Latest Breaking News

That’s how I remember it, anyway.

There was an argument to be made at the time (and to a lesser extent today) that battleships had a role in laying down suppressing fire prior to a beach landing. Missiles are expensive and have a limited area of effect. Modern shipboard guns are fewer in number and lack the necessary “oomph”. The Army and Marines complained that getting air support from the Air Force or Navy was difficult.

There are various fantasy plans for retrofitting existing* battleships. Replacing their boilers with nuclear reactors would not only make them the fastest surface ships ever built, but free up room for supplies and ammo. Redesigned munitions for the 16” guns would give them longer range and would be immune to anti- missile technology.

What Reagan and the Republicans did screw up was planning a 700 ship Navy. This massive expansion was going to require a lot more sailors to be recruited far ahead of time. When that plan was scrapped, there was a glut of sailors with no place to put them. This screwed up advancement, and required both voluntary and involuntary separations. This screwed up the Navy for years.

By the way, please don’t think I am advocating for a bigger military or Navy. I agree with Eisenhower that we have a choice between guns or butter, and we have way more guns than necessary.