The funny thing about Hampton Roads was that it was neither the biggest nor the most decisive battle of the American Civil War, but it was the first conflict between ironclad ships, and the whole world was curious about the outcome.
I think your list is spot on, if you have to have only five.
As for your observation on the value of battleships; i.e. not losing them being more important that actually using them, I've said something similar myself. I like to liken destroyers to soldiers - the form groups and they fight. Cruisers are perfect for their primary mission - as scouts, and as mighty warriors if need be. But battleships? Battleships are like the ancient champions - Achilles and Hector, for example. They can intimidate all the soldiers and warriors in the world, but they really only exist to fight each other, and almost certainly one of them will die, ending in glory perhaps, but dying just the same; to be remembered forever, but still just as dead.
It just occured to me: does that make the airplane like a plague of wasps, sent by the gods to torment the mightiest warriors? Too much metaphor; I have to go to bed.
