As OP, I may be allowed to comment on the notable and happy thread-drift. Rock on!
8 (or 10 , depending on definitions) battleships built during ww2. 4 Iowa class and 4 South Dakota Class. even the last, Missouri entered war service when it joined the fleet carriers near Japan in January 1945. 2 North Carolina’s were commissioned April and May 1941, so its like well there was definitely a world war on but USA wasn’t in it ???
Remember the South Dakota had teething problems on the 2nd night Battle of Guadacanal , which left Ching Lee in USS Washington on his own and having to keep his own ship safe, and save the South Dakota from the pummelling she was getting.,
But they did build a few more Escort carriers than battleships… around 150… right ?
IIRC, wasn’t one of the irritants that got the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor because the USA in one response to their increasing war activities cut off the sale of scrap metal (and other industrial materials) to Japan in the late 30’s? The Japanese figured this sort of economic action was a build-up leading to eventual all-out war and decided to strike first.
Here’s the original if you’re interested:
Mike, that’s the source of my copy paste…
The two relineations and even the first repunctuation are quite stunning transcriptions
I assumed that this was just a re-wording of the old meme - swords into ploughshares. I interpret that as turning redundant weapons of war into something useful.