Reimagined battleships could deliver unparalleled firepower, bridging fleet deficits and redefining naval combat with advanced defenses against modern threats.
By Kris Osborn, Warrior
The new Trump-class battleships could potentially add unique or unprecedented tactical value to the US Navy by addressing current fleet deficits, particularly in the realm of an ability to mass firepower and across wide combat formations.
While there is by no means an “unlimited” budget for shipbuilding, the U.S. would arguably be well served by a new fleet of 10 or more massive battleships, a “class” of warships aligned in concept with Ford-class carriers and America-class amphibious assault ships.
Some elements of conventional wisdom or contemporary military thinking would suggest that large battleships, much like carriers, are increasingly vulnerable and “obsolete” due to a changing threat environment filled with long-range precision sensors and weapons. However, at times these perspectives may fail to account for the rapid and effective maturation of layered ship defenses. Emerging technologies, now increasingly integrated into U.S. Navy warships, are introducing paradigm-changing ship-defense capabilities quickly changing the ranges and formations in which larger warships can operate. New applications such as EW systems able to track and “jam” the guidance signal or RF of an incoming missile, coupled with emerging kinetic solutions such as lasers, interceptor missiles and deck-mounted guns are increasingly able to track and destroy a growing array of threats. This defensive capability is massively fortified by improved multi-domain networking and targeting wherein target track details can be instantly transmitted across domains to give warship commanders a larger time window and range with which to determine defenses and countermeasures. Essentially, there are many reasons to suppose that large warships could indeed be capable of operating in a modern threat environment to a much larger extent than some might assume.
Fleet Size
The US Navy operates a strong fleet of roughly 75 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and only about eight or nine cruisers, so the service currently operates with a fleet-size deficit compared to the People’s Liberation Army - Navy. The operative question related to this dynamic is whether more “mass” or “firepower” would be needed in a potential conflict with China. Even if US Navy warships, such as its Flight IIA DDG51s and fast-emerging high-tech Flight III DDG 51s, are superior in the realm of sensing and lethality, the US Navy will still need to “mass” maritime firepower in a war with China – given the vast expanse of the Pacific, size of China’s Navy and “range” along its extended coastline.
100 Vertical Launch Systems
DDG 51 destroyers operate with as many as 90-to-96 Vertical Launch Systems capable of firing Tomahawk missiles and interceptor weapons such as an SM-3 Block IIA or SM-6. A maritime formation of several destroyers would then be in position to attack large areas across many miles, particularly given the 900 mile range of a Tomahawk missile and its ability to adjust course in flight to hit moving targets. Additional firepower could also be added by submarines, however a new class of heavily armed battleships would not only supplement firepower requirements but also integrate weapons and fire control with new levels of precision, range and lethality. A large battleship could mass or concentrate precision strikes on a large, high-value target and potentially integrate new generations of surface launched weapons as they emerge. These new battleships could incorporate as many as 100 VLS systems and a new generation of emerging weapons to include lasers, high-powered microwave, electronic warfare or even rail guns.
Deck-Mounted Guns
In this realm of weapons, new battleships could address needed improvement across the Navy armament of deck-mounted guns. In recent years, the service has experimented with new, longer-range precision rounds for its 5-inch guns and even explored the possibility of a ship-fired Naval Excalibur variant capable of firing GPS-guided 155mm rounds from the deck of a warship. New battleships could therefore not only massively increase surface-to-surface and surface-to-land firepower, but also provide the technical infrastructure sufficient to integrate new generations of guns and ammunition in coming years. The concept of operation seems quite clear, given that the US Navy would simply not want to be “out-gunned” in a maritime war engagement against China near Taiwan or in the South China Sea
Networking
The successful execution of improved targeting and firepower relies heavily upon effective networking, something a new class of battleships might be well positioned to perform. They could be integrated with the most modern versions of Aegis Combat Systems and combine land, surface, air and space networking to share target-track information, cue drones or forward-operating aircraft to attack specific identified threats and relay information sharing across the horizon in a manner that improves targeting for interceptor missiles. The Navy’s SM-3 Block IIA, for example, has been shown to be capable of intercepting ICBMs as they re-enter the earth’s atmosphere for the terminal phase; a next-generation warship could improve connectivity with satellites and help improve missile defense targeting and precision. The new battleships could bring new levels of ocean based multi-domain command and control.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University