Montana-class battleship

The Montana class was a planned set of battleships for the United States Navy. Intended as the successor to the Iowa class, the Montanas were to be slower but larger, better armored, and better armed. Five ships were approved for construction during World War II, but changes in wartime building priorities resulted in their cancellation in favor of continuing production of Essex-class aircraft carriers and Iowa-class battleships.

Armament would have been twelve 16-inch (406 mm) Mark 7 guns in four 3-gun turrets, up from the nine Mark 7 guns in three turrets used by the Iowa class. Unlike the three preceding classes of battleships, the Montana class was designed without any restrictions from treaty limitations. With increased anti-aircraft capability and substantially thicker armor in all areas, the Montanas would have been the largest, best-protected, and most heavily armed US battleships ever, and the only ones to rival Japan's Yamato-class battleships in terms of displacement.

Preliminary design work for the Montana class began before the US entry into World War II. The first two vessels were approved by Congress in 1939 following the passage of the Naval Act of 1938. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor delayed the construction of the Montana class. The success of carrier combat at the Battle of the Coral Sea, and to a greater extent the Battle of Midway, diminished the perceived value of the battleship. Consequently, the US Navy first delayed, and later cancelled, the Montana class in favor of more urgently needed aircraft carriers as well as amphibious and anti-submarine vessels.