B Robson wrote:
> Michael Cash wrote:
> 
>> It got sort of hard to justify the expense of keeping battleships in
>> the fleet when Spruance class destroyers carried more destructive
>> firepower (thanks to larger missile loadouts), had far smaller crews
>> and operating expenses, were better able to protect themselves from
>> threats from the air, and had anti-submarine capabilities. Not nearly
>> as impressive to look at, though.
> 
> The interesting thing about Iowa Class BBs is that no modern weapons can 
> take them out. You need a good old fashion iron bomb and a very big one 
> at that, which means an aircraft overflying. Missiles would do nothing 
> more than piss off the Captian for scratching the paintwork. Don't know 
> how many torpedeos it would require to take one out.

Guess the answer would be either 1 or many. I was talking to Roger (the 
retired USN chopper pilot we went skiing with) in the bar tonight 
(completed unrelated to this thread) and ASW ops came up. Me: "Could 1 
torpedo or mine sink a large warship?" Him: "Yes, break the keel and the 
ship goes down". As Mukade has said, you get the craziest people at Yamasa.


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