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South Dakota Class Battleships
South
Dakota BB57, Indiana BB58, Massachusetts BB59 and Alabama BB60.
Length 39 inches. 4 sheets.
The six battleships of
the South Dakota class were slower but more
heavily armed and armored contemporaries of the Lexington class
battle cruisers. All were laid down in 1920 and 1921, only to be suspended
under the terms of the Naval Limitations Treaty in February 1922 when they
were between 11% and 38% completed. All six remained on the building ways
until October-November 1923, when they were sold for scrapping.
Like the Lexington class, the
South Dakota's were large ships, with a
designed displacement nearly a third greater than their immediate
predecessors. These were classic U.S. Navy battleships, well protected
against gunfire and torpedoes, heavily armed, but relatively slow, intended
to prevail in a big-gun slugging match with an enemy battleline. Their main
battery represented a fifty-percent increase in number of guns (twelve versus
eight), and these 16" guns were of a somewhat more powerful type than
those fitted to previous U.S.
battleships. After cancellation of their ships, some of these weapons were
employed for seacoast defense. Armor and boilers from the South
Dakota class were also recycled for use in modernizing older
battleships.
3 SHEET
PLAN
1/72
SCALE
TPS-9408-1
PRICE:
$ 36.25
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SOUTH DAKOTA CLASS BATTLESHIP – 85” HULL
US-DAK
PRICE: $ 850.00
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