Oh, I forgot, about your timing issue. The types of missiles likely to be shot from ships by Iran, et al, have a 2 minutes to altitude time, 4 minutes in sub orbital and then either EMP up that high, or a 90 second arc down to a normal detonation altitude. So, a Battleship WOULD have 3-6 minutes in which to act. MUCH easier for them in that time than scrambling any other defense.
bombardment of land targets,,,
The New Jersey was on station in ‘69 and proved this,,,
A unit of Marines were trapped on a hill in danger of
being overrun,,,
The ship fired some 1,100 rounds of 16in. and near 5,000
rounds of 5in.,,,
All night long,,,burned the paint off one side of the ship,,,
The best/fastest way to take out ICBM’s/etc. is with the
PAT-3/AEGIS systems,,,
No Contest...
Thanks RF. The major threat is from ICBMs, which means the USSR, oops, I mean Russia, and the Chinese. Iran does not yet have the Bomb, and even if they manage to obtain one and survive (which is unlikely), delivery systems are inadequate to hit the US. The Iranian navy will be on the bottom before any such launch. Likewise North Korea. The Chinese will have to roll in and physically remove the NK regime, or the US will simply blast it out of existence, which would be a major humiliation for the Chinese despotate. Their only choice will be to man-up and take Pyongyang’s toys away from it.