Development
When BB-65 was redesignated an Iowa class battleship, she was assigned the name Illinois and reconfigured to adhere to the "fast battleship" designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. Her funding was authorized via the passage of the Two-Ocean Navy Act by the US Congress on 19 July 1940, and she would now be the fifth Iowa class battleship built for the United States Navy. Her contract was assigned on 9 September 1940, the same date as Kentucky. Illinois's keel was laid down at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, on 6 December 1942; her projected completion date was 1 May 1945. This amounted to a construction time of about 30 months. She would be tasked primarily with the defense of the US fleet of Essex-class aircraft carriers. In adherence with the Iowa-class design, Illinois would have a maximum beam of 108 ft (33 m) and a waterline length of 860 ft (260 m), permitting a maximum speed of 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h).
Like Kentucky, Illinois differed from her earlier sisters in that her design called for an all-welded construction, which would have saved weight and increased strength over a combination riveted/welded hull used on the four completed Iowa-class ships. Engineers considered retaining the original Montana class armor for added torpedo and naval mine protection because the newer scheme would have improved Illinois's armor protection by as much as 20%. This was rejected due to time constraints and Illinois was built with an Iowa-class hull design. Funding for the battleship was provided in part by "King Neptune", a Hereford swine auctioned across the state of Illinois as a fund raiser, and ultimately helped raise $19 million in war bonds
Read more about this topic: USS Illinois (BB-65)
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