Per the reference to two Iowa-class museum ships: actually all four are now museum ships (Iowa in Los Angeles, New Jersey in Camden NJ, Missouri at Pearl Harbor, and Wisconsin at Norfolk). The point about salvaging parts in case of keeping them in operation is a valid one, however – even during the 1980s deployments of the class, parts would often have to be fabricated “in house” in the machine shop on the ships. As it is, the last remaining 16-inch shells produced by the Navy were divided up between Camden and Norfolk about three years ago.

(Interestingly, though, in terms of how those ships survive, the main batteries on the four are basically operational. I spent time working as a tour guide and working as assistant to the curator at the New Jersey, so I helped as we were reactivating the analog firing computer (which has never been replaced since 1938) and systems for one of the main battery guns for a tour; it not only still works but starting calculating the last firing sequence from 1989 that was still half-programmed into it!)

In my experience working aboard a battleship as a civilian and actually doing a lot of oral history work with former crewmen from the four deployments, I do actually think that that sort of warship has a role in a smaller modern navy. Especially looking at some of the engagements where battleships were used not as ships-of-the-line per se, but as a general purpose vessel (particularly after helicopters were added to the New Jersey in Vietnam, when it was the only of the four activated– the battleship often acted as a sort of quasi-carrier close to shore, including being a field hospital for the army and marines). In a smaller navy, the battleship design has a versatility and adaptability that other ships don’t – looking at New Jersey in Vietnam and the Iowa-class 1982–1991 gives an indication of how a modern battleship can be a highly-armed mobile central command with more effeciency than a carrier.