Tamiya TAMIYA 31616 US Navy Battleship Iowa Product Summary

• Rival is the Yamato. America's last great battleship.

  The Japanese Yamato class is the world's largest and most powerful battleship, but the Iowa class, built by the US Navy to compete with the Yamato and Musashi, is also one of the world's largest battleships, with truly competitive capabilities. She discharges 45 000 tonnes, is 270 m long, 32.97 m wide and has a maximum speed of 33 knots. In contrast to the Iowa class, which is equipped with nine 50-calibre 40.6 cm cannons as main guns, the Yamato class has a drainage capacity of 64 000 tonnes, an overall length of 263 m, a maximum breadth of 38.9 m and a maximum speed of 27 knots. It was equipped with nine 45-calibre 46cm guns as main guns. The first of the four Iowa class ships built, the Iowa was commissioned in February 1943, a little over a year after the Yamato, and was deployed in the Pacific from 1944. On 19 June, Iowa utilised her speed to escort aircraft carriers in the Battle of the Mariana, a clash between an IJN task force with nine aircraft carriers and five battleships, including Yamato and Musashi, and an American task force with ten aircraft carriers and seven battleships, including Iowa. Iowa also performed similarly well in the subsequent Battle of Leyte. In both battles, Iowa and Yamato took part, but unfortunately they did not engage in direct combat. One wonders what the outcome would have been had the world's largest battleships engaged in a do-or-die battle. Yamato and Musashi were subsequently sunk, while Iowa, together with her three sister ships, remained in the seven seas after the war and continued to display her power. Look back on the history of the last remaining giant battleship with the heroic 1/700 scale model.

• Key points of the model

  This plastic model assembly kit reproduces the Iowa as she took part in the Battle of the Mariana in 1944 in a large model measuring 386.5mm in length. It will be interesting to compare the size of America's last giant battleship with its rival Yamato, which is 367mm in the same scale. The elongated ship shape has been accurately reproduced in a split left-right format, as has the unique warped bow shape of the share. The model also captures the characteristics of the Iowa, including the open bridge superstructure and the shape of the bow tip. The 40.6cm triple turret, which was also powerful for radar and of course gunfire, which also produced accurate fire, is powerful enough even in 1/700 scale. In addition, a number of anti-aircraft armaments such as 12.7cm twin guns, 40mm quadruple machine gun and 20mm machine gun are also delicately reproduced, allowing you to enjoy a dense finish. The kit also includes a large-format colour painting diagram explaining the unique Major 32/1B camouflage that was applied during the Battle of the Mariana. The Vought OS2U Kingfisher shipboard aircraft is also modelled. The line-up also includes the Iowa-class Missouri and New Jersey in the same 1/700 scale. The Missouri is modelled in the late stages of the war, while the New Jersey was converted to a missile battleship after the war. It is also possible to build and arrange the transition of the last battleships.