War at Sea
Allied Nations
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- France
- Greece
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Poland
- Soviet Union
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Allies stat table
Axis Nations
Neutral Nations/Installations
Sets
- War At Sea
- Task Force
- Flank Speed
- New Starter
- Condition Zebra
- Set V (Fleet Command)
- Surface action
- First Strike (Forumini Expansion Deck A)
- Infamy (Forumini Expansion Deck B)
- Battle Line (Forumini Expansion Deck C)
- All Hands on Deck (Forumini D)
- Action Stations (Forumini E)
- Dead Reckoning (Forumini F)
Unit Card:
Set - Rarity - Number
Surface Action-
History:
From RB's Opening Salvo
Successor to the Iowa-class battleships, the Montana class provided the US Navy’s architects with their first chance in over twenty years to design a new battleship without any treaty constraints whatsoever. When the Iowas were designed, Japan’s abrogation of the London Naval Treaty triggered an escalator clause that allowed the United States to build a 45,000-ton ship with 16-inch guns. With Montana, the following class, all limitations were lifted. The Navy decided to retain the excellent Mark VII 16-inch guns of the Iowa class while adding a fourth turret, a heavier armor scheme, and a new secondary battery. The US 16-inch guns fired an exceptionally heavy 2,700-lb shell; with more barrels and superior fire control Montana’s broadside would have matched or bettered that of the Japanese Yamato if they had ever met in battle.
However, Montana and her sisters never entered service. Design work on the class was suspended in April 1942; given the building time of roughly 2-1/2 to 3 years for earlier battleship classes, they would have been unlikely to be finished before 1945. In the meantime, the yards needed for the Montana’s construction were busy building the Iowa-class battleships and Essex-class aircraft carriers. In the spring of 1943, the program was canceled outright: The war would be over before the giant battleships could be useful, and the days of the battleship were numbered anyway. Aircraft carriers were now the measure of power, and the Montana remained only an interesting might-have-been.
Reviews:
From RB's Opening Salvo
The Montana is simply the biggest, toughest battleship available to the Allies in non-historical scenarios. The only question in employing her is whether to stand off and make full use of your Extended Range 5, or to pile in to point-blank range and count on your 10 armor to keep you afloat while you rake everything in sight with your good secondary batteries and awesome main guns. Don’t let your Heavy Antiair make you overconfident about enemy air builds; you can still only fire at one attacking squadron a turn, so you can be overwhelmed by multiple enemy squadrons grouping up on you.
Vergilius Powergaming Evaluation:
The best battleship in the game, but 80 point is a lot to pay for a battleship, and battleships of all values are still vulnerable to torpedoes. The lack of a flag means that you can combine Montana with other battleships that do contain flags, and Montana will be especially valuable in higher point games. Some will use it at 100 points, but expect the fleet to have serious vulnerabilities to ASW. Much of the powergaming value of this unit depends upon what point level you are playing. At 100 points, I think the unit is a clear F. You’ll probably win the BB contests, but you’ll lose most of the time against torpedo heavy builds since 20 points won’t be enough to stop those fleets. Even at 200 points, you’re made a sizeable commitment to the Montana. At 300 points and higher, the Montana shines more. Powergaming Grade: B
mercenary_moose
Take the awesome AA and ER5 of Iowa, and the huge armor and guns of Yamato, then put them together. Montana is the most powerful battleship in the game hands down. There's not one other ship out there that it can't take care of. However, it's still got all the vulnerabilities of any other battleship: no matter how formidable its firepower or protection, it still only gets one AA shot per round, and three Long Lance hits will still sink it. There's not much it can do that an Iowa or New Jersey can't for 10-12 points cheaper. If you expect you'll be facing multiple battleships or a Musashi, then Montana will be 80 points well spent. Otherwise, just take an Iowa.
Plastic Figure Notes:
Rather poor quality… Turrets are not separate (and are difficult to discern on some, too…) and the ones near the back of the ship are somewhat hard to rotate…
