I was thinking, if the US decided to build a modern battleship, with the big guns (I was thinkg 8 16" in two quad mounts then 5' nad 3' extras) but also integrated helos and a large VLS battery you'd have an extremly powerful warship that could deal with any surface threat imaginable and take as much of a beating as anyone could give. It has already been discussed the amount of power needed to get through a battleships armour.
So here we have a ship with the armour to stand in close to shore to provide gunnery support for ground units. And provide Long range missile support without being worried about getting hit themselves. and the "Sh!+-in-their-pants" factor of a battlegroup with a Battleship and CVN would be amazing. Being able to send a Capital ship into someones harbour without facing anything that can sink her with 80+ warplanes 5 minutes away is a powerful tool. Stregic WMD is pointless nowadays becuase no one has the bals to use them in anger sending a convetional force into a harbour that can level anything within 40km of it is a much stronger message.
As a side note I think the ability to put over 8 tons of steel and HE into another ship in a single salvo is pretty neat. |