Hey, Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth . . . I just found something you can cut in the Pentagon budget.

Photo above - World War 2 ends with Japan's surrender on a US battleship. The US is now bringing back a pair of 1940's era battleships to bolster our nation's defenses. Not a joke . . . for real.

Isn’t it enough that we have ELEVEN aircraft carrier groups? Each with an entourage of more than dozen support ships guarding the big enchilada? Carriers can't survive 5 minutes without submarines, guided missile cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and who knows what else.

Now a pair of 80 year old battleships are returning to duty. Commissioned in 1942-44, the Wisconsin and Iowa. Entered active duty before the end of World War 2. Before the invention of broadcast television and the hula hoop.

Generals (and admirals) always spend their careers preparing to re-fight the last war. Apparently we are getting ready for a repeat of World War 2. The Wisconsin and Iowa are equipped with 18 inch guns, the largest ever fitted to any ship. These behemoths can hit targets up to 24 miles away. Unless someone fires a cruise missile in their direction first - range 1,000 miles. Remember to watch out for torpedoes, too!

The Russians are using legacy "capital ships" against Ukraine. But a Russian heavy cruiser was destroyed almost immediately by a homebuilt Ukrainian drone. Apparently, Russia thinks it’s refighting World War 2 also.

Attention please, outgoing Biden administration (and incoming Trump administration). World War 3 has already begun. The weapons are hacking, infrastructure attacks, disabling GPS and cellular networks. Using cheap orbital payloads to kill military satellites which have no defense, and no way to shoot back. Puleeze . .. we don’t need two battleships, and the flotilla of support vehicles each will need.

The pentagon has 490 generals, and at least 62 admirals. The incoming Trump administration plans to “transform” America’s defense by forcing a bunch of them to retire. I humbly suggest that leaving the Iowa and Wisconsin in mothballs go to the top of the our spending cuts.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Iowa and Wisconsin Battleships Return to Service: A Controversial Move Amid Evolving Naval Strategy

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

Based on what I could find this was done back in the 1990s. What does it have to do with anything now?

As for Russian battle cruisers they are actually intended to be very different and armed very differently despite similar size.

And all surface vessels are vulnerable to that kind of attack. See the USS Cole for an example. Same principal. Taken out by a Zodiak loaded with explosives.

Not sure what the point of all this is.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow so, are you agreeing with me that world war 2 battleships have no strategic or tactical value in the 2024 battlefield?

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

@SusanInFlorida Actual battleships. Sure. But the same arguably could be said of carriers and perhaps even expensive subs.

I brought up the Russian heavy cruiser though because not everything that looks like a battleship necessarily is.

They were designed to destroy carriers. They are largely upscaled missile frigate. And the remaining deck guns are actually very effective for finishing off a surface ship. Armour against missiles on modern ships is basically useless against ship artillery.

That being said. I am curious where this talk of bringing back battleships comes from. The most I could find was talk about it back in 1998 when I was in high school.

First problem with that idea is you would need to enlist engineers from a senior citizen's home just to find a Stoker who knows how to start a coal fire boiler.