Major naval battles were not direct ship-on-ship conflicts, but were fought via aircraft having ranges that existing naval guns could not hope to approach. The pointy end of the spear became aircraft, guided weapons missiles and torpedoes and submarines—not the guns on board a ship—thus largely ending of the utility of the battleship in the open ocean. However, American battleships retained their usefulness for a few more decades.
The inch guns of the four Iowa-class vessels remained highly effective as sea-based artillery for targets on distant shores. With a range of just over of 20 miles, those battleships could throw shells over the horizon to support ground troops ashore, right up to s Operation Desert Storm with several interruptions when the ships were mothballed for decades at a time.
In the four ships were decommissioned for the last time and eventually became museum ships the Missouri in Honolulu; the Iowa in Los Angeles; the New Jersey in Camden, N.
The naval artillery role is the prime argument that battleship supporters make for bringing the ships back. They have a point. Marines have long advocated for more naval gunfire support from the sea for forces ashore. Its hallmark is twin mm naval guns that launch a guided projectile more than four times the mile range of the inch guns of the old battleships. People are the most costly expense for the military, and the Navy has been on a campaign to reduce the numbers of sailors.
Zumwalts call for a crew of fewer than , whereas in its configuration, the New Jersey required a crew of almost 2, sailors. Except for Nimitz-class aircraft carriers with compliments of about 3, no ship in the U.
Crew of a 40mm anti-aircraft gun mount loading ammunition into the weapon on the Alaska. This photo was taken on March 6, , off Iwo Jima. This photograph was taken from the Alaska as a Fletcher-class destroyer steamed by. However, there was a battle raging against Japanese kamikaze suicide planes, and both ships would prove to be formidable air defense platforms in the air battles around Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Unfortunately, kamikaze strikes still occurred at an alarming rate against the US fleet.
The Franklin suffered over 1, casualties, and was the most heavily damaged US ship in the war to survive. This photo was taken during operations off Iwo Jima in March During the summer of , the Alaska and Guam conducted several shore bombardment missions and even sailed into the East China and Yellow Seas to find Japanese shipping, but found few targets. After the surrender of the Japanese, both ships went to Korea to provide assistance in the transfer of power to the Allies.
Both also participated in Operation Magic Carpet , the repatriation of American forces back home from overseas. With the end of the war, the US Navy had hundreds of ships that were either surplus or obsolete and no longer needed. Alaska and Guam were placed in reserve in New Jersey, where they sat until scrapped in the s. So, what are the legacies of these ships? Both had very short service careers and combat history, with Alaska being active for 32 months and Guam for only Their very existence and usefulness was hotly debated then, and it still is today.
Were these ships cruisers or were they American battlecruisers? Were they relics of a long past era and obsolete before they even entered service? Long gone are the days where the United States Navy roamed the seas with heavily-armed battleships as its primary capital ships.
It made sense to create the biggest, baddest ship technology would allow, then arm it with as many weapons as it took to tear the enemy to shreds. If there was any way you could also prevent yourself from getting torn to shreds with some heavy armor, that was great too. As time wore on, the technology only got better. As a matter of fact, one side is better off being able to strike the other without warning — and without one side being able to return fire.
These days, satellite technology, radars, and other long-range sensor technologies mean an attacker can see its target without ever needing to go looking for them.
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