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> Do these incidents give you any confidence that a modern US Destroyer could withstand even one hit? Destroyers are not designed to be hit by missiles, they a
by Amezarak 9y ago
> Do these incidents give you any confidence that a modern US Destroyer could withstand even one hit?
Destroyers are not designed to be hit by missiles, they are designed to intercept and destroy missiles with Aegis or CIWS before the missiles hit them or the carrier they're protecting.
There is no amount of armor in the world that can protect you from a missile, because they are very easy to scale, all the way up to nuclear warheads.
- jabl 9y agoIIRC I read somewhere on the internet (so it must be true!) that modern US destroyers/cruisers have a limited amount of (carbon fiber, IIRC) armor around a few critical places such as the command center. Not enough to protect against a direct hit, more to prevent shrapnel or spalling from killing the personnel there.
- JohnBooty 9y agoYes, absolutely. The "all or nothing" armoring philosophy has been the dominant trend in naval armor since WWI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_or_nothing_(armor) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_or_nothing_(armor) (I don't know about the Arleigh Burke class in particular, but I'd be shocked if this wasn't the case)
- valuearb 9y agoYes, it's also a reason the HMS Hood blew up and intently sank with nearly 2,000 sailors from a single shell hit. Our destroyers are likely to be in battle for just minutes in a real war.