Illinois-class battleships were battleships in the United States Navy first built at the beginning of the 20th century. The first ship of its class, the USS Illinois, was commissioned in 1901.
Finally, on 27 January, the battleship headed south for winter exercises with the Fleet at the drill grounds in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida.
Though she remained inactive at New York, the battleship was not decommissioned until 17 August 1909.
In mid-March, the battleship moved south to the lower reaches of the Chesapeake Bay and began transforming landsmen into sailors.
Like all American battleships of her generation, her armament was laid out in two turrets before the superstructure and one after ("2-A-1"), with the 5 inch dual-purpose secondaries (anti-ship and anti-aircraft) flanking the superstructure.
Third, all four of the Iowa classbattleships were recommissioned and refitted under the Reagan Administration as part of Navy Secretary John F. Lehman's "600-ship Navy" plan, particularly in response to the Soviet Navy commissioning the Kirov class battlecruisers/missile cruisers.
Battleships cannot be equipped with modern electronics, which would be damaged or destroyed by the shock of the 16 inch guns' fire, reducing or eliminating their interoperability with the rest of the fleet.
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