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I'm not a naval weapons system expert by any means, particularly with all the new high powered gadgets and missiles, but in IMHO, I would love to see the Battleships Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin(?) reactivated, for this so called war on terror.

Battleships are great - I used to be a huge advocate of reactivation, but have slowly come around to the conclusion that they are fairly limited in capability compared to what has entered the force in the last 10 years (GPS weapons like JDAM). Given an equivilant amount of resources, I'd rather invest in more carrier aircraft and long-range bombers.

While the JDAM has lessened the acuteness of the need for battleships, I have yet to see an aircraft that can remain on station for a long period of time, and take the abuse a battleship can - and then still accomplish its mission.

As Sergei Gorshkov put it: "You Americans do not realize what formidable warships you have in these four battleships. We have concluded after careful analysis that these magnificent ships are in fact the most to be feared in your entire naval arsenal. When engaged in combat we could throw everything we have at those ships and all our firepower would bounce off or be of little effect. Then when we are exhausted, we will detect you coming over the horizon and then you will sink us."