[DarthVader]

Wiring and turbines were replaced in 1980's refit so are actually only about 20 yrs old. Subs can launch cruise missiles which have a much lower payload at the cost of $2 million per round. The blast and damage effect of 1 16" shell (which cost around 10K)would require roughly 6-8 missiles to accomplish the mission. The destructive power of the shell is greater than a missile because it arrives with much more force because of its weight, speed, and momentum. Using cruise missiles for shore bombardment is not cost effective and impractical because for the cost of 1 cruise missile we could shoot hundreds of 16 inch shells and destroy a lot more targets.

[Polybius]

The destructive power of the shell is greater than a missile because it arrives with much more force because of its weight, speed, and momentum.

However, that destructive power does very little good and can cause extensive collateral damage if the shells do not land where you want them to.

The problem encountered with the USS New Jersey in Lebanon in 1983 was accuracy.

"A Glimpse of Hell" by Charles C. Thompson pp. 139-140........... "The Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed to let the battleship [New Jersey] fire on December 14, 1983. Eleven 1900-pound high-explosive shells were lobbed into the Shouf Mountains. THERE WERE NO SPOTTERS IN THE AIR OR ON THE GROUND TO ADJUST WHERE THE SHELLS FELL [my emphasis]. The results were pitiful. [the author does not define 'pitiful']... She was cleared for another fire mission the afternoon of February 8, 1984. The targets-all located by satellite- were Druze and Syrian gun positions near a mountain village about fifteen miles east of Beirut. Again, no spotters were present. For eight hours, the New Jersey hurled nearly 300 sixteen-inch shells. She fired another thirteen shells on February 26 before heading back to her homeport...The results of these two missions were even worse than in December............. Marine Colonel Don Price, who had served in combat in Vietnam and was familiar with naval shore-fire bombardment practices investigated the New Jersey's gunnery in Lebanon and concluded that she missed her targets by as much as 10000 yards (about six miles). Price was convinced that some of the New Jersey's errant shells killed civilians living in the Shouf Mountains, although the Navy denied this. "You have a multimillion-dollar weapons system and nobody knows how to put the rounds anywhere near the target," Price said............ Although the Navy publically claimed that the New Jersey hit her targets, the CNO...thought otherwise...[he] met with RADM Bill Fogarty and asked him if there had been a powder problem when he commanded the New Jersey.".......... p. 138 " Fred Ralston, a fire controlman assigned to forward main plot, noticed that while the ship was firing on the San Clemente, California gunnery range, the velocity of the projectiles exiting the barrels was wildly erratic. Some projectiles left the muzzles travelling 120 feet per second faster and some 120 feet per second slower than the 1725 feet per second norm for a 2700-pound armor-piercing shell. Gunnery experts say that a deviation of only two or three feet per second is cause for alarm. The excessive deviation made it almost impossible for the New Jersey to aim her guns accurately. It also indicated that the powder could be unstable."

The poor accuracy in Lebanon and the 1989 gun turret explosion on the USS Iowa that killed 47 sailors convinced the Navy that the era of the Big Gun was truly over.