IOWA battleship to aircraft carrier conversion.

[PR19_Kit]

But surely in WhiffWorld there are TWO Panama Canals, one alongside the other, built especially to take those twin hulled carrier/battleships................. 

[Captain Canada]

I think the toughest part will be building and adding the various radars atop the superstructure. Radars tended to change about as fast as a person changed their socks. And not all Essex class carriers were the same from one ship to another.

That should make it easy then....anything goes ! 

[seadude]

wasn't the beam of these big bruisers already dictated - by the width of the Panama canal?

Quite probably, and having been through the Canal I can tell you it's narrow. Our cruise ship was relatively small and we were almost scrapping the sides.

If I'm not too mistaken, I think there's 1-2 feet of space on either side of the Iowa when it goes through the Panama Canal locks.

[James W.]

Quick!
Tweet 'the Donald' & suggest he re-activate 'Operation Plowshare'!
A prime display of 'merican nucular muscle at work, for peace & a big-as canal  - too!
That's a "Win Win"!

[Joe C-P]

wasn't the beam of these big bruisers already dictated - by the width of the Panama canal?

Quite probably, and having been through the Canal I can tell you it's narrow. Our cruise ship was relatively small and we were almost scrapping the sides.

If I'm not too mistaken, I think there's 1-2 feet of space on either side of the Iowa when it goes through the Panama Canal locks.

1 foot each side, by design.

[wuzak]

Well, make it a trimaran.

The flight deck gets its own hull, which is narrow enough to negotiate the Panama Canal.

The three hulls can separate for short periods, such as traversing the Canal. Once through to the other side the parts could be rejoined.

[NARSES2]

wasn't the beam of these big bruisers already dictated - by the width of the Panama canal?

Quite probably, and having been through the Canal I can tell you it's narrow. Our cruise ship was relatively small and we were almost scrapping the sides.

If I'm not too mistaken, I think there's 1-2 feet of space on either side of the Iowa when it goes through the Panama Canal locks.

1 foot each side, by design.

That's about what our cruise ship had. Fascinating watching it edge through the locks

[zenrat]

Why worry about the Panama Canal?  Just make sure you had enough in each ocean to fulfil your needs.

[James W.]

Why worry about the Panama Canal?  Just make sure you had enough in each ocean to fulfil your needs.

"Enough"what?
Water to float that much steel in? L.O.L.. 
& just imagine what  the turning circle would be, to head 'er into the wind - for flight ops.. blimey..

[zenrat]

Why worry about the Panama Canal?  Just make sure you had enough in each ocean to fulfil your needs.

"Enough"what? ...

Enough Iowa class Battleship/Carriers obviously.

[James W.]

Irony lost at sea, zenrat, or did it fly over your head.. in a flightdeck clearing 16" salvo..

[seadude]

A whole year has gone by. What's up with this project? Well.........

Went to the Manitowoc Maritime Museum Model Contest this past weekend (May 18-20) in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and took my USS Solace LHD hospital ship for competition. For the past several years since 2014 when I've gone to Manitowoc, I've always entered my models at the Novice level since my modeling skills aren't up to par next to more experienced and professional modelers. But now, things have changed. I thought maybe I'd get a 2nd or 3rd Place for my hospital ship. But instead, I got 1st Place!    Now here's the kicker:
According to the registration information for this contest, if a person wins a gold in the Novice level, they must then enter at the Intermediate level next year. In other words, I must go up! And if a person wins a gold at the Intermediate level, they must advance to the Advanced level. You can go up, but you can't go back down.
So.........now I have to up my A game. I have to try and build something maybe even better than my hospital ship. But what?  The only thing that comes to mind is a partially built Iowa battleship/carrier hybrid that another modeling friend gave to me about 2 years ago. It's 40-50% built already. All I have to do is the other 50% or so which is more detailing, painting, and decaling. It's the only project I can think of that is already partially constructed and could be finished in time for next year. The only problem with the Iowa carrier is that not a lot of information exists about such a conversion. There is only one official diagram I have found on the Net showing such a proposal.

References that I'll be using for this model project:
1. "BATTLESHIPS: United States Battleships, 1935-1992" by William H. Garzke and Robert O. Dulin, Copyright 1995 (Updated Edition)
Chapter 8, Pages 288-291
2. "US Battleship Conversion Projects, 1942-1965, an illustrated technical reference" by Wayne Scarpaci, Copyright 2013, Pages 45 and 46.
3. "Essex Class Aircraft Carriers of the Second World War" by Steve Backer, Copyright 2009 by Seaforth Publishing.
4. "Iowa Class Battleships" by Lester Abbey, Copyright 2012 by Seaforth Publishing.
(NOTE: #'s 3 & 4 above do not have any carrier conversion information in them, but are useful with lots of model building information.)
And contrary to popular belief, Norman Friedman's book "US Battleships, an Illustrated Design History" does not have any information about Iowa battleships converted into aircraft carriers. I've already looked through the book and could find no information whatsoever. I did place an inter-library loan to check out another Friedman book from a library in my state. That would be Friedman's "US Carriers, an Illustrated Design History". I'm hoping there might be some information or schematics in that book.

[NARSES2]

Well done on the 1st Place mate 

[zenrat]

Congrats 'dude.

[jcf]

There's nothing about it in Friedman's U.S Carriers aside from a passing mention of
it in the context of possible conversions, including some based on the Alaska class cruisers.

No drawings at all.