Re: Tin Cans versus Dreadnoughts

> While modern missiles (harpoon, etc) and long-range naval guns might
not
> take out one of those battleships with their heavy armour, modern
torpedoes
> might very well.  The Janes website
>
>
http://www.janes.com/defence/naval_forces/news/juws/juws010202_01_n.shtm
l
>
> has an interesting set of pictures of the Australian navy testing one
of
> their current torpedoes (the US Mk 48 ADCAP) on an older ship, from an
> "over the horizon" shot.  The torpedo explodes under the center of the
> hull, and the ship was cut in half.  Certainly this isn't a
battleship,
but
> still...  A modern torpedo packs a whallop.
>
> Also, there are a lot of air- and sea- launched weapons other than
Harpoon
> type and size...  Imagine being hit by a Kelt?  Chances are you'd be
able
> to shoot the thing down, but the Soviet Kelt missiles were *huge*. 
Make a
> big mess if one hit a modern ship.  And then, of course, the warhead
could
> be a baby nuke, at which point things are academic.
>
> What about the sinking of the Admiral Belgrano during the Falklands? 
That
> was a late WWII-era heavy, wasn't it?  How many shots did it take from
the
> British submarine that attacked it?  Certainly wasn't as many as were
> needed to sink the Yamato. I thought only one or two.
>
> And with laser guided armour piercing 2000 pound bombs and stealthy
> aircraft (manned or unmanned) guiding them - a battleship would be a
> sitting duck, I'd think.  Same old problem - I build heavy armour, you
> build a bigger gun, I build heavier armour, you build an even bigger
gun.
> But now, as they say, modern conventional weapons can defeat any
practical
> thickness of armour.

Interestingly, in, at least earlier versions, of the Harpoon Naval War
game,
it did take a few missile hits to sink a Missouri class Battleship,
which is
considerably more than it took to sink every other kind of ship.

So I think a battleship can take a beating, but it still needs its
escorts
if its to survive.  You use the space on the platform for your heavy
guns,
and use space on smaller, more expendable ships for things like Point
Defense systems.  Also, smaller ships are faster (again, saving space
for
guns and armor on the BB) so they can chase around all those ships
carrying
needle beams (or, if in WWI torpedoes) and prevent the little guys from
stripping off all your Firecon.

George