<P> The Iowa - class battleships gained a new lease of life in the U.S. Navy as fire support ships . Radar and computer - controlled gunfire could be aimed with pinpoint accuracy to target . The U.S. recommissioned all four Iowa - class battleships for the Korean War and the New Jersey for the Vietnam War . These were primarily used for shore bombardment, New Jersey firing nearly 6,000 rounds of 16 inch shells and over 14,000 rounds of 5 inch projectiles during her tour on the gunline, seven times more rounds against shore targets in Vietnam than she had fired in the Second World War . </P> <P> As part of Navy Secretary John F. Lehman's effort to build a 600 - ship Navy in the 1980s, and in response to the commissioning of Kirov by the Soviet Union, the United States recommissioned all four Iowa - class battleships . On several occasions, battleships were support ships in carrier battle groups, or led their own battleship battle group . These were modernized to carry Tomahawk missiles, with New Jersey seeing action bombarding Lebanon in 1983 and 1984, while Missouri and Wisconsin fired their 16 - inch (406 mm) guns at land targets and launched missiles during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 . Wisconsin served as the TLAM strike commander for the Persian Gulf, directing the sequence of launches that marked the opening of Desert Storm, firing a total of 24 TLAMs during the first two days of the campaign . The primary threat to the battleships were Iraqi shore based surface - to - surface missiles; Missouri was targeted by two Iraqi Silkworm missiles, with one missing and another being intercepted by the British destroyer HMS Gloucester . </P> <P> All four Iowa ships were decommissioned in the early 1990s, making them the last battleships to see active service . USS Iowa and USS Wisconsin were maintained to a standard where they could be rapidly returned to service as fire support vessels, pending the development of a superior fire support vessel . These last two battleships were finally stricken from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register in 2006 . The Military Balance and Russian Foreign Military Review states the U.S. Navy listed one battleship in the reserve (Naval Inactive Fleet / Reserve 2nd Turn) in 2010 . The Military Balance states the U.S. Navy listed no battleships in the reserve in 2014 . The U.S. Marine Corps believes that the current naval surface fire support gun and missile programs will not be able to provide adequate fire support for an amphibious assault or onshore operations . </P> <P> With the decommissioning of the last Iowa - class ships, no battleships remain in service or in reserve with any navy worldwide . A number are preserved as museum ships, either afloat or in drydock . The U.S. has eight battleships on display: Massachusetts, North Carolina, Alabama, Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Texas . Missouri and New Jersey are museums at Pearl Harbor and Camden, New Jersey, respectively . Iowa is on display as an educational attraction at the Los Angeles Waterfront in San Pedro, California . Wisconsin now serves as a museum ship in Norfolk, Virginia . Massachusetts, which has the distinction of never having lost a man during service, is on display at the Battleship Cove naval museum in Fall River, Massachusetts . Texas, the first battleship turned into a museum, is on display at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, near Houston . North Carolina is on display in Wilmington, North Carolina . Alabama is on display in Mobile, Alabama . The wreck of the Arizona, sunk during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, is designated a historical landmark and national gravesite . </P>

When was the last time a battleship was used