Are battleships obsolete? The last active warship I remember, was sunk during the Falklands war was

[3Hotdogs]

It was an Argentinian cruiser, sunk by a Brit sub.

Also note the number of Russian ships now being sunk or damages by Ukrainian drones. --- $muli-million ships being sunk by $10,000 drones.

[Turbineguy]

1. Trump will invent a new Battleship Battle Plan

He's a navel genius.

[3Hotdogs]

3. Maybe I'm wrong. I remember playing "Sink the Navy" or "Battleship" on my iPad.

I couldn't hit shit. My grandkid beat me every time.

[Conjuay]

8. Navel gazing is not the same as Navel genius

[GCG]

2. Well

Yes, traditional battleships are considered militarily obsolete due to advancements like aircraft carriers and guided missiles, which offer greater range, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, though the U.S. Navy kept some Iowa-class ships active for shore bombardment and as symbols until the early 1990s, with recent political talk of building new ones. Modern threats, including anti-ship missiles, render their heavy armor less effective, making large, expensive targets vulnerable.

Air Power: Aircraft carriers and land-based airpower proved superior, delivering heavier strikes over vast distances much faster than battleships' guns.

Guided Missiles: The development of long-range, precision-guided missiles made battleships vulnerable, as even their heavy armor couldn't guarantee survival against modern weaponry.

Cost & Efficiency: Maintaining battleships became increasingly expensive, requiring large crews and resources for outdated equipment, while hundreds of aircraft or many missile-equipped destroyers could provide more versatile power for the same cost.

Range Limitations: A battleship's guns could only reach targets within their range (around 20 miles), whereas aircraft and missiles project power hundreds of miles inland or across oceans.

[Chasstev365]

4. ARA General Belgrano was the ship

It had been at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 as the USS Phoenix survived WW II, and sold to Argentina in 1951.

[Kaleva]

5. The US didn't lose any fast battleships during WWII

It lost two old ones sitting in port at Pearl Harbor. It lost 11 aircraft carriers of all types during the conflict,

[jmowreader]

6. Battleships became obsolete...

...the day someone invented an antiship missile that would penetrate their hulls.

Here's the thing: A battleship historically had two missions: sinking the other side's ships, and bombarding their shore fortifications. Both those missions can be more successfully done with an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer armed with several kinds of torpedoes and missiles. And seeing as how a Burke is far less expensive and requires far fewer personnel (like, one-tenth the number of crew that an Iowa-class battleship needed) to operate, you can put three Burkes in the water instead of one battleship...so, y'know, if the enemy manages to sink one you've got two others still prosecuting the enemy.

[sarisataka]

7. The last Battleship sunk in combat was in 1945

More recently, the Iranian frigate Sahand was sunk by the US in 1988.

A couple years ago , the Ukrainians sank the Russian cruiser Moskova with land based missiles.

Despite many claims, old battleships would be quite survivable in a modern combat environment. We do not use the armor piercing bombs and airdropped torpedoes that were used against them in WW2.

The bigger problem for the modern use of a battleship is the cost, both in money and manpower, and the lack of viable targets to use them against. They're primary purpose was to fight other heavily armored big gun ships of which none exist anymore. As World War 2 advanced they were used for amphibious support and as anti aircraft platforms.

There are not many foreseeable opportunities of major amphibious operations where their guns would be useful. Their in aircraft guns are no longer effective in the modern world of jets and missiles.

To put a battleship to sea in the modern day would be very expensive, require a lot of men and not have very many missions.It can perform