Between the mid-1940s and the early 1990s, the Iowa-class battleships fought in four major US wars. All older US battleships were decommissioned by 1947 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) by 1963. The four Iowa-class ships were the last battleships commissioned in the US Navy. Four vessels, Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, and Wisconsin, were completed two more, Illinois and Kentucky, were laid down but canceled in 19, respectively, before completion, and both hulls were scrapped in 1958–1959. The Iowa class was designed to meet the Second London Naval Treaty's 'escalator clause' limit of 45,000-long-ton (45,700 t) standard displacement.

They were initially intended to intercept fast capital ships such as the Japanese Kongō class while also being capable of serving in a traditional battle line alongside slower battleships and act as its 'fast wing'. The Iowa class was a class of six fast battleships ordered by the United States Navy in 19. USS Iowa (BB-61) fires a full broadside on 15 August 1984 during a firepower demonstration after her recommissioning

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