Why guns and cruisers kept doing the routine work

Guns could deliver repeated support from a much deeper ammunition supply than early missile batteries, a point reinforced by the Falklands War. Shells offered an economical way to place firepower where it was needed and could support troops or operations for longer than a small missile magazine. Technological prestige often directs attention toward the newest and most dramatic weapons, from guided missiles to long-range rockets. The same bias favors battleships over cruisers in popular memory. Cruisers performed much of the fleet's sustained operational work in both world wars even when larger capital ships dominated the public narrative.