The long history of declaring the surface ship obsolete

What is the naval equivalent of the claim that the tank is dead?

It is the recurring claim that surface ships or carriers are obsolete, an argument already being made for submarines in the 1890s.

The naval equivalent of declaring the tank dead is to announce the death of the surface ship or aircraft carrier. Such claims began almost as soon as submarines became credible weapons. An article from the 1890s is identified as an early prediction that submarines would make surface ships obsolete. The persistence of both categories shows how often a new threat changes a platform's role and defences without eliminating it.