Comments by "" (@RedXlV) on "The Drydock - Episode 095" video.

Something that occurs to me with the Montanas is that unlike the Iowas, they would've reverted to externally mounted belt armor. Which means that in the 1980s, something that might've been considered is simply removing the belt (since protection against armor piercing shells was no longer considered relevant). Since the belt armor is one of the heaviest parts of a battleship, that would reduce the weight by quite a bit and possibly increase their speed to above 30 knots. Or of course if they'd had the X and Y turrets replaced by missiles at some earlier date, that might not even have been an issue. Regardless of what sort of missiles might've been chosen in the 60s or 70s, they would've weighed a lot less than a pair of 16"/50 triple turrets.
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