charlie sherrill
Member
I was on the USS Springfield, a light guided missile cruiser. It did many of the things a battleship did, just on a smaller scale. I have recently been on board the Alabama and the Texas. The Texas is older, smaller, and has fewer guns. Both ships were impressive and effective in their own time. I watched as two of the four BB's were overhauled in Pascagoula, Ms. back in the 80's. They were beautiful ships and served the short purpose they were rebuilt for. Battleships were made obsolete by the carriers. I personally think carriers are vulnerable and obsolete, but I don't make the decisions to spend billions building them and manning them. Some of the carriers have over 5,000 people and billions of dollars worth of equipment on them. China, and I'm sure Russia and possibly others have the means to take them out with devastating results on lives and equipment. I would rather see smaller ships with fewer planes and personnel until we have the technology to fly directly to the battle from long distances. We can do that in some instances now. Battleships became obsolete due to their vulnerability and the fact that smaller ships can pack almost the same punch with modern ordinances, except maybe in beach landing situations against someone who can't shoot back at you. Carriers are a catastrophe waiting to happen on a mass scale. The only reason they haven't been attacked in the Middle East is any potential attacker knows we would make a glass parking lot out of whoever succeeded in hitting one. They may be majestic and intimidating to some of these small countries, but the guys we should worry about aren't scared of them.