I visited the Wisconsin in Norfolk, Va a few years ago. During the tour, the docent told us the ship cost $1 million per day to operate.
Per day.
Aside from the whole "wasn't the carrier v battleship question answered in the 40's?" thing, using just that metric alone renders an Iowa-class (or any other large "big guns only" warship) cost-ineffective. And that's being conservative and assuming that the $1 million/day cost of operation was in 1991 dollars. Put in today's dollars? No way.
Sorry folks, the Iowa-class' contributions to US Naval history are just that: history.
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