AH Challenge: New Battleships

Fellatio,

I've been thinking along the same lines. To bring back the battleship, change the concept of what a battleship is. Such a ship may even have a mix of 75mm - 5" guns and 155mm - 8" guns. Like Fellatio writes, have some armor to protect against small arms and light cannon.

The present Iowas represent just one part of the battleship family. In 1945 both Arkansas and Iowa were battleships, just as today USS Eisenhower and the Italian carrier are both aircraft carriers. And today's USS Wasp isn't an aircraft carrier. My apologies to the Italian navy for not remembering the carrier's name.

A modern 3-5" gun, fast-firing, shooting extended range smart ammunition far more destructive than that used in the past, is pretty much sufficient for most shore bombardment duties (especially where collateral damage has to be avoided). Although an MLRS battery aboard a stuft vessel would be interesting to see, anything bigger can be provided by air- or other ship-launched munitions.

Providing realistic protection to modern warships against that in the form of armour would be very debilitating and costly, all to guard against the remote chance of a gun-vs-gun duel happening. The main concern would be small arms and aircraft cannon (sized) fire at key points, protection against which can be provided relatively efficaciously.

And naturally, a heavily armoured, big-gunned battleship would be able to wreck a warship if both magically appeared within 20 miles of one another, but the idea is not to let that happen. Such a vessel would also have very specific advantages, but not for the cost of building/maintaining it.

Only "battleships" I can see being used would have a number of medium-calibre guns, command and control, and a shitload of cruise missiles.
 
Guiseppe Garibaldi and Carvour, I believe.


A lot of navies could do worse than having relatively unsophisticated gun-platforms for most modern duties; bringing back the old patrol cruiser/sloop concept.

Of course you need a proper first-rate cadre (carriers, air defence destroyers, nuclear submarines) to provide the real muscle, but one doesn't need to deploy a massively expensive vessel to deter Somali pirates, act as a guardship, or act as a readily-available contribution to a coalition operation against a negligible naval threat.

A decent medium calibre gun or two, some form of CIWS (Ram for decent bolt-on anti-missile/aircraft), some fast-firing weapons for police actions and defence against fast boats (30mm or even an old Phalanx), and a helicopter able to carry boarding parties, do SAR or shoot-up fast boats. Smaller crew, cheaper to build, cheaper to run. Much like the French Navy have done, but in a less piecemeal fashion, with their La Fayettes/Floreals. (Hopefully with the ability to fit asw and more comprehensive aa and ssm systems and sensors if required.)

In that way, a more gun-based vessel would once again become more prominent. Just not a battleship.
 
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