Posted on 01/23/2012 7:26:04 AM PST by blam
Nice pic, I followed the link to her wiki page and discovered that she has 16inch guns. Wow, she is a big girl. I thought only Iowa class had 16 inch guns. I love big guns.
To augment the seemingly impossibly thick armor and those famous mammoth 16" guns, the Navy outfitted the modernized Iowa-Class battleships with some REALLY cool 'toys' that were not available during WW-II, or even the Vietnam era: things like four Phalanx platforms to help assure that no anti-ship missiles would get even within a few miles of the ship, never mind testing its armor; Harpoon and/or Tomahawk missiles; and modern electronic tracking/monitoring/countermeasures equipment.
When the modernizations of the Missouri and her three sister ships were completed they were most definitely not "your grandfather's battleships". Even today I would doubt Iran has anything in its arsenal that could cause them significant harm.
It is my understanding that the Iowas had to be decommsioned because their hulls were thinning due to electrolysis. Building a new BB with modern gunnery with be very expensive but modern 16inch guns could I am told hit targets 100 miles away. Something to think about.
The now banished FReeper Non Sequitur advised me to get the book Shattered Sword, The untold story of the Battle of Midway
It is perhaps the best description of the mindset and preparedness of the Japanese Navy out there. It also details the nearly by minute operations of both of the adversaries and denies much of what is thought to be gospel. The replacement is based on many many reports and sources. It refutes the tale of the Japanese officer on which most of the gospel is based.
The good part is the detailed description of the Japanese Navy
In any event, I would not think it would be too difficult, or expensive, to design and implement some form of cathodic protection system to slow/halt the electrolytic deterioration of ships’ hulls.
They can still fire the 16 inch guns, good for 20-22 miles but the real whoopass could be launched from > 100 miles out.
You are of course correct, and I dated myself terribly with my remarks - I stand ashamed and properly castigated.
We’d still mop the floor in a few days and establish air superiority (pout) :’-(
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