Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 149. Chapters: USS Missouri, Pennsylvania-class battleship, USS Wyoming, Iowa class battleship, North Carolina-class battleship, USS New Jersey, USS Texas, USS Iowa, USS Wisconsin, USS Nevada, USS Tennessee, USS Washington, USS West Virginia, USS Pennsylvania, USS Alabama, USS Arkansas, USS Arizona, USS North Carolina, Colorado class battleship, USS Massachusetts, USS South Dakota, USS New Mexico, Nevada-class battleship, USS Oklahoma, USS Maryland, USS California, USS New York, USS Idaho, USS Mississippi, New York class battleship, Wyoming class battleship, USS Indiana, USS Colorado, New Mexico class battleship, Tennessee-class battleship, Battleship Row. Excerpt: The Iowa-class battleships were a class of fast battleships ordered by the United States Navy in 1939 and 1940 to escort the Fast Carrier Task Forces which would operate in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Six were ordered during the course of World War II, but only four were completed in time to see service in the Pacific Theater. The last two had been laid down, but as a result of the postwar drawdown of the armed forces they were canceled prior to completion and eventually scrapped. Like other third-generation American battleships, the Iowa class followed the design pattern set forth in the preceding North Carolina- and South Dakota- class battleships, which placed great emphasis on speed as well as on the secondary and anti-aircraft batteries. Between the mid-1940s and the early 1990s the Iowa-class battleships were involved in four major wars fought by the United States. In World War II, they defended aircraft carriers and shelled Japanese positions. During the Korean War, the battleships provided seaborne artillery support for United Nations forces fighting against North Korea, and in 1968 New Jersey shelled Viet Cong and Vietnam People's Army military...