re: #98 freetoken

The Iowa class was developed at the same time the rise of the aircraft carrier (Essex class) during WWII. Battleships quickly turned from being the lords of the sea to being support ships to protect the carriers with their guns, along with the ability to do shore bombardments. They quickly became obsolete in doing the mission intended - going after other surface combatants like battleships and enemy carriers.

After WWII, they were mothballed and then returned to service to do more of the same during Korea and then Vietnam - amphibious assault prep, shore/inland bombarbments, and carrier protection missions.

Each passing year saw less of a reason to keep the ships. By the time Reagan came, the ships were meant to be scrapped, and he brought it back and even contemplated shifting them into missile platforms.

But it’s the fact that missiles could go much further with even greater accuracy that meant that the Iowa class was obsolete. Who would need to have a surface ship firing rounds 20-40 miles (or let’s say even 50 miles inland) when you could fire a Tomahawk 200 miles or 1,500 miles. Only downside is that each missile costs a couple million dollars as compared to few thousands of dollars per Iowa shell round.

Of course, with railguns coming into service in the next few years, we’ll see longer range and lower cost than the Tomahawks.