16-inch/50-caliber Mark 7 gun
The 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 – United States Naval Gun is the main armament of the Iowa-class battleships and was the planned main armament of the cancelled Montana-class battleship.
The Iowa-class battleship USS Iowa fires a full broadside of her 16"/50 (406 mm) Mark 7 guns.
16"/50 gun projectile with six propellant bags on display aboard the USS Iowa (BB-61)
Yard workers hoist one of nine 16"/50 Mark VII gun barrels aboard the USS Iowa during her construction in 1942.
The 16-inch/50 caliber Mark 7 guns of the forward turret of the battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) fire at enemy targets ashore on the Korean Peninsula on 30 January 1952 during the Korean War.
The Iowa class was a class of six fast battleships ordered by the United States Navy in 1939 and 1940. They were initially intended to intercept fast capital ships such as the Japanese Kongō class and also serve as the "fast wing" in a traditional battle line alongside slower battleships. The Iowa class was designed to meet the Second London Naval Treaty's "escalator clause" limit of 45,000-long-ton (45,700 t) standard displacement. Beginning in August 1942, four vessels, Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, and Wisconsin, were completed; two more, Illinois and Kentucky, were laid down but canceled in 1945 and 1958, respectively, before completion, and both hulls were scrapped in 1958–1959.
USS Iowa (BB-61) fires a full broadside on 15 August 1984 during a firepower demonstration after her recommissioning
USS Iowa in World War II configuration and wearing Measure 32 Design 1B camouflage pattern, c. 1944.
USS Iowa fires a full broadside of nine 16-inch and six 5-inch guns during a gunnery exercise
16"/50 gun projectile with six propellant bags (display) aboard USS Iowa (BB-61)