DDG-1000 and Defining Terms Properly ...

Are our friends at WiB trolling CDRS? Second time this week ....

Kyle, son, nothing but luv, but come a bit closer so the front porch can slap 'yo face. 

You started out with a fine article with some engorging BB historical couldhavebeens and then ... well ...

BEHOLD!

The upcoming Zumwalt-class destroyers will go a long way towards providing battleship-quality naval gunfire support for the Marines. Minimally manned, relatively small, stealthy and precise, the Zumwalts are the antithesis of the Iowas, but functionally their successors. Although each Zumwalt can only provide the explosive mass of a single one of an Iowa’s 16-inch guns, the newer ship can fire its smaller shells with GPS-aided precision up to 83 miles away, versus 20 miles for an Iowa.

Should the Zumwalt design be successful, the torch of the battleship could finally be transferred to them, and the Iowas can finally slumber in peace as museums, safe from the schemes of those who would revive them.

Good googly moogly, the fail is so strong here I can't seem to catch my breath.

1. "...battleship-quality naval gunfire support for the Marines." 6.1" does not equal 16" in so many ways, especially with the Tiffany priced LRAP warheads planned for those guns. Beats a 5" - but 16" ... child please!
2. Size? "relatively small, stealthy and precise," Well; DDG-1000 600' long. BB-61 887' long. Neither can be called small, only the blind could call it stealthy, and precise ... both are, in a fashion.
3. The guns man; the guns.
- DDG-1000 Class: Two 6.1" guns with a magazine of 335x2 for a total 670 with a 25# bursting charge each.
- BB-61 Class: Three Turrets of nine guns total. Magazines of Turret I: 387, Turret II: 456, Turret III: 367 for a total of 1,210 with a bursting charge of 153.6# each.

Do we even need to go in to the issue of self protection? That big CENTCOM Watch Flooresque CIC in the DDG-1000? Talk about a 1-hit wonder that even an unarmed drone strike can put out of action.

Heck, a BQM-74 hits a BB, all you have to do is call out sweepers.

No, I am not asking for unicorns ... errr ... return of the BB - but I am asking that we back off from the hyperbole of the light cruiser that is the DDG-1000. Yes, it is the size of a WWII German Pocket BB, but that doesn't make it one.

Now ... find a way to produce a 21st Century 11" gun to slap on them and give it at least a CA's armor? Well, then we may talk.