Darn it, I should have prefaced that post by saying it was in relation to the 80's reactivation. My apologies for the confusion
Let's see what I find on their "expertise". These are paraphrased from a neat little (160 pages) book by Malcom Muir. No copyright infringement nor plagarization is intended...or anything else that'll get me sued.
OK, first up is Democrat Dale Bumpers (former Governor of Arkansas and then Senator from Arkansas). Yes, he was a Democrat, but also a Marine during WWII and like Goldwater, he ought to have known better
"[USS
New Jersey is an] expensive, highly vulnerable vessel of questionable military utility which would simply siphon off very scarce Navy manpower..."
He added that USS
Arkansas, a totally unarmored ship was "perhaps more survivable than the
New Jersey, and (among other anti-battleship rants) claimed that they were too slow to keep up with a CVBG.
Barry Goldwater
"Reviving old battleships is like trying to revitalise the army by digging up old General Custer"
There were several caustic remark from former SECNAV John Chafee, including this one that Muir accurately describes as absurd: "All the Russians have to do is lob a missile into one of those battleships and they'd knock it out of commission."
Finally, we have a comment from naval expert Norman Polmar. He claimed that the reactivation of the Iowas was "ridiculous, principally because of the manning problem."
Personally, I'd dearly love to jack-slap Mr Polmar a few times just for being a smarmy SOB.