All weapons requirements are based on a perceived need or shortfall.
The BBs were great paltforms for NGFS. They also gave a capability to slug it out on the batteline.
The question becomes, though, where is the shortfall or need? We aren't going to do the big invasion with NGFS as we used to. If fire support is needed we would use PGMs. JDAMs and cruise missiles can fill that requirment without putting sailors at risk. (There's your most important political trade off!)
They filled a gap in the 1980s when the technology wasn't there for PGMs. But now you don't need a BB to launch Tomahawks when you can just as effectively launch them from and SSN/SSGN or a JDAM from a Bone.
I was an Army guy, not a Navy guy. If I had gone Navy it would have been as surface warfare. However, I can not see any jusification for them today.
But they do make great museums!:))
The BBs were great paltforms for NGFS. They also gave a capability to slug it out on the batteline.
The question becomes, though, where is the shortfall or need? We aren't going to do the big invasion with NGFS as we used to. If fire support is needed we would use PGMs. JDAMs and cruise missiles can fill that requirment without putting sailors at risk. (There's your most important political trade off!)
They filled a gap in the 1980s when the technology wasn't there for PGMs. But now you don't need a BB to launch Tomahawks when you can just as effectively launch them from and SSN/SSGN or a JDAM from a Bone.
I was an Army guy, not a Navy guy. If I had gone Navy it would have been as surface warfare. However, I can not see any jusification for them today.
But they do make great museums!:))
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