Kyle Mizokami, National Interest: The U.S. Navy Had Big Plans to Turn Battleships into Super Killer "Nuclear Battleships"
The firepower of the battleships—and their destructive range—would have increased substantially. Trading one turret for 20 Harrier jets was a pretty good deal. Add the Tomahawks and their ability to strike with precision at a thousand miles and the improvements looked even better. The resulting warship would have equaled the firepower of a Nimitz-class supercarrier.
But as before, the Iowas’ inherent inefficiencies worked against them. With a crew of nearly 2,000 each, the ships’ high personnel costs made them prohibitively expensive to run in an all-volunteer navy. Harrier jets could already be carried by the Tarawa-class landing ships, and missile silos were proliferating across the fleet.
The Navy came to the conclusion that if the country was going to get its money’s worth from the four battleships, the vessels had to concentrate on their unique abilities: firing massive artillery shells at the enemy.
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WNU Editor: It looks like there is no future for them ... not even one.
With an armour belt that could absorb multiple harpoons and guns that could pound n.k coastal defences it is a class that still has a place much like the a10.
ReplyDeletefazman,
ReplyDeleteRight again with the coastal bombardment. I think though the supply chain they would have to have for that would be huge and expensive to operate, maintain, and safeguard. At least if I was going after them that's what I'd attack.
If l knew where you lived ld buy you a beer and chew the fat lol
DeleteI think it will take awhile to get these ships upgraded and crews trained, unlike the fantasy movie Battleship, it's not as simple as dropping anchor and going off to battle.
ReplyDeleteThe question is this: can non- distributed systems (huge ships) deal out and absorb hits better than distributed (smaller automated platforms that operate jointly but can disperse)? The answer at the moment is that large systems still have their place, but - with increasing automation and remote control - their value will decrease and their vulnerability becomes more apparent. Also, the latter - automated, remotely controlled swarms, will not only be more effective and can be defended more easily, but they'll also be cheaper as the biggest costs is always the human component. This will be taken out. Just as you don't need pilots anymore - and shouldn't use pilots in the future for most missions. You can operate at lower cost, lower risk to the humans, higher precision and so on and so forth. You only need humans for making moral decisions, and soon there will be an AI for that too which will do more humane decisions than humans. Because ultimately we're pretty crazy animals. :)
ReplyDelete"The Navy had spent about $1.7 billion, from 1981 through 1988, to modernize and reactivate the four Iowa class battleships. Costly to maintain, the battleships were decommissioned during the post-Cold War draw down in the early 1990s. All four were initially removed from the Naval Vessel Register; however, the United States Congress compelled the Navy to reinstate two of them on the grounds that existing naval gunfire support would be inadequate for amphibious operations. This resulted in a lengthy naval gunfire debate over whether battleships should have a role in the modern navy. Ultimately, all four ships were stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and released for donation to non-profit organizations. With the transfer of Iowa in 2012, all four are part of various non-profit maritime museums across the US."
ReplyDeletefazman,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate it. Unfortunately I've paused on the alcohol, as an Irishman (I understand some Aussies are the same) quitting is considered a "near death experience", but if the day comes I'll go one for you. Oh, it's Texas.
Thats ok, death by pizza is just as satisfying!
DeleteI can think of one, pond the snot out of an enemy with those big guns of theirs. We have an Aircraft Carrier navy now, thus the resistance to battleships.
ReplyDeleteEven modern torpedo's exceed the range of the Iowa's guns, let alone every anti-ship missile in production.
DeleteI doubt it would be operating in isolation, it would be part of a task group and protected as such.
DeleteIt won't be operating.
DeleteAll the Ohio Class ships have been retired and decomissioned.
They won't be coming back except in fanboy clickbait articles.