Canceled 80 Years Ago—Now “Fighting” Iran?

(DailyVantage.com) – A fantastical headline claiming U.S. Navy Montana-class battleships could be firing missile swarms at Iran exposes how easily misinformation spreads when Americans forget their own military history.

Story Snapshot

Montana-class battleships were never built, canceled in 1943 before construction began
These WWII-era designs had no missile capabilities, only massive 16-inch naval guns
The Iran scenario is entirely fictional, blending 80-year-old blueprints with modern warfare
Cancellation allowed resources to shift toward aircraft carriers that won the Pacific War

The Montana-Class Never Left the Drawing Board

The Montana-class battleships represent the U.S. Navy’s ultimate gun-era warship design that never materialized. Authorized under the 1940 Two-Ocean Navy Act, five ships designated BB-67 through BB-71 were planned to displace approximately 70,000 tons fully loaded and carry twelve 16-inch Mark 7 guns in four triple turrets. The Navy canceled all five vessels in July 1943 before laying a single keel, redirecting scarce wartime resources toward aircraft carriers and escort vessels that proved far more valuable in the Pacific theater against Japan.

Guns Not Missiles Defined the Design

Montana-class specifications centered entirely on gun-based naval warfare doctrines from the early 1940s. The ships would have mounted twelve 16-inch guns capable of firing 2,700-pound armor-piercing shells to ranges exceeding 42,000 yards, alongside twenty 5-inch secondary batteries for anti-aircraft and anti-surface defense. No vertical launch systems, cruise missiles, or guided munitions appeared in any design iteration because such technology did not exist until decades after World War II. Claims of “missile swarms” ignore fundamental historical reality, conflating modern naval capabilities with obsolete battleship armaments that became strategically irrelevant once carrier aviation dominated naval combat.

Why the Navy Made the Right Call

Canceling the Montana-class freed resources for ten Essex-class aircraft carriers that delivered decisive air power throughout the Pacific War. Each Montana would have consumed approximately one to two billion dollars in 1940s costs while offering firepower increasingly vulnerable to air attack and submarine warfare. The ships’ 28-knot maximum speed lagged behind the Iowa-class battleships’ 33 knots, limiting fleet flexibility. Naval strategy had already shifted toward carrier battle groups and long-range strike capabilities by 1943, rendering heavily armored gun platforms obsolete despite their impressive specifications on paper.

The Iran Angle Reveals Modern Confusion

Connecting Montana-class battleships to potential operations against Iran demonstrates dangerous historical illiteracy about American naval power. Modern carrier strike groups armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, F/A-18 Super Hornets, and advanced electronic warfare systems provide infinitely more capability than 16-inch guns against 21st-century threats like anti-ship ballistic missiles and drone swarms. Iran’s military capabilities including hypersonic weapons and distributed coastal defenses would render slow, massive battleships catastrophically vulnerable. This fictional scenario distracts from legitimate debates about maintaining carrier readiness and missile defense capabilities against actual adversaries threatening freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf.

70,000 Ton U.S. Navy Montana-Class Battleships Could Have Been Firing Missile Swarms at Iranhttps://t.co/IdJzN022X2

— 19FortyFive (@19_forty_five) March 5, 2026

Preserving accurate military history matters because it informs current defense decisions. The Montana-class serves as an important lesson about technological transitions and resource allocation during wartime, not as a blueprint for modern conflict. Americans deserve honest analysis of naval power grounded in facts rather than speculative fiction mixing incompatible eras and technologies that undermine serious national security discussions.