USS Illinois (BB-65) - Fate

Fate

Illinois's construction was put on hold in 1942 after the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway, while the Bureau of Ships considered an aircraft carrier conversion proposal for Illinois and Kentucky. As proposed, the converted Illinois would have had an 864-foot (263 m) long by 108-foot (33 m) wide flight deck, with an armament identical to the carriers of the Essex class: four twin 5-inch gun mounts and four more 5-inch guns in single mounts, along with six 40 mm quadruple mounts. It was abandoned after the design team decided that the converted carriers would carry fewer aircraft than the Essex class, that more Essex-class carriers could be built in the same amount of time to convert the battleships, and that the conversion project would be significantly more expensive than new Essexes. Instead, Illinois and Kentucky were to be completed as battleships, but their construction was given very low priority.

Ultimately, the ship was canceled on 11 August 1945, when she was about 22% complete. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 August 1945. Her incomplete hulk initially was retained on the belief that it could be used as a target in nuclear weapons tests. The cost to complete the ship enough to be able to launch her—some $30 million—was too great, however, and the plan was abandoned. She remained in the dockyard until September 1958, when she was broken up on the builder's ways.

The ship's bell was cast, and is now at the Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It reads USS Illinois 1946. The bell is on loan from the Naval Historical Center (Accession #70-399-A), Washington Navy Yard, Washington DC, to the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) at the university. The bell is traditionally rung by NROTC members when the football team scores a touchdown or goal.