ABSTRACT
Rear-Admiral. He led the USN design and building programme for the four Iowa-class battleships. USS Iowa and her sister ships were the ultimate development in the type of large-gun naval ship that dominated the major fleets of the world for a century. USS Iowa and USS Missouri were built at New York Naval Shipyard and USS New Jersey and USS Wisconsin were built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. These 45,000-ton ships, with a speed of 33 knots and mounting nine 16-inch guns, all saw service in WW2. Iowa was commissioned on 22 February 1943. All four battleships were decommissioned at the end of WW2, but at least one of this class, with upgraded weapons systems, was recommissioned to fight in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War. The basic design for these ships was completed under Chantry’s supervision at New York Naval Shipyard in 1938.
