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Oooh, the old "refurbish the Iowa's because we like BIG guns" idea rearing its ugly mug again. It's not just the metallurgy that confounds, you'd literally need to gut them open to the boiler rooms and rebuild from nearly the keel up to make anything of them.
And all to fire ammunition that's been in storage for over 50 years (guess what …
Oooh, the old "refurbish the Iowa's because we like BIG guns" idea rearing its ugly mug again. It's not just the metallurgy that confounds, you'd literally need to gut them open to the boiler rooms and rebuild from nearly the keel up to make anything of them.
And all to fire ammunition that's been in storage for over 50 years (guess what ELSE they don't make any more...)
As for MIC profits, they realised years ago, the real money to be made was in the maintenance contracts (after all, you only got profit for MAKING a tank or plane once, the profits for maintaining them are endless...)
Side note, There's a hugely profitable market in pre WW2 (or up to 1945 actually) manufactured steel... because it was made using oxygen not yet irradiated by atomic bombs. Whole WW2 warships have gone missing from their resting places near Indonesia in recent years...