What is the oldest ship still in service?

USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world’s oldest ship of any type still afloat….USS Constitution.

What can beat an aircraft carrier?

Submarine-fired torpedoes remain a critical threat to modern carriers. Russian and Chinese submarines regularly practice attacks on U.S. carrier groups, as do those of allied navies. Modern torpedoes cause damage by exploding beneath a ship, an impact that can break the ship’s back with dramatic effects.

Will the seas of the future be dominated by Small Deadly ships?

If the pre-World War II seas belonged to the battleship, and the post-World War II seas to the aircraft carrier, the seas of the future could very well be dominated by small deadly ships with both cannons and aircraft. Kelsey D. Atherton is a defense technology journalist based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Will big battleships ever regain their prominence?

It was a sea-change in naval combat, and big battleships have yet to regain their prominence. That doesn’t mean they won’t someday.

What happened to the battleships of World War II?

The chief surface ships of the U.S. Navy (USN) today displace less than a quarter that of the battleships of World War II. Post-WWII ships also, broadly speaking, discarded the idea of armor as a means of ensuring survivability. There remains considerable debate as to how traditional battleship belt (side) armor could resist cruise missiles.

Do warships have a future?

Larger ships can generate more power, increasing not only their lethality (rail guns, sensors) but also their survivability (anti-missile lasers, defensive sensor technologies, close-defense systems).” In other words, warships have a future because we will keep inventing things to put on them.