I'm thinking to also show the battleship in a possible configuration as commissioned with a stronger 40/20mm AA suite (montana beign commissioned in 1945 with a 3 year building time like the Iowas?) and another one for later ships (coming around 1947 or later) with 76mm guns for AA.
YES
If you draw this ship, the version must be the "1946-1948".
Because, at best, the first ship will be "keel laid down" by mid-1943, hull launched by late 1945 and commissioned by mid/late-1946.
So the only chance to see montana commissioned in 1945 would be an improbable keel laying in mid 1942 just after they where approved by congress right?
also started the 1947 (more plausible never-where) following Colombamike advices.
the Helicopter idea is interesting instead, by changing the year from 1947 to 1948 i can get rid of the seaplane thus showing a little more changes between the other versions, while other features could remain just like they are; for boats, i have deleted them among the crane to get space for one of the 76mm sponsoons, getting them back on place could not be really immediate (and boats with no crane are hard to be moved).
SOME HISTORIC DETAILS TOWARD A REALISTIC MONTANA COMMISSIONED by 1947-1948.
US IOWA CLASS:
(
laid-down/launched/commissioned dates)
- Iowa: 27 june 1940 - 27 august 1942 - 22 february 1943 (32 months to be built)
- New-Jersey: 16 september 1940 -07 december 1942 - 23 may 1943 (32 months to be built)
- Missourri: 06 january 1941 - 29 january 1944 - 11 june 1944 (37 months to be built)
- Wisconsin: 25 january 1942 - 07 december 1943 - 16 april 1944 (27 months to be built)
- Illinois: 06 december 1942 -
RE***-laid-down 15 january 1945 - cancelled 12 august 1945 at 22% completed
- Kentucky: 07 march 1942 -
RE***-laid-down around 06 december 1944 - cancelled by february 1947 at 72% completed.
***
= RE laid-down due to others wartimes priorities (amphibious shipyards construction shortage/delays)
(
as usual, a IOWA battleships was laid-down 2 years after the official order)
at the best, USS MONTANA - BB-67 - laid-down by late 1943 - launched by late 1945/mid 1946 - completed by 1947/
1948 (
mainly due to the "slowdown" of the US military shipyards immediatly in the postwar period (1946-1949...).
(sorry for my very-bad english
)