Montana/Iowa similarities?

[seadude]

Not sure where to post this. Sorry if it's in the wrong spot.

Eventually at the end of this year, I want to start building another USS Montana battleship. I'm just unsure on whether I want to build it in the "preliminary" design configuration showing the boats, boat cranes, etc. :

........or build another hypothetical "What If" late WWII configuration with more armament, removed boats, etc.?

If I do build another "late war" Montana like I had previously done for my best friend long ago, then I have to ask: How much would the Montana have looked like an Iowa in terms of superstructure.......especially the bridge area? Would a Montana really have had an enclosed bridge area similar to the IOWA class if completed?

I have often heard in the past how people would say the Montanas were just an "Iowa wannabe". If that's the case, then just how similar or not similar would a Montana be to an Iowa if the Montanas had been finalised and built?

[Cliffy B]

Well considering if they had been built on time they would of been commissioned late war/post war.  Given all of the wartime design mods, increased AA batteries and the like they would have wound up looking like Iowas with a 4th turret.

Why not, for something different, try a Korean War fit complete with a full battery of 3"/50 RF mounts.  Could always do a 1980's style modernization as well.  I've never seen a Montana model in ANY configuration besides WWII.  Would be neat to see a later life set up.

Just my $0.02 though.

[dragon]

I agree with Cliffy B.
Why not do the MONTANA as it would appear in the 1990s circa DESERT STORM.  I believe sets for the IOWAs exist for this at Gold Medal Models.  Perhaps instead of boats the MONTANA could have a flight deck with SeaHawks, SeaCobras, or an AV-8B.

[Spey_Phantom]

i think the boys over at G.I.Joe have beat you to it.
in 1986, the USS Montana was to retire, but joined Cobra and sank half the pacific fleet  

here's the episode
http://www.56.com/u45/v_MzkxOTU3NjI.html

now you know, and knowing's half the battle 

[GTX]

What about a '80s era Phase II Reconstruction as proposed for the Iowas:



Regards,

Greg

[seadude]

A 80's/90's version sounds nice, but I'd rather do another WHIF version for an Iowa instead, and not a Montana. I've got two 1/350 WWII Missouri kits sitting at home. One I want to make into an Iowa for my best friend. The other Missouri (Plus a North Carolina I have) will be used for a second Montana (WWII version).

That Phase II concept looks nice, but it's already been done by Rusty White.
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/misc/whatif/tinian-350-rw/rw-index.html

[pyro-manic]

I have often heard in the past how people would say the Montanas were just an "Iowa wannabe".

I'm not sure I understand this.  What's an "Iowa wannabe"?

What about something entirely different - a Montana as seen in the late 40s, if the war never happened? Or if the Pearl Harbour attack didn't happen for whatever reason - maybe cooler heads prevailed in Japan, and the expansion was confined to the Dutch East Indies, Singapore etc. but avoiding American possessions? So carrier warfare never comes to prominence, and the focus stays on battleships. Neutrality patrol in the GIUK gap, or guard duty off the Philippines?

[Joe C-P]

Montana was closer to an improved North Carolina than an Iowa. There would have been some similarities to the Iowas because for design simplicity, but the Montana was more in the line of the classic USN heavy battleships than an enlarged fast battleship design.
Post-war, the Iowas would have been a more likely candidate for retention due to their speed. The Montanas might have been retained longer than the North Carolinas and South Dakotas, but there was no need for a super-heavy BB post-war.

However, if the Soviets built their Sovietsky Soyuz class, one would think the USN would have preferred the more powerful if slower Montanas, since they would have outgunned the Russkies, unlike the Iowas which would have been nominally par with their Red counterparts.
Perhaps the USN would have upgraded the Montanas with a defensive missile armament of Terriers and/or Tartars, and maybe even a pair of Talos twin launchers aft.