[Mariner]

Who needs a battle cruiser when a Burke class DDG is 10,000 tons and carries 96 VLS missiles with a 1,000 mile range?

And hits with a 20 foot CEP.

[Phlyer]

Burke class DDG is 10,000 tons and carries 96 VLS missiles with a 1,000 mile range?

None of which could penetrate to the vitals of an armored ship. It is possible to sink any ship, but it takes specialized weapons (or nukes) to sink an armored ship. As nations quit building armored ships (except US CVs, which have a surprising amount of armor), nations also quit stocking armor-piercing weapons. As a result, there isn't anything in anyone's current inventory that could put an Iowa-class BB at risk (again, aside from nukes, which do tend to change the nature of things).

And an Iowa-class BB could go just about anywhere it wanted to with virtual impunity - making a great trip-wire that adversaries would have to respect. No small ship or ordinary planes/weapons would put one at risk. After a Burke runs its magazines dry, it can either run away (leaving the BB in control of the contested area) or wait until the BB gets close enough to sink it. For that matter, fifty Burkes would have the same effect - and result.

Again, an Iowa-class BB could be sunk, but it would take such a huge commitment (e.g. nukes) that doing so would move things from the regional/brushfire class into a truly world war class - which few adversaries can or would do over 'brushfire' objectives.

As a point of reference: No US battleship was sunk while alert and underway with reasonable maneuvering space - despite the fact the Japanese Navy had bigger ships and more of them, plus the world's best (at that time) torpedoes.

[Rurudyne]

These are really heavy cruisers intentionally misclassified as destroyers.

[thinkthenpost]

Well to be devil’s advocate depending on the load out of the destroyer (SM-2, SM-3, SM-6, ESSM, Tomahawk, VLS-Asroc (not even sure VLA ever deployed)) not all 96 have that thousand mile range.

[Celerity]

“Who needs a battle cruiser when a Burke class DDG is 10,000 tons and carries 96 VLS missiles with a 1,000 mile range?”

Bingo !

Our ships are kinda hybrid. The ship itself is like a carrying case for the weapons system that is onboard. To use these outdated classifications.. I wouldn’t call it “stupid” but I think that maybe our Navy has evolved beyond that.

Our ships combine things that just 40 years ago were considered “impossible”. I’m waiting for the day we can carry aircraft in a magazine and make tiny little aircraft carriers.

[Pelham]

I’ve been reading a few books on the Pacific War (James Hornfischer’s) and one thing that struck me is that a lot of the very effective fighting in WWII was done by Destroyers.

Wolfpacks of Fletcher class destroyers armed with torpedos were a serious threat to the Japanese navy. Other than carriers they might have been the main strike force despite the glamour of the larger capital ships.