Ha, now I know that everyone who views this is probably wondering "why the hell would someone waste 100,000 tons of material on of all things, a battleship ????
" There is a defendable answer my friends and a technology that brought this idea to me, Excalibur type guided artillary munitions. In today's combat zone, the main offensive arm of surface vessels (excluding the aircraft carrier) is the cruise missile and rich deck gun for land bombardment. However, cruise missiles can be down with CWIS/AMDS emplacement and the light deck guns lack the range and punch of the cruise missile, resulting in the possibility of targets with minimal damage during an engagement. The problem with contemporary naval artillery is that it was largely sighted with optical equipment and shells had to be properly aimed to hit the targets by accounting the degree of plunge, wind, and time spent in flight. Due to this, battleships often were non effective outside of 15 miles from the target. Yet, with the assistance of satellite imagery, gps, and guided shells, an artillery based warship could find new value within the fleet as a quick strike and somewhat stealthy weapon. With guided shells, they are nearly impossible to track on radar, are to fast to be downed by contemporary defense systems, and can accurately strike a target over considerable distance (projected 100-70 mile limit with mid-flight rocket assist system). In an engagement with such ordinance, it is likely that the enemy would be caught by surprise by suck an attack, hence my labeling as semi-stealth. Overall, that is my primary inspiration for the construction. I am still eager to hear everyones responses to this work-in-development and appreciate all advice. I am considering removing the aft torrent and replacing it with an extended vls emplacement.
cheers, and thanks everyone for the comments!