Tank designs [and battleships]

> On Tue, 17 Nov 1998, John M. Atkinson wrote:

We invented decentralization 'cause in cases like this it's a good thing. A
battleship puts all the eggs in one basket. It only takes one missile to sneak
through the point defense, and the battleship has a really bad day. Yes, they
have lots of armour, yes they carry lots of ordnance, yes they
have a tall radar mast - but it still only takes one modern torpedo or
ASM or mine to kill one, or at least damage it lots. If you have the same
weaponry spread over four or five destroyers with effective fleet control
systems, you have the same offensive effectiveness and better defense, 'cause
you have to get five hits to sink them all.

> That might be why nobody has battleships anymore,

And carriers have a huge screen of destroyers, frigates, and subs 'cause they
are VULNERABLE.

> anyway, carriers replaced the battleship when the only battleship
no
> more risking valuable - and media-sensitive - lives over foreign

So use destroyers, frigates and subs with conventionally armed ballistic
missiles.

> but everyone

Iraq's navy was wiped out 'cause it had zero air support, not 'cause it just
had missile boats. Also, the Iraqis were stupid. Remember, it takes one small
150ton fast millile boat armed with four exocet missiles and a clever
commander to sink a battleship (or carrier, or cruiser, or destroyer, etc...).
The great thing about missiles is that they are the
great equalizer - launch platforms can be inexpensive, and the big
ships' defenses can be overwhealmed if you do it right.