Evolving Armada

摘要

Battleships ruled the ocean until World War II, when aircraft carriers usurped the lead role in most naval fleets. In April 1943, Popular Science argued that the Navy still needed battleships-steel, steam-powered warships armed with big guns-to protect convoys and fight enemy craft, despite proposals to phase them out. Writer Alden P. Armagnac described a skirmish near the Solomon Islands in which a U.S. battleship, armed with an automatic antiaircraft cannon, brought down 20 Japanese bombers in eight minutes.