"Don White" wrote in message
...

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

""UglyDan®©T"" wrote in message
...

"Boater" wrote:
I appreciate the theory of not getting hit, and I am sure those who have
high-powered, supersonic, anti-ship missiles do, too. I think an
aluminum superstructure is a mistake on a capital warship.


The USS Belknap was built in the 60's and she had an aluminum
superstructure, Wasn't too much left of her, except the hull after the
collision with the Kennedy. UD


Quite a few modern naval ships have steel hulls and aluminum
superstructures. They just aren't supposed to crash into an aircraft
carrier.

Eisboch

Seems to me the Brits had a problem with Aluminum superstructures on their
warships in the Falklands War..
The French built Exocet missle caused major fires.


Of course they did. Any ship hit with bombs or missiles is in deep do-do.
The idea is to not get hit.
That has been the focus of modern US weapons platform design for many years
now and it is paying off.
The number of lost ships, tanks, airplanes, helicopters, etc. in combat is
incredibly low relative to the damage they can inflict. Much of it is
related to defensive electronic warfare systems. We don't have to rely on
pure numbers anymore.

Still, this may come as a shock to some, but Navy ships aren't designed to
be completely safe and bullet proof, regardless of the materials used. And
steel ships have also had serious major fires as well.

It's a risk versus cost versus performance thing. Big, expensive ships
like Carriers operate in a task force that includes many smaller, less
expensive and, for lack of a better word, expendable ships tasked with
protecting the big boys. Frigates, for example (used to be called Destroyer
Escorts) were cheap to build, mass produced, only designed for about a 20
year service life and outnumbered the bigger cruisers and carriers in the
fleet by 20 or 30 to one. When under attack, the DE's charged the enemy in
numbers and distracted them from the big boys, even if it meant taking a
torpedo meant for the carrier.

The DE's and more modern Frigates had/have a crew of between 200 and 300.
These new ships only carry a crew of 40 and at flank speed are much harder
to hit (they are much lighter - performance versus risk) and have advanced
electronic warfare systems, both defensive and offensive. I'd feel much
safer on one of them.

Note: I am not referring to the actual process of designing and building of
the ships. That's another issue altogether.

Eisboch