Our admirals of the 1980s should have remembered that these ships were not effective in either role.
Our admirals of the 1980s should have remembered that these ships were not effective in either role.
The Ise and Hyuga were exactly what I was thinking of when I read this article. There are some things that sound good in theory, but just don’t quite work out in practice. A battleship-carrier is one of them.
The hybrid ships did almost do in the US Navy during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. They were escorting the decoy aircraft carriers and the scout planes mistook them as pure battleships.
As a precaution Admiral Halsey sent the American battleships to escort the fleet carriers. The result was leaving the transport and supply ships open to attack by the Japanese surface fleet. Only heroic action by the escort carriers and destroyers saved the day.