Quote:
Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b
If we posit (as many here seem to do) that Desert Storm and Shield did occur in the T2K v2 and 2.2 timelines...
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It absolutely did in 2.2.
http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.p...light=timeline
Requiring a crew of approximately 1800 men, would they be all that useful in most theatres? Take Europe for example, how much of the fighting took place within the 40km range of the 16 inch guns? Sure, the Iowa class carried Tomahawks, but at half a million a pop, they're a bit too expensive to fire off in bulk.
We also know Battleships where already obsolete as a concept by WWII, so they'd be of limited use in naval actions - smaller and
cheaper destroyers, both in currency and manpower, offer a greater flexibility on the whole.
However, their usefulness in amphibious operations can't be denied. If they were recommissioned, it's extremely likely they'd be attached to support the Marine units in the Middle East and Korea (the North Sea and the Baltic might be a little "hot" for them especially after the 1997 battles destroyed pretty much all the available escorts). The Middle East and Korea were basically second class fronts with second class enemy units compared to Europe so I see their survival and usefulness as at least vaguely plausible.