In World War II, there was a proposal to convert some or all IOWA class battleships into aircraft carriers. There’s not much I’ve been able to find out about this proposal. Only one official US Navy diagram exists of this never were project which is shown below.
During December 2016, I learned from a fellow modeling friend that he was thinning down his modeling stash and he had asked me if I wanted his partially built Iowa battleship/carrier model conversion. Being that he knew I loved doing what if model projects, I instantly said YES! I never even knew he had started something like this. And I’ve never heard of anyone else attempting this project either around the Internet or elsewhere.
So during the December monthly model club meeting and Christmas party, he brought the unfinished BB/CV and gave it to me as a gift. To say I was speechless is an understatement. The only bad thing was that a balcony/walkway on the port bow side broke off when I was transporting it home from the club meeting. But it should be easily fixable.
I’ve always dreamed of starting a what if project like this in the future, but never dreamed that somebody had already beaten me to it. It’s sad to see that my friend wasn’t able to finish this model, but he said that he highly doubted he’d have time for it anymore, so he needed to find a good home/person who would have it rather than chucking it in the trash.
I feel honored to have this model and I hope I can eventually do it justice and make it an outstanding piece of work. Also, this model is in 1/350 scale. I am hoping to have it completed in time for some model contests in Spring 2019 next year.
References that I'll be using for this model project:
1. “BATTLESHIPS: United States Battleships, 1935-1992” by William H. Garzke and Robert O. Dulin, Copyright 1995 (Updated Edition)
Chapter 8, Pages 288-291
2. “US Battleship Conversion Projects, 1942-1965, an illustrated technical reference” by Wayne Scarpaci, Copyright 2013, Pages 45 and 46.
3. “Essex Class Aircraft Carriers of the Second World War” by Steve Backer, Copyright 2009 by Seaforth Publishing.
4. “Iowa Class Battleships” by Lester Abbey, Copyright 2012 by Seaforth Publishing.
(NOTE: #’s 3 & 4 above do not have any carrier conversion information in them, but are useful with lots of model building information.)
And contrary to popular belief, Norman Friedman's book "US Battleships, an Illustrated Design History" does not have any information about Iowa battleships converted into the aircraft carrier conversion I am attempting.