The U.S. Navy Had a Crazy Plan to Build 'Super' Battleships (But Super Obsolete)

Had the U.S. built the Montanas, they likely would have had similar post-war careers to those of the South Dakotas.  Because of their speed, the Iowas were more useful at every job except fighting other battleships.Having built the ships in the late 1940s, the USN would have sold them for scrap in the early 1960s.In the early 1940s, the U.S. Navy still expected to need huge, first rate battleships to fight the best that Japan and Germany had to offer.