Seems to me the last time we used a battleship was to bombard the coast of Lebanon under Reagan. Or am I wrong about that? I think they recommissioned the New Jersey just for that purpose.
A plaque on the Missouri, now moored in Honolulu says it was used in the first gulf war.
I believe the last time we used a battleship was in Desert Storm to hit the coast of Kuwait.
USS Missouri uses her big guns in the first Gulf War ---
"While the United States and other countries around the world heard the words "The liberation of Kuwait has begun," Missouri continued to fire Tomahawks — 28 in all.
The war continued as Allied air superiority continued to dominate the demoralized Iraqi army. In February 1991, Missouri fired her 16-inch guns — the first firing of her guns in anger since the Korean conflict in the 1950s. Firing at targets just north of Khafji, Saudi Arabia, the ship assisted shore-based ground units in their tasks. Missouri shared gunnery duties with USS Wisconsin (BB 64) and the two battleships continued to hammer at their targets with 16-inch gunnery. Near the end of the month, Missouri turned her big guns on Faylaka Island and Kuwait City in support of the ground offensive. Iraq agreed to a cease fire agreement on 28 February 1991."
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/battleships/missouri/bb63-mo.html
Battleships were used in the Gulf War. I have a pic of my platoon inside one of the craters .... HUGE.
We used battleships in Gulf War 1. They launched Tomahawk missiles. I don't recalled if they did any shelling of Kuwait [but I doubt it].
It was the USS Wisconsin
The USS Wisconsin was used during Gulf War I
from 25 miles off the coast the New Jersey shot off v.w. sized projectiles on Lebanon at an amazing rate.
Each v.w. that rained down prompted great fear as it came in. You could visabley see the projectiles flying through the air but the ship was beyond the horizon and could not be seen.
I still wonder why we scrapped these great offensive weapons. Cept to say the Navel bosses wanted newer sportier less offensive hardware.
Really was an intimidating sight when one came in to view. Big stick capeable of putting a serious whooping on ones ass.