Are battleships (not aircraft carriers) largely obsolete in modern warfare?

Question

Also (and this is not directly related to the first question), when was the last time two military battleships actually fired their guns at one another in combat?

Answer 1

Old fashioned behemoths with nothing more than four or five gun towers of circa 15 inch guns, are outmoded. Still I belive in keeping a fiew large cruisers, that would ofcourse have lot's of cruise missiles on board, but also a range of ab out 20 miles inland, great for supporting any littoral (coastile), warfare... So, say like when the coalition took southern Iraq, a battleship firing it's guns in support would have covered a 500 pound j-dam! They are almost as accurate too!

So, no they arent outdated if used as 'artillery haulers', with ofcourse a couple of Naval Patriot SAM batteries, and a good 'bellyful', of cruise missiles... Then these buddies could strike at least 500 miles inland, and as I said their cannons would paste anything about 40km from the coast. And, ofcourse with modifications, they could serve as a helicopter group's launching pad... I mean if they would get new guns on them, then probably something like MRLS batteries would be better to have than the older 15inch guns, but even one tower of them should be spared... So like the air gunship 'spectre' from the Vietnam days, is still found useful in especially afghanistan, an old heavy cruiser or Battleship or two could similarly be kept for this kind of saturation support against enemy targets pretty close to the coast, and ofcouse they could give air support for troops close to ashore and send a 500kg 'whopper', about 750km inland, via cruise missile, if need be...

I dont see them being useful in naval combat, unless they pack some Exoset II's or something similar, a modern Harpoon battery or two would make them good anti surface on route to their littoral duties, also some sea king helicopters would do the anti sub stuff... I see the large area of a battleship (and if modified, they have a huge ammount of space, and if certain weapons systems were stacked so that they fire from a 'second deck' kind of thing, then a lot of weapons systems could be mounted on top, not to mention a tower that could have a huge radar ontop of it!


So, yes, a fiew with modifications, shure, they would also survive a hit from a silkworm, or exoset II missile unlike most of the new ships, which are of a totally different class of armour protection.

Answer 2

The Battleship became obsolete more or less at the outset of WW2. You will recall that the Royal Navy destroyed most of the Nazi fleet of pocket battleships. How? The RN had lots of aircraft carriers - that's how. They flew canvas and wire biplanes [Swordfish] and dropped torpedos mostly which either seriously damaged a battleship or else sunk the damn thing.

The last Battleship built by the Brits was HMS Vanguard - I have been aboard this ship way back in the 1940s at Navy Days, Portsmouth Royal Navy Dockyard. I must way it was bloody impressive to a boy of 9.

In a modern war a single figher from a ship such as the USS [whatever carrier] could do more damage than all the fighting ships of WW2 put together and that ain't no joke. Think nuke.

Who flew these Swordfish to kill the Nazi pocket battleships?

One of these pilots was Laurence Olivier who flew about 650 sorties against the enemy. He was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm pilot - actually a Lieutenant in the 'Wavy Navy' RNVR - Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.

Answer 3

Don't think so.
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Answer 4

Yes.

Billy Mitchell proved battleships could be sunk by airplanes prior to World War II. For that reason, both the Japanese Navy and the US Navy built carriers as their primary warships. Germany on the other hand stuck with subs and battleships. We saw how well the Bismarck did against airplanes. It sunk.)

The only reason the US NAVY kept battleships after the war was that the IOWA class were brand new and no other Navy of the world had ships that could match them. For softening up a landing zone before sending in troops, nothing could beat them for the amount of munitions they could delivery in a short period of time.

However today, the four last US battleships are retired. Three are museum ships and the fourth, the USS IOWA is sitting near San Francisco rusting away because San Fran would not let them turn it into a museum ship near their city. (San Fran is very anti-military.)

Answer 5

You are correct, the last time battleships fought directly against each other was in the Battles of the Atlantic and the Battle of the Arctic between Germany and Britain. Both were losses for Germany.

Yes, a battleship does provide a tremendous show of force (they were used in Vietnam, Lebanon, Gulf War I), but until the US is willing to fight against someone who can actually shoot back the expense of maintaining the battleships is prohibitive and largely a waste. Specifically, there were no targets within range of the battleships' guns that were worth the expense of maintaining the battleship that could not be destroyed less expensively with cruise missiles that can be launched from aircraft and from smaller vessels (the first cruise missile launched during Gulf War II was from a frigate). Also, even though the battleship is extremely big, 99% of the enemy population would only be able to see it on television so the awe factor is extremely limited. Into the foreseeable future, the United States does not seem to be looking to fight any nation that could afford a 'blue water navy' so the likelihood of fighting another battleship is extremely remote.

Answer 6

Battle ships are no longer used by the navy. The value of the aircraft carrier was recognized during WWII. Take a look at the December 7, 1941 as an example.

Battle ships serve no purpose in the current era of naval warfare. They were used during WWII against battleships from hostile countries. However, in the end, it was the carrier that enabled us to prevail and defeat the enemy in far away lands.

Answer 7

In world war 2 it was shown they could be easily sunk by aircraft. As they are so expensive they were unlikly to be risked unless air supiriority was attained.
Among nations who don't have aircraft carriers they would still be regarded as a dangerous weapon, but the emphasis is in on smaller craft with a multiple roles.

Answer 8

Yes, other than making for nice museums...

http://www.battleshipnc.com/index.html

Answer 9

Yep. No navy still has battleships. There's not a lot of point really, their main use was to be really really big guns and to have enough armour to protect them. Now we have rockets that can be launched from even very small ships, and of course aircraft from carriers which have a MUCH longer range there's no need for them.

The battle of Leyte Gulf on 25th October 1944 was the last time battlehips fired at each other. The US 7th fleet (containing 6 out-of-date battleships) sunk the Japanese battleships Fuso and Yamashiro.

Answer 10

Yes they are obsolete since there are none in the US Navy still commissioned. The last commissioned use of a US Battleship was during the first Gulf War.