Opaque Lucidity

Tin Cans For The Man

The US Navy is considering a new class of destroyer, the DD(X). This whiz-bang piece of technology will have guns capable of firing over great distances, a hull that is almost invisible to radar, a crew of only 110 and room for all sorts of Buck Rogers-style weapons once they’re developed (like rail guns). Oh, and one more thing…the ships will cost at least $3 billion a piece.

This is a whole lotta money for an escort ship. I don’t know enough about the program to have a personal opinion about it other than to say that a submarine could do just about everything they want this ship to do. There are, however, many people who watch this kind of development with great interest, and some of those people sent letters to the Weekly Standard’s online edition last week. Normally, I would glance over the letters and not give it a second thought. After all, every new defense program has its share of detractors. But the first letter of the bunch reminded me that, in many ways, time does little to change the way people think.

You can read the entire letter, but in short the man writing it asserts that re-commissioning two Iowa-class battleships would do the job of the entire DD(X) class better and for less money. According to him, the DD(X) is a fragile, vulnerable, expensive ship that no one (including the Marines, who may one day rely on it for fire support) wants. The old iron from World War Two can still pass muster with giant 16-inch barrels, so why not use it?

Maybe the man has an argument; I really can’t say. But I do know one thing: the same argument was made before, during and after the First World War, about a new type of ship. It was seen as fragile, expensive to operate and no one near the top of the naval ranks wanted one. This new type of ship would have to be protected during battle like eggs in a basket. There was no need for them because, after all, battleships could do this nation’s bidding on the high seas much more effectively than the new deathtraps.

What were the new ships the old admirals were complaining about? They were called aircraft carriers. Without them, the Japanese would have won the Second World War in the Pacific.

Just something to think about the next time something new-fangled seems like a waste of time and resources.

Posted by Matthew at October 10, 2005 01:20 PM