British naval doctorine and pride

[kylania]

Originally Posted by Incubus

My theory is that because battleships are so big and heavily armed, they seem good. I dunno, maybe there's something symbolic about it (phallic?). Battleships may 'seem' cool, but compare how many battleships are still sailing today vs the number of submarines, and time will demonstrate which is the better boat.

I don't think really it was a matter of "ooh big!" as much as the battleships and ships of the line before it had always been the deciding factor in naval warfare until WWII. There really wasn't much of anything obvious at the time to indicate that things had changed since WWI.

That war turned so many of the "traditional" tactics of war upside down. Tanks as a main ground weapon rather than infantry in trenches. Smaller units (covettes, destroyers vs submarines) being the main naval battles since many of the larger ships were taken out rather early and quickly. Airplanes being 3-5x as fast and powerful as the WWI planes and used for all aspects of warfare, especially in the war at sea. Even the introduction of jets! Advancements in cryptography, electronic warfare, detection systems, weapon systems and many other changes that completely undid and redefined modern warfare. So much changed in those few years.

[Immacolata]

And perhaps it changes again now. Smart weapons have become so smart they fool themselves. Or the enemy fools them. Smart weapons can deliver surgical strikes, but what if you don't know where to cut? As Iraq and Afghanistan shows, you need grunts on the ground again. With guns. No one has yet figured out how to stop a projectile. Its either get out of the way or hope your armor can withstand the impact.