[petertare]

When the Iowa was in the Med, friend and foe alike saluted the fearsome arsenal that was the storied Iowa.

Every American walked taller. Every foe walked and talked smaller.

[Aetius]

Yeah, why not keep a couple?

[Freeport]

Yeap... Showing up off someones coast with that kind of VISIBLE firepower, gets peoples undivided attention. Yes an Aegis cruiser is more powerful and has a much longer reach. But look at the two.... Which are you going to hall ass in the other direction from? The cruiser or the porcupine that can throw cars 16 miles?

The F-117 or the B-52?

The A-10, or the F-35?

Bared teeth win a lot of arguments without a shot fired. I rest my case...

[gaijin]

When we arrived, all of that stuff stopped.

A picture of simlicity.

See?

To speak "Middle-Eastern", you have to BE STRONG.

[ansel12]

I was excited about them when they were brought back from the grave almost a quarter century ago, but should we keep pouring money into them now?

There must be many more options on the table today, if a similar situation arises like it did 23 years ago.

[raftguide]

i don't get it.. why are we CONTUNEING to down-grade our military.. STILL closing basses, scrapping military planes, ships and equipment.. i just don't understand, ESPECIALLY NOW.. after 9/11..

[omega4179]

Battleships have been just a masturbatory fantasy ever since 300 planes sank the Yamato.

[StarCMC]

Ping

[SlowBoat407]

[Jimnorwellwarren]

Duncan Hunter is taking up this cause as well and I'd be willing to bet John Kline and Sam Johnson are on board; my guess is that were the voting limited to those who'd seen combat...there would be no issue here.

[Billthedrill]

Unmatchable gun platforms, yes. Engineering dinosaurs under the waterline, alas, yes as well. The reason these magnificent vessels were mothballed is that they'd have had to be sliced in half and their entire propulsion engineering plants replaced in order to prolong their lives. Nobody runs a 600-lb plant anymore (I served aboard one of the last) and with the work that would be necessary to upgrade it to, say, a nuclear plant, you'd be able to purchase a brand-new platform.

Hulls age as well, seawater literally wearing them away with use. My own heavy cruiser was "showing her bones" long before she finally hit the scrap heap.

We can't afford sentiment in matters like this (he says with a tear running down his cheek). If the Marines need a gunfire-support platform then we should design to suit. If the best cost-benefit analysis comes up in favor of rebuilding these incredible ships then we'd better be ready for the expense, and it won't be cheap.

That said, I'd stand in line to stand an underway watch on one.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[Desron13]

I'd keep one of them and gut it. Then rebuild it with modern updates for all of it's systems. I would convert it to nuclear power and install an Aegis class missile system on it. You could probably cut it's operation costs by half.

[greasepaint]

the Navy needs some new thinking.

navy ships are lavishly overmanned

why can the electronics be operated from shore?

perhaps some old timers could be found who would
work for cheap, as the gun crew

you don't have to sail the ship home
just to change the crew.

tow it with a carrier, to save fuel

lots of ways to save money

[Lancer_N3502A]

Eww, I'll have to get in on this one later.

[sten]

I would donate $1/month to keep these things ready and in the arsenal. That's $12/yr... and if only 100m people in the US were paying it, that should bring in at leat $1.2b.

How much do they need to keep these ships operational each year?

[dbehsman]

From the article:
And last week, as President Bush was preparing to remind the world of the threat posed by Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a cheering crowd of supporters that "Iran has the ability to control the flow of oil the world needs."

I think this is where President Bush should gently remind the Iranian President that the United States has the ability to control the flow of LEAD that the Iranian leadership needs.

[timer]

As an architect/inventor, I've got a couple of ideas for much faster and smaller ships, ie, outside the box concepts in marine propulsion : familiar things seen in unfamiliar ways. Will only communicate them privately.

[griffin]

"These slower, thin-skinned vessels are to be equipped with an unproven Advanced Gun System designed to fire rounds weighing only 63 pounds but costing nearly $100,000 each. "

Don't know about the price, but the DDG-1000's AGS throws the LRLAP, a 250 lb munition with a 25 lb charge that is guided up to 90 nm to a precise kill 1 sq meter. Cyclic rate of 6 rnd per minute...That beats the reach and precision of a 16 inch at only 26 miles.

But I do love the Iowa!

[MrEdd]

The guns are overly expensive to operate for the amount of damage they do at range. Rail guns are leaving the realm of science fiction.

I do believe the hulls should be recycled.