The Albany conversion provides a way to imagine how a missile rebuild might fit on a battleship hull. Some proposals concentrated missiles at the stern and retained the heavy guns forward, a more attractive compromise than removing the entire gun battery. Sixteen-inch gun and magazine spaces would also offer much more conversion volume than the eight-inch installations removed from Chicago. The passage compares total reconstruction with a mixed gun-and-missile design that preserves a battleship's surface-firepower role.
Notable Point · 4:45-5:37
A battleship conversion could retain guns forward
The Albany superstructure prompts a comparison with proposals that would put missiles aft on a battleship while preserving its forward main battery.