Net Assessment A Broadside Against Battleships
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Feb 26, 2026 They spar over the strategic logic and hidden costs of a proposal for a modern battleship fleet. They trace why capital ships fell out of favor and question the feasibility of new weapons and power systems. They weigh industrial-base hopes against opportunity costs and debate the civil-military and political dynamics behind the idea.
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Battleship Proposal Is Politically Driven
- The Golden Fleet battleship idea is a political initiative pushed by President Trump, not a Navy-originated operational plan.
- Christopher Preble and Melanie Marlowe argue the Navy historically favored distributed, smaller platforms and only embraced the idea after presidential pressure.
Missiles Ended Battleship Logic
- Battleships became obsolete because missiles made heavy armor and huge guns irrelevant; missile lethality is independent of launch platform size.
- Trent Hone's analysis: a modern battleship would yield a smaller, less resilient, and less lethal force than alternatives.
Favor Arsenal Ships Over Speculative Railguns
- Prioritize proven, fielded long-range fires and distributed lethality over chasing immature technologies like railguns and unproven high-power lasers.
- Christopher Preble recommends arsenal-style, minimally manned ships networked to sensors as a practical hedge.