When the United States and its allies entered World War II, the Iowa-class battleship quickly proved its worth on the world's oceans. Typically, battleships would accompany Essex-class aircraft carriers, and they brought the pain wherever they sailed.

Although battleships were replaced by aircraft carriers by the end of World War II, they remain a testament to a bygone era of warfare—and a symbol of their nations’ might. For nearly half a century, the battleship was the singular symbol of a nation ...

World War II proved that control of the oceans could determine the outcome of a global conflict. While battleships had long dominated naval thinking, the war quickly showed that aircraft carriers and submarines were changing the rules. Some ships became ...