cavelamb wrote:
It is true that armor would keep bullets out, but an Exocette with go
through that like so much cardboard.
"Like cardboard" ??!?
Big big difference between battleships & destroyers.
The USS Pennsylvania (less well armored than the Iowa class) was the
main target of the Bikini A-bomb tests. In the second blast, the bomb
went off too low, about 500' directly above the ship.
Did it sink?
"10 February 1948 photo of the Pennsylvania (BB-38) being scuttled off
Kwajalein after being subjected to both "Crossroads" atomic blasts.
She was towed to Kwajalein after the explosions and studied there. Too
"hot" to handle, she was simply towed to sea and scuttled at the
conclusion of the radiation studies."
http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/38e.htm
On Aug 19, 3:41*pm, Bruce in alaska wrote:
Battleships are dodo's of the Navy
That was the current strategic thinking in 1940... you certainly are
up-to-date
... You need Air and
Undersea Superiority around the ships to keep them safe
In most cases, yes. Especially when fighting a main-force Navy... but
you overlook a key fact, we have air superiority. In spades.
1 carrier overmatches all but about 5 air forces in the world, 2
carriers overmatch all but 2. Until the U.S. Navy stops being the U.S.
Navy (which could happen if certain political illogic prevails), the
Iowa class can steam anywhere we send them.
.....*with
Battleships you need to be within 20 miles of the Target,
Umm, no.
Actually the improve 16/45 ammo can go about 60 miles (published data,
which means it can probably go about 100).
Still not equal to the carriers 400+nm, BUT bullets are a lot cheaper
and they are great for use in "asymmetrical warfare."
If you want to convince people to not fight, drive a battleship up
close to their shore where they can get a look. They are brutal in
appearance, intimidating & lethal. And if they decide they don't care
if you shoot at them, a batteship broadside can make a 1000 yard
diameter crater, as the PLO found out in 1983.
.... and one
Harpoon Missile can ruin your whole week.
Wrong.
.... one Nuke Sub, blew the Argentine
Cruiser away, with one torpedo.
Wrong again, and (to repeat) a cruiser... especially a really old (pre-
WW2) poorly-maintained one manned by a crew with but a passing
familiarity with modern DC practice.... is not a battleship.
I don't mean to crank on you so much, but I do want to emphasize that
getting good strategic results requires knowing & using the facts.
The biggest problem we have with using the Iowa-class battleships to
impement naval strategy is that they are manpower-intensive.
Regards- Doug King