Summary and Key Points: The legendary Iowa-class battleships, last deployed in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm, could potentially offer unique capabilities today. Initially built during WWII and revived in the 1980s, these battleships delivered devastating firepower and significant support for naval operations.
-Despite concerns about vulnerability to modern missiles and drones, their unmatched ability to provide mass fires during amphibious landings remains strategically relevant. Upgrading these vessels with modern sensors, precision-guided munitions, aircraft-launching capabilities, and integrated defense systems like lasers and missile interceptors could protect them effectively.
-In a conflict scenario with China, the massive firepower provided by updated Iowa-class battleships could deliver crucial support to maritime operations.
The Iowa-Class Battleship Debate That Won’t End
Two Iowa-class battleships performed their final mission during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, delivering high-volume supportive fires.
The famous, heavily armed warships were large WWII-era vessels resurrected in the 1980s and brought back to service as part of President Ronald Reagan’s effort to build a 600-ship Navy.
Prior to this, the Iowa-class battleships were famous for decades of successful service in support of the US Navy, as they also performed admirably during the Korean War and WWII. During the war in the Pacific in WWII, large Iowa-class battleships functioned as escorts for the Essex-class carriers.
The Iowa-Class Battleship Comeback of 2025?
Some have questioned whether Iowa-class ships should make a comeback, given their sheer firepower and ability to blanket enemy areas with attacks.
Large battleships seem like slow, large, attractive targets for enemy aircraft and coastal land-fired missiles. Yet, there are ways the kind of firepower brought by the Iowa-class could add tremendous value to maritime warfare.
In one respect, the ability to support amphibious or coastal Naval operations with heavy ship-to-shore fire is still relevant. In enemy areas with shorter-range, less-precise munitions, a large battleship could support an amphibious landing with supportive fires and be equipped with new generations of sensors and long-range weapons.
Since US Navy battleships were configured to launch aircraft and use radar, a modern battleship could launch helicopters and vertical-take-off-and-landing aircraft such as an F-35B.
In less contested areas, a battleship of this kind could offer warfare reinforcement and function as a floating home or seabase for aircraft and large weapons systems.
Although they can be equipped with radar, a ship of that size would be easily seen by drones, satellites, and surveillance planes. Potential adversaries now operate with new generations of longer-range, precision weaponry positioned to be successful against a large battleship.
“Mass Fires”
Perhaps large battleships could bring lethal fires to launch aircraft with massively upgraded modern sensors and targeting systems. For example, the US Navy has also increased the number of over-the-horizon deck-fired missiles, such as the Naval Strike Missile.
In an excellent power engagement, an ability to “mass” precision, long-range fires to “scale” an attack would likely be highly significant.
The most relevant or significant element of this possibility is that heavily armed large battleships could be massive “attack” platforms protected by cruisers and destroyers in a Carrier Strike Group. Much like carriers are protected with ship-based radar and interceptor missiles launched from cruisers and destroyers, perhaps battleships could bring unparalleled firepower yet be protected as part of a group of ships.
Not only is there a tactical reason why large volume ship-to-shore fires would remain extremely important in maritime combat, particularly against a less advanced adversary, but there are likely emerging layered ship defenses and non-kinetic weapons that could address survivability concerns with the ships.
EW, lasers, and Vertical Launch Tube-fired interceptor missiles, supported by long-range, high-fidelity radar systems, could all prove quite effective with efforts to protect the ship. In any large-scale war, scale, and volume will have significant consequences.
Chinese Coastline
Should the US Navy need to bombard the Chinese coastline to protect Taiwan or Japan, the fleet would need to attack miles of shoreline and need more than a smaller number of precision weapons to support an amphibious landing.
Sensors and targeting technology could help identify targets for Iowa-class guns, many of which could be upgraded to fire precision munitions and mass or area fire. The sheer size of the Chinese Navy and weaponry along its coastline would need to be attacked with large amounts of firepower.
Maybe, just maybe, the US Navy wouldn’t be crazy to consider a few more deployments for the Iowa-Class battleships under the right conditions.
About the Author: Kris Osborn, Defense Expert
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
