US will reduce from 2 to 1 aircraft carriers it operates in the Gulf.

[RickN]

It doesnt take too many exocet missles or something newer to make any ship obsolete. Floating targets are sitting ducks in todays world.

Most anti-ship missiles are designed to hit on the waterline or as close to it as possible, right where most battleships were designed to withstand up to 16" shell fire. The pop up and dive missiles have a better change of really hurting a battleship but even then modern anti-missile systems have a good change of taking them out. Our carriers are far more lightly armored but are able to withstand several missile hits.

Now in a few decades when they get real anti-ship lasers the game will change but until then technology still make combat ships effective.

 

[WTJ]

I hear they are going to park it at Navy Pier in Chicago and use it as a replacement for Cabrini Green.

 

[tRidiot]

Most anti-ship missiles are designed to hit on the waterline or as close to it as possible, right where most battleships were designed to withstand up to 16" shell fire. The pop up and dive missiles have a better change of really hurting a battleship but even then modern anti-missile systems have a good change of taking them out. Our carriers are far more lightly armored but are able to withstand several missile hits.

Now in a few decades when they get real anti-ship lasers the game will change but until then technology still make combat ships effective.

I remember reading Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy... had some very (seemingly) accurate descriptions of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of modern naval vessels trying to cope with a well-planned strike campaign by Russian air forces in the north Atlantic. Makes you realize being in the Navy is a pretty cush gig until people start lobbing missiles at you in the middle of the damn ocean, even with high-tech countermeasures.

Scary.

Awesome book, though.

 

[RickN]

I remember reading Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy... had some very (seemingly) accurate descriptions of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of modern naval vessels trying to cope with a well-planned strike campaign by Russian air forces in the north Atlantic. Makes you realize being in the Navy is a pretty cush gig until people start lobbing missiles at you in the middle of the damn ocean, even with high-tech countermeasures.

Scary.

Awesome book, though.

When that book was written it was pretty accurate and anti-ship missiles will still take out most destroyer and smaller ship fairly easily if they get past the ships defensive systems, but the navy has started building some armor into our ships again. Nothing like WW2 era ships of course but better then they were for many decades.

 

[been]

I remember reading Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy... had some very (seemingly) accurate descriptions of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of modern naval vessels trying to cope with a well-planned strike campaign by Russian air forces in the north Atlantic. Makes you realize being in the Navy is a pretty cush gig until people start lobbing missiles at you in the middle of the damn ocean, even with high-tech countermeasures.

Scary.

Awesome book, though.

Yep. I would NOT want to be in the navy when the missiles start flying. I cant even imagine what it was like in WW1 when entire crews of thousands were lost due to magazine hits and so forth.