Changes

The information age has presented to us another transformation in naval design and construction.  Both World Wars and the [[Falklands War]] have shown that ships built for the sole purpose of firing guns at long range are vulnerable:  to air attack, submarine attack, missile attack, and close-in engagements with vessels encountered unexpectedly at night or in fog.  An answer to this vulnerability has been an increased dependance on electronics and a host of weapons systems for varying roles of defense.  The American cruiser of WWII has been replaced by modern [[Ticonderoga class cruiser]]s now specializing in Anti-Air, Anti-Sub, and Ship-to-Ship Warfare carried out almost solely by missiles, torpedoes, and ship-based helicopters.  The only conventional gun defenses are two 5-inchers and a "last-ditch" [[Directory:Phalanx CIWS|Phalanx]] system.  So representative of technology's multi-role place in the modern navy, these 9,000-ton fossil-fueled<ref>The choice of a conventional power plant for the AEGIS was an economic one.  The expense of the electronic package married to a nuclear plant could not remain fiscally viable in the tight budgets of the late 1970's.</ref> missile cruisers have supplanted the 58,000-ton battleships of yesterday as the navy's flagships, highlighting the fiscal advantages of a larger fleet comprised of smaller, more capable boats.

The information age has presented to us another transformation in naval design and construction.  Both World Wars and the [[Falklands War]] have shown that ships built for the sole purpose of firing guns at long range are vulnerable:  to air attack, submarine attack, missile attack, and close-in engagements with vessels encountered unexpectedly at night or in fog.  An answer to this vulnerability has been an increased dependance on electronics and a host of weapons systems for varying roles of defense.  The American cruiser of WWII has been replaced by modern [[Ticonderoga class cruiser]]s now specializing in Anti-Air, Anti-Sub, and Ship-to-Ship Warfare carried out almost solely by missiles, torpedoes, and ship-based helicopters.  The only conventional gun defenses are two 5-inchers and a "last-ditch" [[Directory:Phalanx CIWS|Phalanx]] system.  So representative of technology's multi-role place in the modern navy, these 9,000-ton fossil-fueled<ref>The choice of a conventional power plant for the AEGIS was an economic one.  The expense of the electronic package married to a nuclear plant could not remain fiscally viable in the tight budgets of the late 1970's.</ref> missile cruisers have supplanted the 58,000-ton battleships of yesterday as the navy's flagships, highlighting the fiscal advantages of a larger fleet comprised of smaller, more capable boats.

==References==

==References==