Did you miss the part where the Commandant of the Marines says that even their VMF and VMA squadrons can get weathered in?
They aren't just the big guns...they serve as TLAM launch platforms as well.
They could be a launch site for Predator and other Armed UAV's.
The guns on a Battle Wagon have never just supported Navy and Marine assets.
Did you miss the part where the Commandant of the Marines says that even their VMF and VMA squadrons can get weathered in? And when has such a situation impacted the marines in the current conflict?
They aren't just the big guns...they serve as TLAM launch platforms as well.
So do aircraft, submarines, cruisers, and destroyers.
They could be a launch site for Predator and other Armed UAV's.
So could aircraft carriers, LHAs, LPAs, LPDs, LSDs, etc.
The guns on a Battle Wagon have never just supported Navy and Marine assets.
Yet the marines are the only ones pushing for them.
The Navy does
not want
Iowa and
Wisconsin for the WOT. The USN anticipates a Pacific gunfight with the PLAN and needs the battlewagons to support Marine Infantry. This is about contesting Taiwan, the Spratleys, or the island chain surrounding the Straits of Malacca.
The Corps is right. We need gunnery on the high seas. There's also something else that hasn't been figured in. Those 16" guns, if let loose within range of the PLAN Fleet, would cause unholy Shi'ite among their capital ships and transport vessels. There's no answer for the 16 incher, except Yamato's 18" guns, and those are sitting at the bottom of the Pacific.
BTW, we are planning on going into battle with Combined Fleet next time, which is a good thing. PLAN is toast.
Be Seeing You,
Chris