Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-06-09

formation, gave four reasons why
guided-missile cruisers, frigates,
destroyers and submarines are
rapidly superseding the battleship
in the worlds No. / Navy:
. The battleship requires too much
manpower-about 2.700 officers and
men-by comparison with smaller
ships capable of delivering knock
out blows with long-range guided
missiles.
. The vast bulk Of the battleship
is no longer needed to provide firing
platforms. Guided missiles need no
such platform to sponge up recoil
Moreover. the development of nu-
clear power is eliminating the nee
essity of the battleship's huge space
for fuel storage. Small atom driven
ships will do the Job.
. The battleship is too cumbersome
to maneuver with high-speed quick
turning craft Of the modern naval
task force.
. The battleship, costing over 500
million, is too expensive in day
when even a submarine can pack a
seventeen Regulus guided missile
capable of hurting a nuclear punch
at target 500 miles away.
Historic Transition
AS former Secretary Of the Navy
Charles S. Thomas put it: The
Navy is going through the greatest
transition in its entire history. All
at one time it is changing to nuclear
power. from guns to guided missiles.
from gunpower to atomic weapons.
and in the air from propeller to
supersonic GeD planes"
The swift and dramatic trend
toward an all-missile feet is illus
trated by the fact that the Nations
first guided missile ship. the con-
verted World War II cruiser Bos-
ton. was commissioned barely Is
months ago. BY latest count, the
fleet has at least 81 guided-missile
ships. including cruisers, 10 at
tack carriers, 2 submarines and /
destroyer.
Today only two battleships, the
Iowa and Wisconsin, both $4,000
tons, remain on active duty. Thir-
teen others have been tucked away
in the mothball fleet. Their chances
of seeing action in an about nu-
clear war are considered negligible.
The Navy says. however. they
might serve in a limited role
such as convoy duty-in a conflict
where nuclear weapons were kept
under wraps.
Veteran admirals. glowing with
nostalgia, cling to the belief that
the old titanS of the sea aren't
ready yet for the wreckers. Rear
Admiral Ernest Mcneil Eller, chief
of the Navy historical section. who
commanded the Middle East Naval
task force in 1901, said in an
4. interview:
"BattleShips with guns are OBJ
solescent but not obsolete by any
means. If we get into a small nom
nuclear war. who is going to 90
tiiC PtNNAoS, dNNul dbS oiOlN bOtli-
bardment to blast out shore forth
fications except the battleship?"
To Pentagon StrategistS. Admiral
Eller's question rates short an
swer.
There won't be any shore bonn
bardments."
Beochheods Are Over
AS envisaged by these experts,
the day of troops wading ashore
into the teeth of enemy fire in
invasions like Normandy in World
War II and Inchon in the Korean
War is over. Under modern
strategy, they say, the Marines
with their new vertical envelop-
meht' technique will simply pick
out an undefended spot inside
enemy territory and land via hell
copers in full division force.
Presumably that would force the
enemy to pull back from his beach,
head defenses to avoid being out
flanked. thus opening the way for
follow-np mass invasion forces to
land unmolested.
Admiral Eller has no illusions
about what would happen If a
modern battleship tangled with a
guided missile cruiser.
The cruiser" he said. would