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The new US battleship "USS Delaware" was not a member of the first US Dreadnaught type - that was the South Carolina class with 4 twin 12" turrets. The Delaware's were the second class of Dreadnaughts - otherwise, looks really good to me...

(edited 2007-07-10: Now that I have seen the new hardcopy catalog, I understand the original posting. It describes Delaware as the first class of US Dreadnoughts. South Carolina was actually the first US Dreadnought type. The rest of the following remains valid.)

The most probable reason for this selection is that when the US sent battleships to reenforce the British, the South Carolinas were left behind. With a top speed of only 18 knots compared to the standard of 21 knots, the SCs would not have fit into the battle line.

Similarly, the more recent Nevada class (and subsequent) were not sent because they were exclusively oil burners. At a time when the British were having difficulty importing sufficient war supplies through the German submarine blockade, ships that could not burn the abundant British coal were a liability.

I think that GHQ has got it right - first produce the four classes of battleships that were in the eastern Atlantic during the Great War. I certainly would like to see the South Carolina class appear eventually (and also the Nevadas & later as originally built), but I'm willing to wait a bit longer.

Don Scheef