Reply to thread

I think the Des Moines were included in planned conversions in the 1950s. By the time they would have been done, the Navy was going broke,a nd the cruiser conversion program was stopped (think the stress of Polairs and gross cost overruns on a lot of new technology). They were considered again (when there were two of them) for Tomahawk conversions in the 1980s, but the four Iowas were considered enough.  I also think they were considered too cramped compared to the Iowas, which were also a lot more survivable.