Monitors concentrated a warship's design around heavy shore-bombardment firepower. HMS Terror introduces the possibility that railguns could revive that logic if a single weapon became expensive enough to dominate the design. A future navy might accept a specialized hull to place an unusually powerful gun near the coast. It would still have to choose between a shallow-draft platform for restricted waters and a deep-sea vessel able to deploy more broadly. Weapon cost and mission would determine the hull form needed to carry the gun.
Notable Point · 12:32-13:23
Monitor design and a possible railgun revival
HMS Terror prompts a discussion of whether an expensive future gun might again justify a ship built around one weapon.