The legend of the K-1000 and the idea of missile battleships
Battleships had gone out of fashion, even though at the end of the 1940s the legend of the Soviet super-battleships K-1000 spread. It was a “hoax” picked up by the Western specialist press and fueled by the Soviet services. These were supposed to be ships weighing almost 80,000 tons with cannons of at least 410 mm and an advanced missile launch system in two dome structures (the Iowa class did not reach 60,000 tons and had nine 406 mm guns).
Pure Soviet dezinformatsiya. Not least because the USSR had not even managed to finish the four Sovetsky Soyuz battleships laid down between 1938 and 1940, preferring to use its resources elsewhere.
Although the idea of a missile-launching battleship (such as the K-1000 and the future Trump class) had also tickled the Pentagon’s fancy at that time. The US Navy considered completing the sixth Iowa-class unit, the Kentucky (BB-66), as a missile battleship by integrating two launchers for eight SSM-N-9 Regulus II cruise missiles into the battleship’s structure. The project was authorized in 1954 but was immediately blocked.
Cruisers were preferred as missile launchers due to their cost and speed within the carrier group. All that remains of the proposed conversion of the Kentucky into a missile-launching battleship is the planned designation, BBG-1, guided-missile battleship, which in the future will be given to the first Trump-class unit, the USS Defiant.
The Vietnam War and the reactivation of the New Jersey
At the outbreak of the Vietnam War, the Iowa class had all been in reserve since 1958. But in 1967, Robert McNamara authorized the return to service of the New Jersey (BB-62) alone to be used as artillery support where aerial bombardment was considered risky (the ship’s 406 mm guns had a range of over 30 km). In this role as a floating battery, the New Jersey remained in service for just over a year between 1968 and 1969 before returning to reserve.
Reagan arrives…
After another decade “in mothballs,” the four Iowa ships were all reactivated at Reagan’s instigation between 1982 and 1988, after significant modernization. The 406 mm guns were retained, but a missile component was added with eight launchers for four BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles each and four launchers for four RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The New Jersey took part in operations in Lebanon, while the Iowa suffered a disastrous accident during main gun exercises: on April 19, 1989, an explosion ripped through turret No. 2, killing 47 sailors. The Navy’s initial investigation pointed to the possible suicide of a crew member involved in a homosexual relationship, while a second congressional investigation opened up the possibility of an accident.
The Iowa class was finally decommissioned between 1990 and 1992, although the Missouri and Wisconsin were used one last time during Operation Desert Storm against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
…and the Kirov class with VLS
The return to service of the Iowa was also influenced by the Soviets, who in 1980 launched the missile battlecruiser Kirov, the first unit of its class. Equipped with nuclear propulsion, weighing 28,000 tons at full load and measuring 252 meters in length, the Kirovs were the largest surface combatants in service at the time (a definition that does not include aircraft carriers, helicopter carriers, and landing ships, which are considered mother ships, not combat ships).
But more than their size, what made the Kirov class innovative compared to other surface units of the time was the first large-scale use of VLS (vertical launch systems).
This was a change in philosophy comparable to that represented by the single-caliber battleship at the beginning of the century. The advantage is a more compact space for missiles, with the potential for a standard system for different types of missiles. Finally, reloading is eliminated, with all cells virtually ready for launch.
When they entered service, the Kirovs were armed mainly with VLS for 20 anti-ship missiles and 96 anti-aircraft missiles.
At the time the Kirov entered service, the main surface units for the United States were the Virginia-class nuclear cruisers, in service from 1976 to 1988, weighing just under 12,000 tons. The Virginia class was followed in 1983 by the Ticonderoga class, with conventional propulsion and weighing 10,000 tons, which still form the backbone of the US carrier group’s anti-aircraft defense.
The Mark 26, reload time 9 seconds
The Virginia and the first six Ticonderoga class ships were equipped with twin Mark 26 launchers capable of firing two missiles at a time with a reload time of 9 seconds. An eternity compared to the Soviet VLS systems of the Kirov class.
For the US Navy, VLS only became standard from the sixth Ticonderoga-class unit, the USS Bunker Hill (CG-52), which entered service in 1986 and was equipped with 122 cells: in addition to eliminating reloading, this was an increase on the 96 total missiles of the first five units.
Of the five Kirov class units planned, only four were completed.
Today, only the Pyotr Velikiy remains in service, with the Admiral Nakhimov reportedly completing a very long series of modernization works. In this configuration, it should reach 176 VLS cells: 80 air-to-surface and 96 anti-aircraft, and the ship should also be equipped with Zircon hypersonic missiles.
Proposals for arsenal ships
Western navies quickly closed the gap on VLS, and in the mid-1990s, the concept of the “arsenal ship” spread throughout the US Navy. These were units to be integrated into naval groups and equipped with 500 VLS cells in a relatively compact hull with a skeleton crew of an estimated 50 people, as target assignment and defense would be managed in a distributed manner by the rest of the naval group.
Despite the funding received for the program, a demonstrator of the arsenal ship was never built. This need disappeared due to the changing requirements at the end of the Cold War, which also led to the conversion of four Ohio-class vessels, originally ballistic missile submarines, into cruise missile submarines with a capacity of 154 Tomahawks each. One of these vessels was used in the attack on Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025.
The arsenal ship concept returned to the fore in 2013 when Huntington Ingalls Industries, the leading US military shipbuilding group, proposed converting a 25,000-ton, 208-meter-long San Antonio-class amphibious transport unit into an arsenal ship with 288 VLS cells.
This number of cells was comparable to the 256 cells considered for the CG(X) program for the new 20,000/25,000-ton cruisers that were to replace the Ticonderoga class. The CG(X)s were to be an enlarged version of the 16,000-ton Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers (but equipped with only 80 VLS cells), which are currently the largest surface combatants in the US Navy.
However, the CG(X) program was abandoned after the substantial failure of the Zumwalt, of which only three of the 32 initially planned units were completed.
The replacement of the Ticonderoga class still in service (the last ones will be retired by 2030) has been entrusted to the latest version, Flight III, of the Arleigh Burke class destroyers: 10,000 tons with 96 VLS cells.
DDG(X) versus Trump class
In June 2021, the US Navy launched the DDG(X) program to replace both the Ticonderoga and the early series Arleigh Burke (Flight I and II). The DDG(X), with much more classic lines than the Zumwalt, would have a total of 138 cells on 13,000-ton units. This program has already been funded and authorized, unlike the Trump class, which is still far from even preliminary design. However, the DDG(X) could be abandoned in order to divert resources and industrial capacity to the Trump class, even though they are completely different ships. [2 – to be continued. The first part was published HERE]
Photo: Phan J. Alan Elliott, US government, public domain
