Key Points and Summary: The Iowa-class battleships, including the USS Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, and Wisconsin, were icons of U.S. naval power, excelling from WWII through the Cold War. A vast majority of experts agree these are the best battleships ever to sail.
-With unmatched firepower and speed, they supported amphibious operations and countered Soviet threats like the Kirov-class battlecruisers.
-Reactivated in the 1980s with modern missile systems, these ships saw their final combat during the Gulf War.
-However, advances in missile technology and modern naval priorities like stealth and precision rendered them obsolete.
The Rise and Fall of the Iowa-Class Battleships: Naval Icons of a Bygone Era
While their legacy endures, the Iowa-class represents a bygone era of warfare, ill-suited for today’s high-tech, unmanned, and long-range combat strategies.
The Iowa-class battleships were among the most iconic warships ever built by the United States Navy.
First commissioned during World War II, these ships — Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, and Wisconsin — represented the pinnacle of American naval firepower and technological sophistical during their era.
Designed to combine speed, firepower, and heavy armor, they were primarily intended to escort fast carrier task forces and bombard enemy shorelines. With their nine 16-inch guns and 2,700-pound shells, they could deliver devastating firepower.
Their speed, over 30 knots, made them formidable assets capable of outrunning older battleships and keeping pace with aircraft carriers.
After their pivotal role in World War II, including multiple engagements in the Pacific Theater and supporting amphibious landings, the Iowa-class battleships saw sporadic use during the Cold War. They provided fire support during the Korean War and later during the Vietnam War, where their massive guns were used to bombard enemy positions.
Despite their usefulness, the rapid evolution of naval technology, particularly the rise of guided missiles and jet-powered aircraft, made the battleships increasingly outdated.
By the 1950s, they were primarily relegated to reserve status.
The Kirov-class
The Iowa-class battleships were reactivated in the 1980s as part of President Ronald Reagan’s plan to build a 600-ship navy.
This strategy aimed to counter the Soviet Union’s growing power at sea and to counter the Soviet Navy’s new Kirov-class battlecruisers.
The Kirov-class, with advanced missile systems and nuclear propulsion and some of the largest surface ships ever built, posed a serious threat to American surface fleets.
To address this new Soviet threat, the U.S. Navy modernized the Iowa-class battleships with Harpoon and Tomahawk missile launchers inserted into the ship’s deck, close-in weapon systems for anti-air defense, and were upgraded with improved electronics.
Upgrades and Reactivation for the Iowa-Class
After the U.S. Navy announced the ships would be reactivated, they received an outpouring of letters from sailors who knew the ships asking to serve on the battleships again.
“Insofar as modern military institutions can be touched by such gestures, the Navy was. But official reaction was tempered by the fact that emotions do not justify multimillion-dollar defense appropriations. What does justify the return of the battleship, according to the Navy, is a simple matter of cost efficiency in an increasingly complex defense environment,” a 1982 account of the class’ reactivation explained.
“In the case of the New Jersey, which will undertake sea trials as early as next September, an outlay of $326 million will put to sea a capital ship unmatched in offensive firepower by anything even on a drawing board, not to mention in a shipyard or afloat,” emphasizing the ship’s main gun batteries.

A tug boat nudges the bow of the Iowa-Class battleship USS Wisconsin (BB 64) as the ship is pushed from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard to the Nauticus Museum in Norfolk, Va., on Dec. 7, 2000. The Wisconsin will be the centerpiece of a four-part exhibit on the battleship’s role in Naval history.
“The same sum applied to building a completely new ship, the reasoning goes on, might be sufficient to produce a frigate, the least capable escort-type vessel, at today’s prices.”
Second Retirement
Despite the work to update the battleships, the Iowa-class was decommissioned for the last time in the early 1990s, thanks to the end of the Cold War and the high costs of maintaining them. Their last notable combat operations occurred during the Gulf War, where they launched Tomahawk missiles and provided fire support for coalition forces.
However, advancements in missile and aircraft technology had rendered the battleships’ primary armament — 16-inch guns — less critical, and the ships’ vulnerability to modern missile attacks became increasingly apparent.
Modern Warfare Means No More Iowa-Class
To reactivate the Iowa-class battleships today would be to face insurmountable challenges. Modern naval warfare prioritizes stealth, speed, and long-range precision weapons, areas where these ships simply cannot compete. Although their massive size and heavy armor were once indispensable, they now make them easy targets for sophisticated anti-ship missiles.
Upgrading the ships to survive at sea today would be astronomically expensive.

USS Wisconsin (BB-64) Fires a three-gun salvo from her forward 16/50 gun turret, during bombardment duty off Korea. Photograph is dated 30 January 1952. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
In an era where unmanned systems, cyber warfare, stealth platforms, round-the-clock space surveillance, and hypersonic missiles dominate military thinking, the Iowa-class battleships are bygones of a different era of warfare.
Impressive though their legacy is, their time at sea has long since passed.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
