Has anyone ever done a detailed model of this ship ?

Wow talk about a history lesson!!! I agree about your point on armor. I would say that it would be a fair fight. the other question would be a matter of escorts. I'm not to familiar with this time period but I know in both world wars these type of ships never travelled alone. One on one, I think it would be a better fight than what they show on HBO.


Good research all !!!!

Someone mentioned the Mikasa earlier in this thread. It really seems like the Mikasa is regarded as the absolute supreme pre-dreadnought.

Couldn't the USS Iowa stand toe to toe with the Mikasa? After all, the Mikasa had far more secondary guns - but history has proven that the only guns that mattered on the Pre-Dreadnoughts were the main guns, and the Mikasa and Iowa both had four 12 inch main guns. In fact, the Mikasas next biggest guns were fourteen 6 inch guns. Whereas, the Iowas next biggest were eight 8 inch guns. And when range is the name of the game, I'm betting eight 8 inch guns are better than fourteen 6 inch guns. The Iowa went one knot slower than the Mikasa, but it was also 70 feet shorter, making it more maneuverable. While using the inferior Harvey armor (50% less strong), the Iowa made up for this in sheer armor thickness. It's main armor belt was 14" thick, compared to the Mikasas 9". Being 50% stronger, that would mean the Mikasas main belt was pretty much the same strength as the Iowas. To add to its defense, the Iowas armor belt was reinforced with coal bunkers 10 feet thick. A strong little ship!!!

So, compare these data sheets. Of course, in naval battles the wits of the leaders are usually what turns the tide, but just as far as ship strength goes, the Iowa looks to be on equal footing with the Mikasa:



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Hey guys, did any of you ever got the strange idea of just playing Monopoly with that piece ?

The USS Iowa (BB-4) was the second ship to bear the name Iowa, the first being a re-named Monitor.

The USS Iowa was actually a unique ship, belonging to no class. And being the heaviest warship in the US fleet at the time of the Spanish American war, could be considered the flagship of the United States Navy at the time.

The USS Iowa fired the first shots of the Battle of Santiago in 3 July 1898. During the engagement her gunfire and persuit knocked out, sunk, or ran aground

Cruiser Maria Teresa
Cruiser Oquendo
Destroyer Pluton
Destroyer Furor
Cruiser Viscaya

A very decisive victory.

The ship soldiered on in various duties, upkept and beautifully ship-shape until 31 March 1919 when she was decomissioned. Then, in 30 April 1919, she was renamed "Coast Battleship No. 4" and recomissioned as a target ship. Neglected, deprived of all armament, and allowed to rust horribly, she was eventually sunk by a salvo of 14 inch shells in 23 March 1923 during target practice in Panama Bay.

This should be one of the main United States warships people remember! It had such nice lines, a proud honest feel to it... It really looks like a picturesque pre-dreadnought battleship. The more I look at it, the more I like it. And it served magnificently in a major United States war!

Do yourself a favor, and read the short encyclopedia article on it. Click the second Iowa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uss_iowa

And check out this page of pictures. Chronicling it from its heyday, to when it was used for target practice.
http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/uss_iowa_bb4.htm

Isn't it sort of sickening that such a ship would be used for target practice? It seems like such a waste.

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Edit: And it is portrayed in caracature form in the Monopoly Battleship game piece!!! Monopoly is one of the most well known and played boardgames in the ENTIRE WORLD. Now, it is up to debate, but owing the the isolation of most populations in the world, I bet the Monopoly Battleship is the most well known battleship in the entire world. (Even if in some cultures they dont even know what a battleship is.) How come no one ever knew the monopoly piece was based on this?
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Nice research job Vilkata. Now I can get some sleep tonight, thanks. By the way, are you going to build one now that you know what it is?

Wrong JTilley! While the first 3 ships didnt (the Indiana, Massachusetts, and Oregon), the 4th ship in the line DID. The USS Iowa!

Allow me to mystify you:

This is what the original battleship game piece (made at the time of the Spanish American War) looked like, the newer token is a stylised version of it:


Note
1. The strange rear facing boat crane hanging over the rear turret.
2. The two smoke stacks.
3. The single military mast.
4. The two levels of portholes in hull sides.
5. The series of gun sponsons in hull sides.
6. The raised top-front of the bow.
7. The round beatures at the base of each smoke stack.

Now, compare with the Iowa, same details:

1. The rear facing boat crane.
2. Two smoke stacks.
3. Single military mast.
4. Two levels of portholes in hull sides.

5. The series of sponsons in hull sides.
6. The raised top-front of the bow.
7. The round features (secondary turrets!) at the base of each smoke stack.

(Again, note raised top-front of bow, and gun sponsons.)


Gentlemen!!! Without a doubt,

The Monopoly Battleship Is The USS IOWA.

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You're right, gentlemen - the Monopoly ship clearly has sponsons, and the Indiana class didn't.

Maybe what we're looking at here is a game designer's concept of a generic Spanish-American War fighting ship, rather than a simplification of a particular vessel. It looks generally like a battleship of the period; maybe we aren't supposed to think beyond that.

If I may be permitted to wander just a bit off-topic - old board games like this are interesting for a variety of reasons. Some years back one of the students in my museum studies course did a paper about two versions of the famous Milton-Bradley children's game "Uncle Wiggly." (The protagonist is a geriatric rabbit trying to make his way across the board to get his arthritis medicine.) The student had inherited a version of the game that was produced in the 1930s. She bought a 1990s version at the local toy store, and she and her roommate played both of them. The 1930s game - which was designed for kids at about the third grade level - took four times as long as the modern one. That seems to suggest something about what forces like television, movies, and video games have done to the attention span of the modern American kid.

Monopoly, on the other hand, retains its status as a relaxing, ruthless, intellectually stimulating game that can keep people of all ages occupied for three or four hours at a stretch and send the loser in a state of abject humiliation that will last for days. May Monopoly live forever.

The Monopoly Battleship was originally made as game piece for either the Parker Brothers (USA) game "Military Game", "Battle Game", "Hold The Fort", "War in Cuba", "The Siege Of Havana", or "Battle of Manila". The most likely one being "War in Cuba". All of these games were made around the beginning of the Spanish American War.

Therefore, the Monopoly Battleship is:

A USA ship from the Spanish American War.
Two turrets, one fore, one aft.
Four gun sponsons on port and starboard hull.
One military-mast comming off the bridge.
Two smoke stacks.

And keep in mind, the ship in question might end up not being a Battleship, but maybe a Cruiser.

The Indiana Class fits the bill, except that it completely lack side-hull gun sponsons.

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Vilkata!

Thank you SO MUCH for starting this topic! Of all the ships I have ever known, the old Monopoly Battleship has always been my favorite!

This is such a hoot! And seriously, to me nothing is quite as impressive and awesome as the oldstyle late 1800s-through WWii warships with their turret cannons and such.

Definitely inspired by something like this?

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/bb/sms/grosserkurfurst-350-mg/mg-index.html

Or this?

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/bb/ijn/mikasa-350-mg/mg-index.html

The Indiana Class certainly fits the part, as far as the general lines go. One military mast , single turret fore and aft, and two smoke stacks.

But, the main thing about the Indiana Class is that it didnt have sponson mounted guns in its sides. The Monopoly Battleship clearly did.

I'd imagine the ship we are looking for would look like a cross between the Indiana and the USS Milwaukee.




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The Iowa is a possible candidate. To my eye the one in Vilkata's second post also looks like a caricature of the pre-Spanish-American-War Indiana-class battlships. (Note the arrangement of the single "military mast," the single main battery turrets fore and aft, the four secondary "wing turrets" on the quarters, and the boat cranes.) That means the Glencoe (ex-ITC) Oregon kit could represent it.

I have to admit that I initially thought Vilkata's first post was just a gag. But it's actually a rather interesting topic. I have to confess, though, to a prejudice against the subject. I have yet to defeat my wife in a game of Monopoly. (I have, however, managed to trounce her thoroughly in Scrabble by springing nautical terms she's never heard of: vang, hance, fid, tye, pintle, gudgeon, yaw....)

I fell for an urban legend. The battleship piece (along with the cannon) was a part from another game that Parker Brothers that had been produced that was unsucessful a few years earlier. In that game the piece was a rendering of a picture of a battleship out of an encyclopedia. The trail goes cold.

My personal opinion:

The Battleship appears to be a predreadnought. It bears a resembelence to the battleship Iowa (not BB-61 but BB-4 comissioned in 1896). I would say that the piece is inspired by it, not a copy.

Here is a picture: http://www.warships1.com/US/USbb04-Iowa-art1.jpg

Wow, really Seasick?

Thats awesome!

I can't wait to see what you find.

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Edit:

Ahah, so the original battleship piece was actually more battleship like than the current one. While still simplified and stylized, the original was obviously an old era battleship. I always loved the ships with those side mounted guns.


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The token is based on an actual battleship. I'll do some research. I know where to look.

Waaait a minute,

For some reason I thought it would be a cool idea. But theres no possible way I could ever do it. Can monkeys write operas?

I was going to suggest some bored scratchbuilder enthusiast give it a go. You could sell it to the Monopoly company for heaps of money probably, ha ha.

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Whatever you do, don't let her run aground on Boardwalk.......it'd be "go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200.00" [:0]

I might suggest that you perform this deed as you are really enthusiastic about it. You could probably start with a Pennsylvania or an Olympia. Have a good time and post any photos if you will. I agree that it would be cool, and it might just turn out to be something to gawked at.

Haha!

Well, I actually thought this was a really original cool idea.

I mean, imagine a well detailed model of the Monopoly Battleship! Maybe dolled up to look like a fleet ship. Numbers on its bow, painted gray and white, it would be so cool.

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yes, it's called the Mikasa...