Montana-Class: The U.S. Navy's Great Battleship Mistake?

Montana-class super battleships would have been nice-to-have assets for the U.S. Navy fleet during World War II and beyond. In a world of unbounded resources, that is. Everyone wants a castle of steel, a floating fortress that disgorges daunting firepower from behind walls of armor. Alas, though, no navy dwells in such a world. In the real world of finite resources, officers and officials have to weigh not just the direct costs of an implement of war but its opportunity costs and the likely return on the investment.