chuck wrote:
A few minor quibbles:
1. Montana was not designed to fit through the locks of Panama canal and was therefore made much wider than Iowa to accommodate deeper torpedo defense system and give better damage stability.
2. Iowa's long fine bow entrance was necessitated by her high speed, and was considered to be both structurally weak and a major point of trim vulnerability in case of underwater damage. Montana, being much slower and emphasizing staying power to a far higher degree than the Iowa, would have had a more robust and shorter bow design.
3. I doubt one would cut down Montana's rear hull just to accommodate helicopter hangers. Modern US battleships all suffer various degrees of propeller vibration problems caused by waterflow behind their skegs. Cutting down the rear hull could have major stiffness implications, and reduced stiffness probably would have significant impact on the ship's vibration response at speed.
Interesting arguments there....
Preliminary Montana designs limited the beam of the ship in order to fit through the Panama canal. The final design as quoted by Mr Friedman's book provides the following characteristics for the Montanas:
Length 890 ft, Beam (WL) 115 and Beam below WL 118 ft, Draft 36 ft. Furthermore, it is mentioned that designers tried to avoid vibration problems by separating the main thrust bearings from the reduction gear casings. ( I do not know if that would have worked, even the C.F. Adams class of ships had the main thrust bearings at the fore part if the main reduction gear casing, so if anyone knows of a class of steam powered ships with the same design as the Montana shafting would provide valuable info).
I think that as a modeler of a never built battleship poetic licence is granted in order to kitbash the Iowa kits and retain the characteristic bow...
As far as the hangers are concerned, I was thinking of a transome stern at first, which would also be a propable solution for reducing the vibration caused by the props... But then I hesitated in altering and scratchbuilding part of the hull to such extent... Anyway comments are welcome and mindpuzzling as well...