Bring the battleships back? AGAIN!

[Suhiir]

No.
BUT!
Some good info here on the US vs the PRC.
And what MAY happen.

(( Forgive the built-in commercials, nothing I can do about them. ))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6GKTLUswIQ

Fortunately in WinSPMBT you can use off-map artillery/rockets to simulate most any type of naval fire support.

[Dion]

Battleships are cool, because they have the biggest guns of all the warships, and when they fire a broadside it's one hell of a sight to see, one you won't ever forget. Their also cool when they sail in column formation, a long line of them just coming to kick your as*. Very fomnible to see, more formidable than the aircraft carrier. Of course in reality they don't have more firepower than an aircraft carrier, but they carry huge, extra thick armor. They probably have great endurance, though the missle seems to have made them obsolete.

[Suhiir]

I was told (i.e. may well be a Sea Story [i.e. total B.S.]) that during Desert Storm an Iraqi Corps HQ was located in a school complex in Kuwait City. They didn't want to use bombs because of the risk of hitting nearby friendly civilian structures. So the USS Missouri took it's time aiming and waiting for just the right sea conditions then dropped one 16in shell on the complex.
End of Iraqi Corps HQ.

[Dion]

lol :D

[DRG]

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/02/04/USS-Missouri-shells-Iraqi-positions/8009219349353/


https://ussmissouri.org/learn-the-history/operation-desert-storm

On 3 February, the battleship fired her main battery in anger for the first time since the Korean War. She targeted concrete command-and-control bunkers as well as Iraqi artillery positions, firing 112 16” rounds between 5 to 7 February. The next week, Missouri fired 69 16-inch rounds during fire-support missions. This time, her targets were infantry battalions, a mechanized unit, an artillery battery, and a command bunker.

[Dion]

When Ronald Reagan was president, there was a terrorist action in lebanon, what's new right? Anyway, he ordered a battleship to fire one shell every hour at them in retaliation. It had an extra effect because the shell had the weight of a small car, hence it roared as it flew through the sky. Really got on your nerves if you were on the receiving end I bet. It really didn't have much effect in deverting terrorist ambitions, but it looked real cool on the news.

[Suhiir]

Another nice thing about large caliber naval guns.

You can intercept missiles/aircraft/helos with other missiles, sometimes disrupt them with EW, and there's always AA/Phalanx type systems. Would any of these have the slightest effect on a 16in naval shell? AND they pack more punch then 90% of missiles!

[lansoar]

I might trust the Iowa class weapons to be fired again. As for the USS Texas.....having visited that lovely girl, I'd not want to be anywhere near the turret that tries to fire a round from those old 14inch specials. :p

[DRG]

I might trust the Iowa class weapons to be fired again. As for the USS Texas.....having visited that lovely girl, I'd not want to be anywhere near the turret that tries to fire a round from those old 14inch specials. :p


Yeah, PRE WW1 Era battleships are getting a bit too old to be getting frisky with their big guns.

She is a sweety though

https://i.insider.com/630fa0f53fe7c40019e4b94c?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp

[Dion]

That's the USS Texas? Those tugboats are almost as big as the ship. It looks like one tough ship though. If it's pre-WWI it must be over 100 years old! I guess it found a way to survive after all these years, after two world wars and all. Must have outstanding karma!

[DRG]

https://storage.googleapis.com/clio-images/large_UID_76_USS%20Texas%20Firing.jpg

https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/qdS87MU-euRkRh6Zpk3OieR6jAE=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc() :format(webp)/bb-35-uss-texas-1944-56a61b855f9b58b7d0dff319.PNG


Displacement: 27,000 tons
Length: 573 ft.
Beam: 95.3 ft.
Draft: 27 ft., 10.5 in.

https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/p418Ft4ZPsc0MJPG2J3nXHt_2Zo=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc() :format(webp)/uss-texas-1942-75913dd1c0d348829137b4e49f1ed6e7.jpg

[Mobhack]

There was a scenario up around Iceland in the old naval DOS wargame "Harpoon" that gave the NATO side a surface action group with a couple of Iowa battleships as the core. Plus a carrier strike group as well. IIRC, the Soviets were invading Rekyavik or whatever.

The scenario was really quite simple - you let the enemy AI know where you were by having some destroyers appear near the invasion force where radar helos would detect them. He would send all the land based backfires at them, you then murdred those with the F-14s and proceeded to find the invasion force and bomb it to bits with the strike planes since carrier air in harpoon had infinite supplies of all air launched weapons, so why use the dumb bombs etc when you can have all the harpoon SSMS...

Therefore your surface action group with the great big battleships was actually quite superfluous.

However - if you voluntarily held off with using the carrier strike group (other than to clear the skies of backfires, bears and recce helos) then you could charge the SAG into the middle of the Soviet landing group and have sheer fun blowing sverdlov cruisers away with your Iowas. That was rather satisfying;)!

[georgesedlak]

Yes they are cool, but the ammo is old and inconsistent, and making new large caliber shells is a problem. The current attempt to make 155MM shells is a good example. Maybe the Russians could sell us some.