly expanded St. Lawrence Seaway in August 1991, she was met by more than 10,000 people, including 34 survivors of Flight 182, the Premier of Ontario and Mayor of Toronto.

After the rescue of Flight 182 and the actions of the Iowas, when Congress began to talk about changes to the Navy in the late 1980s, the talk moved from decommissioning the South Dakota class to rebuilding them like the Iowas had been. South Dakota was sent for rebuilding first in June 1988, recommissioning in March 1990. The Rebuilt South Dakotas lost their rear gun battery, but kept the front two. The South Dakotas also gained the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System and the AEGIS combat system. They gained the latest nuclear reactors from the Nimitz class carriers, which upped their speed to a scarcely-believable 41 knots at full power. The systems tailored the South Dakota class to be the biggest and baddest support ships available to the US Navy, but also capable of being their own battle leaders. Newly equipped, The South Dakota classes were ready to serve into the 21st Century.
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