“The battleship is obsolete. The only thing battleships are good for today is naval fire support. That can be done by guided missiles destroyers which are much less expensive to operate.”
I disagree. The battleships sported an armored belt that would be most handy in the age of suicide bombers. The blast that nearly sunk the USS Cole would have only scorched the paint on the Iowa.
And the best anti-missile technology extant is useless against an incoming 16” shell.
The battleship in an updated form would still be a formidable weapons platform. But it’s the money that dictates the thin-skinned destroyers the USN is relying on anymore. As more and more of our cruisers head for decommissioning the USN will soon be a destroyer navy and if Obama has his way they’l only have four aircraft carriers to protect.
Launching some robust and tough battlewagons wouldn’t be a bad idea.
There were to be 890 feet long at the waterline. 121 feet wide.
The Montana was to be BB-67, followed by the Ohio, the Maine, the New Hampshire and the Louisiana.
After HMS Sheffield destroyed by an Exocet missile, during the Falklands War, the skipper of one of the Iowas Reagan put back into service was asked what he would do if his BB was hit by an Exocet. He replied:
"I'd pipe sweepers."