http://www.popularmechanics.com/mili...leship-return/
President Donald Trump promised to increase the size of the U.S. Navy to 350 ships, which could prove to be a pricey task. But what if some of those ships could include World War II-era Iowa-class battleships? It's not impossible.The four Iowa-class battleships—USS Iowa, USS New Jersey, USS Wisconsin, and USSMissouri—were built early in the Second World War to be fast fleet battleships, capable of keeping up with aircraft carriers and duking it out with Japan's famous Yamato-class battleships. Although the Iowas never engaged another battleship, they provided naval gunfire support for U.S. ground forces during World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and off the coast of Lebanon in 1983. Each time, the ships were reintroduced to service and then quickly retired.
The Iowa's main armament consisted of three massive gun turrets, each housing threesixteen-inch guns. Each gun could heave a 1,900 pound armor-piercing shell to a range of 20 miles. The Iowa ships were heavily armored, as battleships should be, with just over a foot of steel protection at the waterline. The ships were powered by four steam turbines, giving them a top speed of 32.5 knots.