Han (The Preble) shot first.

  • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Who would win?

    New Navy with line of sight laser weapon (3 mile range to horizon), or this smokey boy throwing 2,000 lbs of steel over the horizon.

    • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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      2 days ago

      That picture is the closest representation of what hellfire must be without entering nuclear territory. For sheer display of power, that is that, in my opinion.

    • erin (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 days ago

      The laser is for drones or missiles. Missiles are used for ships, which outrange battleships by a large margin, hence why they’ve been phased out of service. One jet can sink a ship hundreds of miles from its carrier.

      • WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works
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        13 hours ago

        It has been suggested before that we might one day see a return of the battleships. The one technology that might allow it is truly effective rail gun technology. I remember seeing a story years ago speculating that such a ship parked of the coast of North Korea might be able to lodge shells anywhere onto the Korean Peninsula from well offshore.

        Missiles are always likely to have their advantages, including range and maneuverability. But the potential advantage of railguns is a very cheap cost per shot. And instead of a ship’s hold full of explosive-stuffed missiles, your ship has a reactor, a bank of capacitors, and a whole bunch of shells that are little more than big slugs of inert metal.

        This article for example suggests a potential railgun range of 200 km.

        Us truly mastering railguns is one of the few scenarios that we might actually see a return of the old battleships. Except instead of artillery shells, they’ll be lobbing railgun slugs. And instead of being protected by foot-thick steel armor, they’ll be protected by a porcupine lattice of laser defense systems.

      • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        *If funded by the USA.

        The US took out a third of Iran’s navy during Operation Praying Mantis and we tried not to while giving them ample opportunity to not get fucking wrecked with minimal effort.

        We won’t fund healthcare, but our unhealthcare is second to nobody because we spend 9x more than the 2nd place loser, Russia. We account for 40% of total world military spending. If you think we can’t kill you, it is only because we don’t want to prove how wrong you are. If you want to die, we can put a warhead on your forehead without a rounding error of our defense budget.