The BBs sank many vessels duting the war. The Alabama alone sank 15 japanese ships.
So? Smooth-bores killed plenty of people after the rifle was invented, didn't make them less obsolete down the line.
The superiority of the carrier is the aircraft that they operate and the ordinanve they can deliver. As far as ships go the battleship is more powerful.
You said it. Aircraft carriers are superior because they carry aircraft capable of delivering a wide array of munitions at long ranges.
Obviously a BB would win if it came up against a carrier without aircraft, but that's like saying an medieval knight is superior to modern infantry, as long as they don't have ammunition for their rifles.
And they have political backers because the navy would rather spend billions on one brand new ship instead of utilizing what materials they have. An example is the new round of LCAC under development that is 90% the exact same thing as the old ones but the main contractor was told that they would be ordered 10 yrs from now making the project hundreds of millions more expensive.
That is called block obsolescence. The navy will need new LCAC's in about ten years or less because the old one are getting worn out and maintaining them is approaching the state where buying new ones is cheaper. SLEP can only do so much. As for why they don't build the same type as the old, technology marches on and so does requirements. Right now, an LCAC can barely carry an M1. Future MBT's are unlikely to get any lighter, and even if they do, it would be very nice to be able to deploy a squad or two of infantry alongside it.
Im not saying that the battleships would be cheaper to bring back into service but what i am saying it the battleships are not as weak as everyone makes them out to be.. Just not the indestructable force they were thought to be. The thing is the ships arent wooden.. They are metal and u can take away and add to as much as you want.
No you can't. Old hulls suffers from no end of fatigue issues.
If the want was there or even under congressional order the Wisconsin can be brought back into service and still be viable.
Aside from the many technical and logistical issues (Where do you get parts for a 600psi boiler that hasn't been build since the forties?) there's the question of manning the beasts.
The USN have no personnel qualified to operate let alone teach how to operate a 600psi boiler, no schools either and the only teaching materiel they have left are the technical manuals. It took more than 100 years, billions of dollars and several lives to build the traditions and experience necessary to operate an effective BB force. 99% of that is gone now and getting it back is a major investment.
And i refuse to believe the phalanx isnt proper air defence because if it wasnt it would be employed on our carriers. The phalanx is to destroy incoming missles which it would take been required to demonstrate before purchase. Aircraft launch missles at ships nowadays not bomb them...
The Phalanx is a
Close
In
Weapon
System. It's designed to be the absolute last ditch defence.
It's an air defence system the same way a ejection seat is a landing system. It works, but if you have to use it something has gone wrong.
And even if it wasnt a proper system she could be fitted with anti aircraft missles for air defense like many other countries use.
You could probably get away with SeaSparrow, but the radars are going to be tricky. WHile you could probably generate enough power to run them, cooling them is another.
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