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The battleship reached its zenith during the 20th century, but I am wondering if there is any way that a heavily-armed gunboat-type ship could have any place in modern naval warfare. I'm not proposing a ship the size of a battleship or one that requires the same sort of investment, but more along the lines of a cruiser's size or smaller. Something like a jack-of-all-trades for carrier fleets that could carry enough weaponry for shore bombardments, ship-to-ship warfare, maybe some anti-air capabilities, etc.

What PODs are needed to have this happen, and would it cause any butterflies? Would these gunboats change any historical naval battle or the tactics of naval warfare?
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