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Originally Posted by RN7
How effective the Kirov's were is a debatable question, but they scared the US Navy enough into reactivating and modifying four Second World War battleships.
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Citation needed for that claim, the Iowas were refit and recommissioned because of the perceived "cruiser gap" with the USSR.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RN7
None of these are small ships (their as big as WW2 cruisers), and would your logic not also apply to them?
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The US DDGs are very different from the logic behind the Kirovs. They were meant to threaten an area all by themselves. Their endurance let them be a menace to a wide area unless NATO dedicated a lot of resources keeping tabs on them.
The Arleigh Burkes aren't designed or meant to be mini fleets unto themselves. While they can fight independently they are often ASW and AAW pickets for battle groups. The key there is they're part of a battle group.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RN7
If building a warship the size of the Kirov armed to the teeth with missiles could contribute to keeping the US Navy hundreds of miles away from the Chinese coast and Taiwan I think they might build one or two of them.
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Like I said, China can build them if they want but big ships without escorts are targets and battle groups are really expensive and have huge logistical tails. They can harass smaller countries in and around the South China Sea but they're unlikely to keep the USN from going where they want.