We need the DDX for Taiwan. Their railguns (with 10000 darts) could keep away an armada of Chinese invasion craft with just a couple ships.

This is deeply silly. There are no currently active battleships.

Gideon:
Orrin thinks there should be no US military at all except for the cruise missile corps. No Marines, no Coast Guard, nothing except the missileers. It's not a very popular plan.
b:
Yeah, I thought the same thing. I just assumed I was mistaken. I had thought the Iowa was decommissioned years ago.

Turret #2 was decommissioned abruptly. I don't think it was ever repaired, but I don't know.

I just read an article that was referenced on Greyhawk that the CNO is trying to cancel the destroyer and replace it with a bunch of smaller and more maneuverable boats that could be used against smaller enemy forces. I think he was looking for about 55 of the smaller vessels. They would be a lot more useful against the terrorist forces we seem to be fighting now.

Bryan

OJ is right. We we need a ten-fold increase in cruise missles. Along with expansion of unmanned aircraft to identify targets. We've had two wars in the last decade and that has been our strength. We should play to our strength. Why give them a chance to shoot us.?

BTW, our occupation of Iraq isn't worth a cr*p, and all it does is bring back the Vietnam syndrome, due to the p*ssyfication of America. Better that we depopulate a territory first so that we can occupy where the enemy ain't. (to paraphrase MacArthur) Clinton used a variation of that in Kosovo and to good effect.

Iowa and Wisconsin are still technically in reserve status. Iowa's #2 turret is said to be partially repaired.

More here

Bryan, h-man:

Not so fast. I remember arguing with oj about the draft. He was in favor of bring it back. Cruise missiles are fine, but a mushroom cloud once in a while would help reach those who are hard to impress. That would only take one man with one finger.

THE DRAFT IS a useful social instiution--the troops are worthless.

You've gone insane.

The lesson of the last few years is that cutting Defense ependitures below 5% of GDP is asking for trouble. I say build the new weapons and increase the military to at least 800,000 men ASAP.

The battleship has been made obsolete by the jdam GPS guided bomb and the laser guided bomb.

Robert:

Or then again, point-defense lasers may make the gravity-driven bomb obsolete.

The battleship was made useless by aircraft carriers over 60 years ago. It was still useful for shore bombardment, but we have much better means to do the same job now.

The ships are beautiful and awesome to behold when they fire, but we shouldn't make military decisions on romantic nostalgia.

They were recommissioned as cheap cruise-missile platforms, and because they have steel superstructures. This was shortly after the Falklands, where the HMS Sheffield's aluminum superstructure caught fire, sinking her, after she was hit by a single Exocet missile. The guns were just for show.