[sukhoi-30mki]

Dated upgrade plan

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

A couple of 5” guns on a cruiser is an insult. Also, where are the cruise missiles, AA missiles, and Aegis MGs, etc?

[Mariner]

ABSOLUTELY these ship must be modernized and kept in service.

While we have a couple hundred extremely capable surface combatants, it's not enough.

These new Aegis units are as big as the Cruisers in question. And bad-ass.

But they can't be everywhere all the time.

Yes, keep these Cruisers and build 100 Frigates in the 3-4k ton class...with all the modern voodoo.

[Goldsborough]

So, can someone make the case for keeping these aging cruisers when everything I can envision them doing is already being done by the Burke class destroyers at lower operating costs?

Those newer destroyers are nearly the size of the the cruisers of yesteryear. The Burke class vessels are essentially "pocket cruisers" now that they have enhanced cruise missile launch capability.

[FedsRStealingOurCountryFromUs]

Panetta thinks our soldier’s guns are worn out too.

[Rembrandt]

I served in Vietnam in ‘68-’69-’70. I was on flight duty out of Danang. I can remember flying over the Battleship New Jersey as it was lobbing big shells at the NVN coast.

The Battleship New Jersey was mothballed years before that. Thankfully, it didn’t become a reef and it turned out that we decided we needed it again. The same is probably true with these carriers. Who knows what’s next with evil folk around the world?