1/2400 Tillman IV-2 BB

Be sure to customize your model with a ship name! Suggestions would include these:

USS Virginia

USS Nebraska

USS Georgia

USS Rhode Island

USS Connecticut

USS Vermont

USS Kansas

USS Minnesota

Sen. Tillman requested a "maximum battleship" study in 1912-1913, though at this point the studies didn't go very far. The Pennsylvania (BB-38) class were influenced by these design studies, however the Pennsylvania was smaller than the corresponding Tillman ship, and was essentially an enlargement of the preceeding Nevada (BB-36) class.

In 1916, he once again requested a "maximum battleship" study. The US Navy's bureau of Construction and Repair produced a series of interesting design studies, detailed below. Once again, the design studies influenced the design of a succeeding class, the South Dakota (BB-49) class, however once again, the South Dakotas would have been significantly smaller than the ships envisioned in the Tillman design studies, and were in some ways just an enlargement of the previous Colorado (BB-45) class.

The US Navy was not particularly interested in building these "maximum battleships", however after Sen. Tillman requested the designs, the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair dutifully did the design studies. They produced a series of four designs late in 1916.

The practical limits on the size of a US Navy battleship were dictated by the dimensions of the locks of the Panama Canal. The locks measure 1000 feet by 110 feet, and so the practical size limit for the ship was 975 feet (297.2 meters) in length, 108 feet (32.9 meters) in beam, and 38 feet (11.6 meters) in draught. Harbor depths further constrained draught to 32.75 feet (10 meters).

After the first four design studies were complete, Design 4 was chosen for further development. Three additional studies, Design IV-1, IV-2, and IV-3 were prepared. At the request of Navy Secretary Josephus Daniels, these designs used 18" guns instead of the 16"/50 used in the earlier studies.

The Navy decided that design IV-2 was the most practical, (or perhaps the least impractical) and this was the design that was ultimately presented to Congress early in 1917. We tend to agree with the Navy's assessment. Design IV-2 should therefore be considered the definitive Tillman battleship design.