The Minnesota-Class is an entirely fictional class of battleship developed by me but unlike other fictional battleships I've seen, I've applied real-world USN design philosophies to create a accurate and believable model of what could have been had the war gone on for a year or two longer and if there was a greater battleship threat than initially thought.

For starters, the idea behind the weapons system is an up-scaled Montana-Class layout. The primary armament is x12 18in/47cal guns in 4 triple mounts. Historically, these guns where developed and a prototype was produced and tested. The weapon never saw mass production or any live combat however. The secondary battery consists of x20 6in/47cal dual purpose guns, 10 turrets with 2 guns each. These are the same mounts featured on the Worcester-Class cruisers. This would have given the Minnesota-Class a substantial long range AA battery, and great anti-ship performance with the ability to outgun most late war light cruisers with the secondary battery alone. The bulk of anti-aircraft firepower is made up of 3in/76cal dual mounts. These where coming into service just as World War II was ending in order to counter the ever increasing threat of Kamikaze attacks and saw deployment on a vast number of destroyer escorts and auxiliary vessels however the capital ships slated to receive them during the war either didn't due to limited numbers, or where decommissioned afterwards before they where installed. Close range AA is provided by standard Oerlikon 20mm AA guns.

Moving on, the hull shape and superstructure build heavily resemble that of late war heavy and light cruisers. The main inspiration here was a mix between the Montana, Oregon City, and Fargo classes of warships. The hull is sleek with a transom stern found on cruisers at the time and abandons the classic rounded stern of the Iowa and Montana. It has been proven that transom sterns have less drag in the water and thus would help a large ship such as the Minnesota-Class to achieve a higher top speed of roughly 30 knots, slower than the speedy Iowas, but quick enough to keep up with carrier task forces. The large torpedo bulges of the Montana where retained however as underwater threats remain as prevalent as ever. The superstructure is tapered heavily and sits low to the hull. This decision was historically to allow the maximum amount of AA coverage at any point on the ship.

Lastly, for aviation and scouting twin catapult launchers are installed at the rear. two cranes are mounted on either side to recover aircraft since the hull would be too wide to allow one central crane to reach both sides. Aircraft carried would have been either the OS2U Kingfisher or SC Seahawk. maximum capacity of planes would have been 4.

Had the Minnesota-Class been built, completion dates for the ships would have fallen roughly between 1946-1947. This model represents USS Minnesota as built, and is painted in MS 22 camouflage, the most likely camo choice at this time.

this creation is free for personal use. If you choose to use this creation on another world/server aside from your own personal use please credit the original creator. Thank you.