The Great U.S. Navy Battleship Comeback Will Never Happen

They were built 80 years ago. No way.

1 posted on 10/02/2025 12:46:33 PM PDT by whyilovetexas111

To: whyilovetexas111

But they can definitely be used against the aliens that happen to need/use our oceans.

2 posted on 10/02/2025 12:49:45 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try )

To: whyilovetexas111

3 posted on 10/02/2025 12:51:48 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)

To: Ronaldus Magnus III

4 posted on 10/02/2025 12:51:57 PM PDT by Bikkuri (We are all Charlie now. I am Charlie!)

To: Ronaldus Magnus III

5 posted on 10/02/2025 12:54:58 PM PDT by Bikkuri (We are all Charlie now. I am Charlie!)

To: whyilovetexas111

Duct tape and aluminum foil, and we can turn them into stealth platforms.

6 posted on 10/02/2025 12:55:34 PM PDT by sphinx

To: whyilovetexas111

Same can be said for tanks. As we go ever smaller to miniature drones then even smaller to germ and/or virus warfare.

7 posted on 10/02/2025 12:56:10 PM PDT by alternatives?

8 posted on 10/02/2025 12:59:03 PM PDT by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure..)

To: whyilovetexas111

The Navy considered this 40 years ago - they wanted to remove one of the guns and replace it with the Vertical Launching Systems. But we no longer have anything in any shipyard that could life the guns. That did not take long . . .

9 posted on 10/02/2025 1:04:03 PM PDT by impactplayer

To: whyilovetexas111

Battleships are obsolete (obviously). But they do give an appearance of great power. Maybe we should keep one active, just to “show the flag”. After all, we still keep some horse cavalry around.

Yeah, I know battleships are expensive. So my idea is probably not a good one.

10 posted on 10/02/2025 1:12:19 PM PDT by Leaning Right (It's morning in America. Again.)

To: impactplayer

With the long range ship killing and land attack missiles even aircraft carrier will be shortly obsolete replaced by fast moving nuclear powered DDG and submarines.

11 posted on 10/02/2025 1:12:26 PM PDT by Ronald77 ( )

To: whyilovetexas111

The Coasties would probably enjoy having a few of them.

12 posted on 10/02/2025 1:15:46 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (It's like somebody just put the Constitution up on a wall …. and shot the First Amendment -Mike Rowe)

To: whyilovetexas111

As the curator of the New Jersey said, it would take billions to restore the ship to commission status and would still have about half the firepower of a Burke-class destroyer.

Not to mention it would require escort ships since the NJ has limited anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense and no anti-submarine defense.

13 posted on 10/02/2025 1:24:39 PM PDT by chrisinoc

To: Leaning Right

Battleships are obsolete (obviously). But they do give an appearance of great power.

Carriers.

14 posted on 10/02/2025 1:26:39 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

To: whyilovetexas111

one can house a lot of drones in the Battle Ship.

15 posted on 10/02/2025 1:29:54 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )

To: alternatives?

I belive tanks are still effective while manuvering. If you park them and bury them like Iraq or Russia, then no.

16 posted on 10/02/2025 1:33:02 PM PDT by Theophilus (covfefe)

To: whyilovetexas111

Ask the crew of the Yamato how the big battle ships fair.

17 posted on 10/02/2025 1:36:12 PM PDT by Organic Panic ('Was I molested. I think so' - Ashley Biden in response to her father joining her in the shower.)

To: whyilovetexas111

A Marines best friend are the 16 inch guns on our BBs. They scare the shit out of the enemy.

18 posted on 10/02/2025 1:38:36 PM PDT by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)

With the long range ship killing and land attack missiles . . .

No anti-ship missile in the inventory of any nation in the world today has the penetrating power to destroy an Iowa-class battleship. No air or ship-launched torpedo in the inventory of any nation in the world today has the warhead size to defeat the torpedo protection of an Iowa-class battleship, nor any US-inventory aircraft carrier. Note: Fires on US aircraft carriers have been started by weapons cooking off that had the impact of 8-10 simultaneous hits by long-range cruise missles - and none of them sunk the carriers.

That is not to say that you can't sink a battleship, or an aircraft carrier. However, it would take different weapon designs than anyone has today . . . because there are no battleships today.

I would not advocate building new big-gun battleships because by the time that could be done, effective armor penetrating weapons could also be developed and deployed, but it would take a lot of effort to do so effectively. You don't get there with a Harpoon that has a less-than-500 lb warhead in a thin steel case. You'd need to make Harpoons at least five times larger with the same speed and range to be effective - and they wouldn't be cost effective on anything else.

So a potential adversary would have three choices: 1) Spend 10 times as much as it would cost us to recommission the battleships to develop an effective counter-weapon, or 2) Go nuclear (and possibly end the world), or 3) Accept that the Iowa-class battleships are essentially invulnerable and try to find some other way to make them less effective (e.g. breaking the US political will to use them).

19 posted on 10/02/2025 1:39:09 PM PDT by Phlyer

DISAGREE.

Drones can be deployed around carriers and carrier groups and serve as defensive shields. Carriers can also be used as platforms to deploy drones offensively,

20 posted on 10/02/2025 1:42:44 PM PDT by LeonardFMason

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