The heaviest surface fighting ship has taken different forms as propulsion, protection, and weapons changed. The comparison begins with ships of the line and moves through ironclads to Royal Sovereign-type pre-dreadnoughts and later dreadnoughts. A proposed missile-armed battleship would belong to another technological setting. The historical analogy concerns concentrated surface combat power and its role within a fleet, without assuming that a new ship would reproduce a twentieth-century gun battleship. Earlier, the discussion also compares the proposed vessel with the strike cruiser sought by the US Navy since the late 1980s. In that interpretation, a modern strike cruiser and battleship could perform substantially similar missile and command roles despite their different names.
Notable Point · 2:28:44-2:29:50
How the meaning of battleship changed with technology
The battleship comparison runs from sailing ships of the line through ironclads and dreadnoughts to a proposed missile-armed heavy combatant.