Super-Battleships of World War II: Montana-class, Lion-class, H-class, A-150 and Sovetsky Soyuz-class Spiral-Bound | December 20, 2022

This book explores the uncompleted, sometimes fantastical ‘superbattleships’ in development at the beginning of the 20th century. At the start of World War II, all major powers were planning and developing classes to replace their most modern and powerful battleships. The US Navy planned to build a class of five Montana-class ‘superbattleships’ based on the Iowa class with a heavier main battery and a much deeper scale of protection. The German Navy planned the H Class, an improved Bismarck class, with plans for the H-44 design which would have incorporated an incredible 141,500 tons full load with 20in guns. The Japanese Yamato class was an entirely new design and, if completed, would have carried 20.1in guns, the largest ever mounted on a battleship. An incredible 15 ships of the Sovetsky Soyuz class were also planned for the Soviet Navy which would have rivaled the Montana-class in size. These ‘superbattleships’ could have been the most powerful surface combatants ever built, mounting guns up to a monstrous 20in calibre. However, none were ever completed and, when war broke out, they were immediately rendered obsolete by the advent of the aircraft carrier.
Tracing the design, development, and eventual fate of these unrealised ‘superbattleships’, this study recounts the story of these never-to- be- seen leviathans, detailing the plans that never came to fruition and explaining the reasons for the decisions to abandon them.