This was the largest battleship ever planned but never built

Thank you, my friend Lt Col Charlie Brown for posting the background on U.S. Senator Benjamin Tillman from South Carolina who "requested the Department of the Navy just submit the plans for the biggest battleship they could, the Navy obliged him anyway. There were, however, restrictions on U.S. ship designs at the time. Namely, they had to fit through the Panama Canal."

"The first design submitted was a massive 70,000 tons – almost 50 percent heavier than the modern Navy's USS Missouri – and this was in 1916. It carried 12 16-inch guns and had an armor thickness of 18 inches. In comparison, the Iowa-class battleships of World War II would carry just nine 16-inch guns and have a maximum armor thickness of 14.5 inches. The next iteration of Maximum Battleship designs would have 24 16-inch guns and an armor thickness of 13 inches. It was the third design that really took the cake, however.
Maximum Battleship III – also known as the Tillman III design – weighed 63,000 tons. It had the armor of the second design and the guns of the second design. It could even move at an absurd 30 knots, which is almost as fast as an Iowa-class ship and an insane speed for a ship of that size in 1916. This is a weight equal to the largest battleships ever actually built that moves even faster and was supposed to be built 20 years earlier. That wasn't the end of the attempt, though. There would be another."

Tillman Battleships - Guide 073 (Extended Special - NB)
"The Tillman designs, theoretical battleships of the United States Navy are today's subject. "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvGL5ozHSCA

FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG William Jones SGT (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord LTC Jeff Shearer

Wow! These were amazing designs, but these oversized battleships were destined never to be built as the need was rapidly declining as fast as the Navy could bring naval aircraft to bear... Great piece of Naval History Lt Col Charlie Brown!!!

Insanity at the design table or a joke?? What a huge thing this was, and 19" of armor??? Wow!!! Thanks for a great share.