Posted on 06/18/2005 5:32:42 AM PDT by SLB
The Navy wants to let go of its last two battleships. But a group called the United States Naval Fire Support Association is doing its best to torpedo that plan. Both sides are firing salvos across newspaper op-ed pages.
The issue: Does a weapon that was born in the 19th century and came to maturity in the 20th century still have a role in the 21st?
The answer could well decide whether the battleships Iowa and Wisconsin rejoin the fleet-in-being - or whether they'll join their sister ships Missouri and New Jersey as floating museums to an age gone by.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Bump
Is there no longer a global purpose for ships who can launch Volkswagen-sized projectiles at a shoreline from miles away? What will replace this capability...air power?
That is what they think. Until the first $20M+ plane is shot down and the pilot captured and publicly executed. Just listen to the hollering when that happens.
The claim is that the new cruiser-size destroyer platform can launch several times as far with larger payload, making these obsolete.
As floating museums, I assume there are rust problems. So how do you apply paint below the waterline to inhibit rust and other deterioration problems?
It takes a few years to rust through 17 inches of steel.
With the numerous upgrades for the modern era – Desert Storm – it is no longer “a weapon that was born in the 19th century and came to maturity in the 20th century”. The crew size was cut dramatically with automation and the weapons systems with the addition of cruise missiles and UAVs is state of the art.
And those expensive jets can’t hang around long. Waiting for needed support can make for a real pucker factor.
As floating museums, I assume there are rust problems. So how do you apply paint below the waterline to inhibit rust and other deterioration problems?
I addition, the wiring is old. Are we going to, gasp, rewire them? The ICs will go nuts trying to find the paths to ground and the opens. Try finding accurate schematics.
On the other hand, the dumbest person in the world can see the power that a battleship represents when it comes into port.
This is true. The suicide bomber who put a large hole in the USS Cole, wouldn't have barely dented the USS Iowa. Armor matters.
Our ability to dismember their capital towns street by street while making the maximum amount of noise and smoke is a very worthwhile psychological deterrent. Especially when you send in the Marines to bandage the cooperative survivors and shoot the others.
You just don't get the proper effect or respect launching some missile from hundreds of miles away and surgically taking out the Worthy Oriental Gentlemen's command and control facility.
I would not want to be the Marine on the beach, in the middle of a firefight, who gets told that the weather is too bad to risk launching planes to support him. If I'm on the beach, and I need fire support, I want it regardless of weather or AAA considerations
Pingo.
And do not get any ideas about terrorizing rival yacht clubs.
The Marine frontal beach assault with heavy battleship support has been an anachronism as of the Pacific War, or at the latest, Inchon in the Korean War. No dishonor intended, but look at the way the Marines have been used since the mid-fifties - similarly to the ground Army. Although they can make a brigade-sized beach assault now if needed, it just doesn't come up, and is unlikely to come up in this era of fourth generation warfare that we're in. I'm thinking the last time the Marines were used tactically in this way was Gulf War I, where the Marines made an unopposed feint on the beach on the right wing, while the main ground forces made the main thrust around and enveloping the left wing. The gallant battleships can always be resurrected from mothball/museum status if they're really needed.
Um, maybe I am not hip, whats with "WOG"?
They might have scorched the paint.
With modern weapons like cruise missiles, battleships are certainly useless relics. Much smaller ships with far fewer crew members can accomplish the same mission. It would be like reviving the USS Constitution in her full sailing regalia and crew of hundreds in order to join the D-Day invasion of 1944. It would be a massive waste of badly needed resources and man power.
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