Return of the Battleship, this time, its personal

For me a Dreadnought will always be one of three criminal types working for Cobra, but for normal humans the name usually refers to battleships.

Interesting article over at War is Boring about the decline of battleships. Basically they were cost prohibitive, billions of dollars of steel and technology, thousands of sailors. And just think what losing even one means. Its a blow to national prestige and character. I believe in the Great War the Austrians lost a battleship to a single torpedo.

The author came of age during Ronald Reagan's 600 ship navy. That navy included four battleships, Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri and Wisconsin. Those battleships were an awesome symbol of power, floating, mobile fortresses really, with nine 16 guns and batteries of Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles. There's never been anything quiet like them.

The above lined article claims the age of the battleship is over. But we wonder if that is really so. With the advent of rail-guns which can sling a steel ball several hundred miles, might a floating gun platform be more practical than an air craft carrier? Of course, designers would have to account for return fire and be compelled to include belts of armor on those gun platforms. They would have to get to a crisis area fast. Heavily armed, massively armored fast floating gun platforms...

Look, the dreadnought is back!