Quote:
Originally Posted by HoratioNelson
In WWI and WWII, a battleship's secondary guns (ranging from 3in to 5in in calibre) were quick firing, dual-purpose guns used both against fast targets like enemy torpedo boats and against aerial threats. Torpedo boats aren't too much of a threat in the modern era, with submarines fulfilling their role far more efficiently
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Didn't we have a naval exercise a few years ago where a "rogue" US commander "sank" most of the fleet with low tech stuff like a massed speedboat & patrol boat attack using 100's of these vessels with anit-ship missiles and machine guns? How do you stop 100% of them when there may be 1000?
Maybe a 500-600 foot hull, at least as torpedo and mine resistant as an Iowa, with armored decks and superstructure, mounting a massive broadside of
very rapid fire guns, between 155mm and 5 inch, along with a CIWS capable of defending against multiple incoming. The radar/computer system targets everything afloat that isn't ID'd as friendly. With really fast processing and autoloading guns could you guarantee a hit with 4-5 shots per target? (I assume a 5" round would finish off most small craft with a single hit.) The Iowa's carried 10 5" on each side of the superstructure, 20 guns. Forego the 16" completely in favor of 50 5". With each twin mount (directed by my new mythical FCS) taking out one threat every 45 seconds (10 seconds per shot x 2 tubes = 8-9 rounds) 15 seconds to slew(?) the mount around and change elevation to engage a new target. (of course the radar tracks the outgoing rounds and corrects automatically) x 25 mounts that's 25 kills per minute. In 15 minutes you could make martyrs of 375 attacking vessels. I'm guessing a 5" shell has a range of what, 10 miles?
There you have your protective envelope against low tech, but willing-to-die-for-god enemies.
It would be a lot cheaper than trying to refloat a sunken CVN. Or explain why a multi-billion dollar warship was rendered mission-incapable be some fanatic with an RPG and a 200-horse evinrude.