Three ships of the United States Navy were planned to be named USS Montana in honor of the 41st state. However, the two scheduled battleships were never completed, making it the only state of the 48 states during World War II not to have a battleship named after it. Additionally, Alaska and Hawaii have both had nuclear submarines named after them, the USS Hawaii (SSN-776) and the USS Alaska (SSBN-732). As such Montana is the only state in the union without a modern naval ship named after it.
- The first Montana (ACR-13), a Tennessee-class armored cruiser, provided convoy escort duty during World War I, and was eventually renamed and reclassified Missoula (CA-13).
- The second Montana (BB-51), a South Dakota-class battleship, was laid down but cancelled and scrapped before launching.
- The third Montana (BB-67) would have been the lead ship of her class of battleship had the class not been cancelled at the close of World War II.
Of the 48 states in the U.S. during the days of battleship building, only Montana never had an active duty battleship named for it.
Fictional "USS Montana"
Montana-based Bozeman Watch Company recently released a limited edition automatic-mechanical Swiss-certified chronometer in honor of the 41st state. The BWC's USS Montana pays tribute to the veterans of Montana - the only state in the Union without a battleship namesake. [1] A fictional battleship USS Montana was featured in "Sink The Montana", an episode of the G.I. Joe animated series. The movies The Abyss and The Fifth Missile both feature a fictional Ohio-class submarine named "USS Montana", but no submarine has ever borne that name. The USS Montana in "The Abyss" wears the registry number SSBN-741, but actually this is the registry number of the USS Maine. Silva (a Swedish outdoors company) made a commercial in which the USS Montana [2] (visually a cruiser at best, but the commercial says "second largest ship in the North Atlantic fleet") demands a lighthouse to change its course. This is based on an urban legend that has been attributed to many ships, including several other non-existent US Navy ships. According to Snopes: "It ain't true. Not only does the Navy disclaim it, the anecdote shows up in a 1992 collection of jokes and tall tales. Worse, it appears in Stephen Covey's 1989 The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and he got it from a 1987 issue of Proceedings, a publication of the U.S. Naval Institute." [3] A fictional cruiser, USS Montana CGN-46 was featured in a season 4 episode of J.A.G, "Dungaree Justice". The Web-based podcast Star Trek: The Continuing Mission [4] features the adventures of the crew of the starship USS Montana NCC-1786.
See also
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