Originally Posted by Bella

My uncle was in the Navy for quite sometime, and after seeing all the battleships being retired, he believed that it was a waste not to modernize them for the 21st century. He always knew that they were very expensive to operate, but he thought that there were a lot of features that could've been automated to cut manpower.
He always would tell me how those 16" guns were great for ground support, but knew that it was old technology. He added that he always wanted to see these old gun turrets removed and be replaced with a type of missile turret system.
After thinking about it for a while, I wondered if it could be possible...........
I know that other ships in the fleet feature that type of a system, or vertical launch tubes for tomahawk cruise missiles, but could it work?
Could these old battleships, like the B-52 bomber, be fitted with modern technology to extend there life?
Before the aircraft carrier came along, the battleship was the ship to attack land or sea targets at a distance. When the aircraft carrier came along, these ships were pretty much made obsolete due to the reach of aircraft.
I guess my main point and question I'm trying to get around to is, "could these ships be fitted with a long, medium, and short range surface to surface missile system to soften up targets before an air strike group would be launched to minimize threats?"
Also, these ships feature many smaller guns on the sides.......could these guns be removed to open up more space for surface to air threats, or anti-ship weapons?
Basically, the ship would be turned into one big floating missile platform.
I'm not dreaming, or fantasizing, just curious!!
What do you guys think?

Thanks!