Early anti-ship missiles could rely on impact and explosive force, but a return to heavily armoured ships would not freeze weapon development. The Soviet Union was not building battleships, so Western navies had no direct contemporary battleship threat around which to build a response. By the time a new battleship or heavy cruiser became plausible, designers could adapt a missile to penetrate armour faster than shipbuilders could add protection against every future warhead. Subdivision and damage containment therefore offer a more durable survival strategy than an armour race.
Notable Point · 50:11-50:51
Missile development outpaces a return to battleship armour
By the time navies might reconsider heavily armoured ships, improving an anti-ship missile would be easier than adding enough armour to defeat it.