In 1939 was in a Dutch newspaper an item published dealing with the building of 45,000 ton battleships for the United States Navy while the 35,000 tons were not capable for all situations. Seven months later announced the temporarily minister of navy Edison (1) that the preparations for the building of four 45,000 tons battleships despite the proposals for even larger ships. His opinion was that these new ships were able to handle each problem regarded the ships built abroad. The first of the six new battleships of 35,000 tons was to be launched in the spring.
Note
1. This must be Charles Edison (3 August 1890-31 July 1969) appointed 18 January 1937 as Assistant and on 2 January 1940 as Secretary of the Navy until 24 June of the same year. According to an article on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Edison) was he an avid patron of building the large Iowa-class battleships.