The Falklands exposed the limits of missile-only ships

When did missiles replace guns on warships?

The belief in missile replacement rose from the 1960s, but the Falklands War rapidly demonstrated that ships still needed guns.

The strong belief that missiles could replace guns took hold in the 1960s and lasted through the following two decades. The original Type 22 batches illustrate how far that confidence shaped an actual warship, because they entered service without a conventional main gun. Combat in the Falklands in 1982 rapidly exposed the need for gunfire across tasks missiles could not cover economically or flexibly. The correction was therefore operational rather than merely theoretical. A balanced warship cannot assume one weapon family will answer every circumstance.