quote:
Originally posted by Magnum357:
As for the crusie missle idea going back in time say during WWII, I wouldn't be so sure of that. Unless the Cruise missles and a Tactical Nuke, I think some of the Crusiers and Battleships of the day could easily withstand a shot from a conventional cruise missle.
The German V1 was essentially a "Cruise Missile" though a very crude one. It's guidance was based solely on timing. It as designed ('programmed' is hardly the right word for mechanical timing) to simply dive into what was supposed to be its target after flying a fixed amount of time. A variation on ballistics, really.
As for contemporay weapons and older ships, this is really an odd 'blind spot' in peoples thinking. Do you suppose that armor and armor-piercing weapons have stood still for 50 years? Why? Just because weapons are delivered by planes and missiles instead of huge guns? Contemporary weapons would make swiss cheese out of WW II era ships. Did you hear about the bomb they developed during the Gulf War to cut through 100+ feet of soil and concrete to destroy underground bunkers? If they can do that to soil/sand/concrete which is far harder to penetrate than steel, what do you think they could do to a big fat battleship?
That doesn't mean there isn't any armor on modern ships, either. A lot of WW II era munitions would pretty nearly bounce off of a Nimitz class carrier, I suspect. You'd better believe they are armored. It's just that the fashion of bragging about how many inches thick your armored belt is like they used to with battleships has been changed. Now they don't even mention armor, but they've probably got all sorts of layers of metal and kevlar-type protection. Sure, it's better to have good ecm and not be hit at all, but if you are hit you still want at least some armor.