Jeez, small world. His name isn't Mike Borio, is it?
Your observations about the seaworthiness of the BBs vs the smaller escorts are correct as far as I know. But it's not really surprising, because the big ships were intended to be stable firing platforms. That would tend to make them more stable under all conditions.
I've seen Gulf War era photos of the Iowas refueling their escorts, but I can't seem to find them at the moment.
No, different guy. I know that the BBs will never be back but there is a definite need for gunfire support if we ever have to face an opposed landing. What are they gonna do--shoot howitzers from the decks of the amphibious ships?
You know, something else that may not be unthinkable would be advances in railgun or directed energy weapons that could perhaps hit missiles amd aircraft in flight. Be trickier to shoot down a salvo of artillery shells.