DBWI: USS Missouri not sunk in the Gulf

[flasheart]

Those of us who remember the first gulf war will all be able to recall one of its most famous/infamous actions. On the 23rd of February 1991 while providing naval gunfire support to forces ashore the 47 year old Iowa class battleship was struck by 2 Iraqi HY-2 SSM's. Due to a systems malfunction her guard ship HMS Gloucester had been unable to engage the incoming missiles and for reasons that years of post conflict analysis have been unable to deduce the Missouri's Phalanx CWIS simply never engaged.

In the single biggest loss of American military lives since the world war two 527 sailors and marines lost their lives when after 2 hours of valiant efforts to extinguish the fires onboard the munitions stored below turret 3 detonated due to the burning debris which had found their way from the site of the missile impact above to the powder handling room with catastrophically explosive results. This sealed the ships fate.

What if Saddams most famous and arguably only success in the Gulf War never occurred?

 

[TinyTartar]

Without this happening, you might not see the strong reaction on the part of the Joint Chiefs all resigning in protest of President Trump's plans to put the Iowa class ships remaining to sea once again over their objections.

 

[West]

The navy doesn't get the focus on armor that it did, navy's go through periods of armor over speed, speed is armor and so on. The sinking brought up the importance of armor in modern combat so... expect faster but not as well armored ships.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Five hundred plus US service members still live.

This sinking shut up the battleship fans. The few serious proponents are really difficult to take seriously and mostly come off as pathetic. The other BB were disposed of in the 1990s draw down, and fairly quickly. Absent the sinking the BB could remain commissioned though the decade. Maintiance issues would make them non starters through the next decade, but they could stay in service to the 21st Century. What that does to the USN Fire Support Ship Program I can't say.

 

[The Oncoming Storm]

It was also a huge wake up call for the Royal Navy and the British Government highlighting the deficiency in naval air defences and systems first shown up during the Falklands War. Without it I doubt the RN would've agreed to the loan of the 4 non VLS equipped Ticonderoga's in 1999, nor would it have accepted AEGIS for the Type 45 destroyers.

OOC Note; apparently the RN was given the choice to purchase the Ticonderoga, Yorktown, Valley Forge and Vincennes but declined.

 

[Kaiser K]

OOC: I wouldn't have gotten to tour it a few years ago.

 

[Mr.brightside]

It was also a huge wake up call for the Royal Navy and the British Government highlighting the deficiency in naval air defences and systems first shown up during the Falklands War. Without it I doubt the RN would've agreed to the loan of the 4 non VLS equipped Ticonderoga's in 1999, nor would it have accepted AEGIS for the Type 45 destroyers.

OOC Note; apparently the RN was given the choice to purchase the Ticonderoga, Yorktown, Valley Forge and Vincennes but declined.

Imagine if the Queen Elizabeth class didn't get EM catapults.

 

[johnboy]

Hmm, well that is the final nail in the coffin of those advocating battleship retention.

Of course, in reality, the Silkworm,which was designed to dive to about 8-10 off the waves, would find it impossible to penetrate the side armour.

 

[Lost Freeway]

Hmm, well that is the final nail in the coffin of those advocating battleship retention.

Of course, in reality, the Silkworm,which was designed to dive to about 8-10 off the waves, would find it impossible to penetrate the side armour.

OOC: So the entire premise of this DBWI is invalid.

 

[johnboy]

OOC: So the entire premise of this DBWI is invalid.

Essentially yes

 

[Tentrees]

Essentially yes

Plus one of the first things that damage control would have done was evacuate the threatened magazines and flood them.

Missouri spends a year in dry-dock afterward and the investigation lasts years.

More realistically the Navy gets a good look at the effects of a anti-ship warhead on an armored ship. I suspect that the designers arguments for armor and speed get heated and eventually compromises are reached concerning both the armor and speed required of new ships.

 

[mattep74]

Maybe that movie Under Siege would take place on a battleship instead of a small destroyer and be a big hit

 

[Mike D]

It was also a huge wake up call for the Royal Navy and the British Government highlighting the deficiency in naval air defences and systems first shown up during the Falklands War. Without it I doubt the RN would've agreed to the loan of the 4 non VLS equipped Ticonderoga's in 1999, nor would it have accepted AEGIS for the Type 45 destroyers.

OOC Note; apparently the RN was given the choice to purchase the Ticonderoga, Yorktown, Valley Forge and Vincennes but declined.

As a matter of interest, would the AEGIS system actually be an upgrade on the current Type 45 systems? From what I've read the USN are very impressed with T45 and the Royal Navy love it (apart from the dodgy engines).

 

[flasheart]

Would the support for the Iraq invasion of 2003 have been less without the apparent public desire to avenge the dead of the Missouri?

 

[Dayton Kitchens]

Two missile hits won't sink an Iowa class battleship.