Docks, Tillman battleships, and infrastructure politics

The stated displacement and dimensions were contract figures, while yard practice would have produced differences between the standard design and completed ships. The projected Montanas were too large and heavy for traditional launching arrangements at some yards. New docks and float-out methods would be required before the ships became practical construction projects. That burden puts the earlier Tillman battleship proposals in perspective because those still larger concepts required comparable investment. Senator Tillman's support for huge ships is connected to the political appeal of spreading naval infrastructure spending among home states as well as to combat capability.