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To: neverdem

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


10 posted on 09/18/2006 7:56:37 PM PDT by omega4179
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To: omega4179

Tey weren't a fantasy in Vietnam; they were an extremely effective platform.


15 posted on 09/18/2006 8:03:17 PM PDT by Jimnorwellwarren
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To: omega4179
Obviously you haven't kept up on current anti-air suppression systems...

Put some evolved sea-sparrows and a phalanx system or TEN on board and you'd need a sub to get close... Even then, you'd find an LA, Seawolf, or Virginia fast attack boat has just waxed your backside...
17 posted on 09/18/2006 8:04:59 PM PDT by Freeport
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To: omega4179

Grow up.

Combined arms are needed more now than ever.

They are expensive to maintain.

But I would recommend gutting their engineering plants, installing gas turbines, and make them both fuel efficient and allow gs types (not boilermen) to have a chance to serve on the Battleships..

Maximum ordnance on target is what will be needed often and repeatedly.

Getting rid of these platforms would be a mistake.


19 posted on 09/18/2006 8:06:34 PM PDT by Experiment 6-2-6 (Admn Mods: tiny, malicious things that glare and gibber from dark corners.They have pins and dolls..)
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To: omega4179
Battleships have been just a masturbatory fantasy ever since 300 planes sank the Yamato.

If all we were talking about was ship-to-ship combat, you'd be right. But since the great percentage of the world's population, trade, and resources are located within 22 miles of the coast (16" gun range) the Iowa's would still be extremely effective.

As to their expense to operate, the best overhaul would be replacing the old steam boilers with gas turbines. A nuclear powered ship would be even better. The crew savings would pay for the upgrade.

23 posted on 09/18/2006 8:08:11 PM PDT by GOP_Party_Animal
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To: omega4179

In a blue water fight with an adversary like Japan, you'd be right. That's highly unlikely to ever happen again. For the kinds of adversaries we do figure ot have in the next two or three decades, the Iowa class ship is far and away the best thing in our arsenal. Nothing much short of a direct hit with a nuclear weapon can do much damage to one of them, they can hit eighty percent of the targets we'd ever want to hit, and they can hit them as hard or harder than a carrier could in any kind of weather, with no risk to pilots. That's unbeatable.


24 posted on 09/18/2006 8:08:17 PM PDT by tomzz
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To: omega4179

Hardly the first battleship to be sunk by airpower...


34 posted on 09/18/2006 8:29:02 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy (Sophomore dies in kiln explosion? Oh My God! I just talked to her last week...)
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To: omega4179

BTAIM, an BB is the only ship that could survive a near miss by a nuclear missle. They don't (can't) make them like that anymore.


36 posted on 09/18/2006 8:32:58 PM PDT by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
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To: omega4179

We'll have a little more to worry about than one battleship if we're facing any adversaries that can field 300 aircraft essentially unopposed over the Iowa today.

But you just wanted to use masturbatory in a sentence didn't you? ;-)


108 posted on 09/18/2006 10:55:24 PM PDT by Axenolith (Got Au? Ag?)
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