Dreadnaught (Texas) vs. Most Modern (Iowa) Battleships

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
I have completed two 1/350 scale battleship models with significant detail.

One is the USS Texas, BB-35, a New York class battleship, which was commissioned in 1914, but which I built in its late World War II configuration and paint scheme.

The other is the USS New Jersey, BB-62, an Iowa class battleship, which was launched in 1942, but which I built in its modernized configuration and paint scheme from the 1980s.

Both are now museum ships and can be visited and boarded.

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The Texas had a main battery of ten 14" guns, displaced 33,000 tons, and was 573 ft. Long.

The New Jersey hade a main battery of nine 16" guns, displaced 58,000 tons and was 887 ft. long.

It is hard to appreciate the difference without seeing them.

So, what follows over the next few posts are pictures of the two vessels side by side and compared.


BB-Compare-01.jpg

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BB-Compare-03.jpg

The difference in size is quite apparent, as is the hull form.
 
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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member

BB-Compare-04.jpg

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BB-Compare-06.jpg

Again some of the differences are apparent. The Iowa class had four screws, the New York class had only two.

Their beams are similar, the older vessel slightly smaller in beam at 103 ft., while the Iowa class was 108 ft.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member

BB-Compare-07.jpg BB-Compare-08.jpg

The differences in aircraft carried.

In World War II they would have been similar, except the Iowa class had two catapults on the stern and carried up to four aircraft, where the New York class had a single catapult amidships and carried two aircraft.

Later, the Iowa class carried 2-4 helicopters, but had not hanger for them.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member

BB-Compare-11.jpg

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Comparing the main batteries. Three 16" guns in each turret for the Iowa class, two 14" guns in each turret on the New York class.


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Comparing the secondary armament, the modern Iowa class had twelve 5" guns in six two-gun turrets, sixteen Harpoon anti-ship missiles in four quad launchers, and 32 Tomohawk cruise missiles in eight four missile box launchers. The Iowa class, as modernized, also had four 20mm Phalnx CIWS.
The New York class in world War II had six 5" guns, ten 3" (76mm) guns, forty 40mm anti-aircraft guns in ten four-gun mounts, and forty-four 20mm anti-aircraft guns in single mounts all around the ship.
 

Equation

Lieutenant General
Thank you Jeff for this wonderful thread. I feel like most modern battleships are more refine than the dreadnought type battleships.

The dreadnoughts are like giant tanks at sea with it's thick metal hulls all around to handle the battering of heavy shells when those big 14" guns exchange fires. No frills like cruise missiles installed, advanced radar, sonar, helicopter landing deck, etc. The crew and officers lives are literally based on their bravery, discipline and accuracy.
 
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Jeff Head

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Registered Member
Thank you Jeff for this wonderful thread. I feel like most modern battleships are more refine than the dreadnought type battleships. ]Yes, this is true.

The South Dakota and Iowa battleships (the two classes actually built during the war), were much more refined...but also very heavily armed.

My comparison above is the New Jersey after her 1980s refit. So she looks a lot cleaner...not bristling with as many guns as she had to have in world wr II.

So, to be fair, in World War II her armament included:

09 × 16 inch guns
20 × 5 inch guns (Over three times as many as the Texas)
80 × 40mmm Bofors anti-aircraft guns (twice as many as the Texas)
49 × 20mm anti-aircraft guns (five more than the Texas)

Here's how an Iowa Class looked all armed up in world War II:

Iowa-WW2.jpg
 
I noticed in
USS Texas, BB-35, in 1/350 Scale
thread Jeff encouraged me to comment here, which I'll do with pleasure :) just don't have my files with me during lunch break, so, off the top of my head:
  1. I think we should keep in mind we compare ships built about 30 years apart (which is most of "Dreadnought Era") during which the development of mainly the propulsion was huge, actually the Texas didn't even have turbines (but steam engines instead), while the first dreadnought, the 1906 Dreadnought, had ... the New Jersey sure had geared (not direct) turbines, used superheated steam and other options unavailable before WW1 (feel free to correct me) ... but the comparison makes sense as many Battleship types, old, new, served in WW2, recently I saw this chart ... here it is:
    Battleships%2Bsuper%2Bimage.jpg
  2. The factor which probably most influenced Battleship design was the Washington Naval Treaty (and the subsequent London Treaties), but it doesn't concern the Texas (obviously) neither the New Jersey (practically). So I go on with the comparison, and while I consider the Iowa-class to be the best battleships of WW2, I don't think the same about the Texas and WW1 ... the best WW1-era Battleship was the Nagato (according to me :)
  3. Actually the Texas would have quickly become "weak" if the Washington Naval Treaty had not been signed, as at around 1927, the USN would have had 12 battleships and six battlecruisers with 16" guns; the Royal Navy four G3 battlecruisers (actually Fast Battleships) with 16" and four N3 battleships with 18" (I recently read an awesome article about it); the Japanese their "eight-eight" fleet (my favorite is No. 13, also a Fast Battleship, with eight 18")
for now, I have to go LOL
 
... don't have my files with me during lunch break, ...
... will be much much easier now with Conway's 1906-1922 opened at p. 115 LOL

... the USS Texas, BB-35, a New York class battleship, which was launched in 1914, ...

Laid down April 17, 1911
Launched May 5, 1912
Completed March 12, 1914

but according to wiki:
Launched: 18 May 1912
Commissioned: 12 March 1914

more than a hundred years ago anyway :)

...
Their beams are similar, the older vessel slightly smaller in beam at 103 ft., while the Iowa class was 108 ft.

thus both narrow enough to get through the Panama Canal (110 ft locks, I now checked the draft restriction: 12.6 m (41.2 ft))

The differences in aircraft carried.
...

"... Texas ... the first US battleship with flying-off platforms for aircraft, fitted in British waters, possibly as early as March 1918. She flew off her first airplane at Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) in March 1919."
(I had to retype it.)

I'll comment on the armament next.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
... will be much much easier now with Conway's 1906-1922 opened at p. 115 LOL

Laid down April 17, 1911
Launched May 5, 1912
Completed March 12, 1914

but according to wiki:
Launched: 18 May 1912
Commissioned: 12 March 1914
Exactly right, and on my model page and other places I have it right. That should be commissioned in 1914, and I have fixed it here. Thanks, my friend.

...thus both narrow enough to get through the Panama Canal (110 ft locks)
Exactly right. The Yamato class was much bigger in beam because they did not worry about getting through the canal.

...Texas ... the first US battleship with flying-off platforms for aircraft, fitted in British waters, possibly as early as March 1918. She flew off her first airplane at Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) in March 1919.
Yep.

And she had as many as four of the bi-planes from time to time in the 20s...but during World War II she flew two of the Kingfishers.
 
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