An interwar cost comparison put a battleship against roughly eighteen medium bombers. The test was whether those aircraft could be guaranteed to sink a battleship of similar vintage. Using a much older First World War ship would change the comparison. The answer remained uncertain, which limits how much the price ratio alone could establish. The example supports caution about wonder-weapon claims, since defensive sensors and other systems improve alongside faster attacking weapons.
Notable Point · 55:36-57:01
Eighteen bombers versus a battleship of the same vintage
The interwar bomber comparison depended on matching contemporary aircraft against a contemporary battleship, and still produced an uncertain answer.