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Article: Questions Over Battleship Role Resurface; Navy Officials Say Firepower Offsets Age, Operating Expense
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 23, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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They are floating fortresses, the most heavily armored naval
vessels steaming the seas and armed with the biggest naval guns in
the world.
The blast of a one-ton shell from a U.S. battleship gun leaves a
scorched crater in the earth half the size of a football field.
When the rest of the world's navies turned their battleships into
scrap metal after World War II, the U.S. Navy coated its behemoth
vessels in gray, fish-oil-based paint, stuffed their insides with
dehumidifiers and waited for future wars and bigger defense budgets.
Now, a half-decade after President Ronald Reagan resurrected the
hulking battleships, the tragic death of 47 men inside a gun turret
aboard the USS Iowa has ...