Stealth battleship?

[seadude]

Is it possible to make a 1/350 TAMIYA USS New Jersey battleship stealthy? Or maybe a better question should be........Should it be done at all?
Post # 20 here:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,34405.15.html

Now I probably don't want to make the whole ship stealthy, but rather just change a few things such as:
a) Maybe put most radars and sensors enclosed under a shroud similar to the masts on the San Antonio class LPD's or have flat panel radars, etc. against a superstructure.
b) Have the ship's boats and RHIBs enclosed similar to what is on the La Fayette class French frigates.
c) Make the smokestacks more "modern" similar to on the Arleigh Burke class destroyers.

What else, if anything, should I change? Or would it be better to leave an IOWA class battleship as is? A lot of modelers and other people will tend to prefer/like the look of "classic/old style" bridge layout, smokestacks, and a lot of other features for nostalgia/historical purposes so to speak.

In today's world, a lot of navy ships are being made stealthy to avoid enemy detection. Can a battleship be done the same way? And to what extent? How far should it go?

[Captain Canada]

It could be done. But if you're going to go that far, why even start with a pricey 350 scale kit and just scratch build the entire thing ? I'd love to see a battleship sized stealth ship !

[sandiego89]

Right angles, slab sides, and steel are huge contributors to radar cross section.  The Iowas have lots and lots of all three.

AEGIS radars and a modern enclosed mast would look great however, but not as a significant stealth measure.

Your efforts could reduce radar return a bit, but honestly never make her very stealthy.  Hiding a few boats and radars would be a miniscule reduction.  Don't want to be a wet blanket, but it would be a large task.  Might be best to scale a stealthy design up to battleship size, rather than convert an Iowa.    

[deathjester]

make it submersible - then it doesn't show up on radar at all...

[eatthis]

make it submersible - then it doesn't show up on radar at all...

i was gonna say that lol

[deathjester]

You know what you could do then?  Elevate a railgun barrel above the waves, and using sattelite tar getting, or spotter aircraft datalinks, fire on your target from thousands of miles away!  Might not even have to untie the ship from the dock...!!

[zenrat]

Pink paint and a Somebody Else's Problem Field.
http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Somebody_Else's_Problem_field

[seadude]

Your efforts could reduce radar return a bit, but honestly never make her very stealthy.  Hiding a few boats and radars would be a miniscule reduction.  Don't want to be a wet blanket, but it would be a large task.  Might be best to scale a stealthy design up to battleship size, rather than convert an Iowa.     

Yeah, I was thinking about that today. If I really wanted to create a stealthy battleship, it would have to be a completely scratchbuilt design. Even making the entire hull and all superstructure from scratch. Too much work for me. I guess I'll just stick with building a good old fashioned IOWA modernised battleship with more quantities of RAM, CIWS, VLS, etc., etc. to make it appear it got a service life extension into the 21st century.