Or maybe the a/c will look like this:
Posted on 01/25/2017 6:15:48 PM PST by MtnClimber
Original title: US Navy's Ultimate Dream Weapon (That Russia Feared): Merging a Super Battleship and an Aircraft Carrier
In the early 1980s, the Reagan Administration was looking to fund high visibility defense programs. Reagan had been elected on a platform of rebuilding the armed services after the “hollowing out” of the early 1970s.
One example was the reactivation of four World War II-era Iowa-class battleships, which started in 1982. Each of the four ships, Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin was refurbished, their sixteen and five-inch guns brought back online. Each battleship was also equipped with sixteen Harpoon anti-ship missiles, thirtytwo Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles and four Phalanx close-in weapon systems (CIWS) for defense.
The four battlewagons were swiftly retired after the end of the Cold War because the manpower-intensive vessels each required a crew of nearly two thousand. That made them early victims of the post-Cold War drawdown as the defense budget was sharply reduced. Today, all four serve as memorials or floating museums. Retirement put an end to future upgrades, which might have included the boldest of them all.
In the November, 1980 issue of the United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Captain Charles Myers, USN (retired) proposed reactivating the battleships with significant modifications to the aft section.The proposal envisioned deleting the number three turret near the stern and the three sixteen-inch guns housed in it.
In place of the number three turret would be an extraordinary set of armaments. A V-shaped, ramped flight deck would be installed, with the base of the V on the ship’s stern. Each leg of the V would extend forward, so that planes taking off would fly past the stacks and ship’s bridge. Two elevators would bring Boeing AV-8B Harrier II jump-jets up from a new hangar to the flight deck.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...
Whether it’s viable or not, I like it. If it’s viable, lets go for it.
The Ise and Hyuga were exactly what I was thinking of when I read this article. There are some things that sound good in theory, but just don’t quite work out in practice. A battleship-carrier is one of them.
Or maybe the a/c will look like this:
The whole thing sounds strange to me but I would like to see a battleship armed with modern guns, a huge quantity of missiles, high tech armor etc.
They could put a couple of F-35’s where the old seaplanes used to be.
Seems like the real toughy would be recovery, esp stealthy recovery.
With modern technology you could cut the crew size in half
Yes, as a matter of fact. Have you ever heard of USS PHOENIX?
We know the alloy composition of the steel and American mills can manufacture that alloy steel. We have steel mills that can roll 18 inch thick plate. What we don’t have is a mill that can use the Krupp process for hardening the steel plate, which is what actually makes it armor steel. The last time armor steel was made for war ships was in 1945.
Interesting.
WWII battleships have so much armor that modern missiles have no effect...
A nuke tipped anti-ship weapon
I was working on VLS at the time - we were told they could not find a crane capable of removing the turret - which was essential to make the concept work.
Belgrano was torpedoed - two fish with 800lb. + warheads.
That will ruin anybody’s day.
All of that stuff is technically possible, of course, but at a ruinous cost that is the price of building several of them new from the keel up. You can turn a Sherman tank into an Abrams, but it's cheaper to build the Abrams on its own.
As a former weapons officer it grates to admit it, but sexy weapons suites do not a warship make. I've pinged somebody who knows. Care to chime in, Mr. Snipe? ;-)
Herman the German - largest floating crane in the world was at Long Beach/San Pedro late 1970s, it could lift a DD out of the water.
I reckon lifting a turret out of the BB would have been well within specs.
Todd Shipyard in San Pedro had Herman. When they went bankrupt in the early 90's I attended the equipment auction mainly to see Herman. I think it was sold to another shipyard but I'm not sure.
I guess it was the Long Beach Naval Shipyard that had Herman. Odd I coulda swore Todd had it.
We have better ways to spend our money than on a stupid idea like this.
Ya, basically an underwater missile. That is all they are.
But to claim todays surface to surface missiles are not capable of destroying a WW2 naval ship is laughable.
I will NEVER forget the gasps that came from those at this hearing over this.
“Back in the 70s, Admiral Rickover, the “father of nuclear navy,” had to answer the question before the U.S. Senate: “How long would our aircraft carriers survive in a battle against the Russian Navy?” His response caused disillusionment: “Two or three days before they sink, maybe a week if they stay in the harbor.”
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