Sea-borne military forces are not obsolete. However, the types of the vessels themselves may be obsolete. Who would send a human-propelled trireme into action a

Sea-borne military forces are not obsolete. However, the types of the vessels themselves may be obsolete. Who would send a human-propelled trireme into action against the enemy today? And yet, at one time, the trireme was the very height of naval power projection. In 1941 the world realised that the battleship was far outranged by aircraft, who were able to attack it long before the battleship was able to get close enough to the carrier to be able to use those 'powerful 16-inch guns'. At that moment, the battleship became obsolete. The biggest battleship ever, the 'Yamato', was no match whatsoever against carrier-borne aircraft. The US still can't get into its head that the days of the carrier are gone now too. It will take an 'Arizona', 'Repulse' or 'Prince of Wales' kind of incident to change that policy. No need to spend 12 billion on a white elephant any more. At the present time, lots of small ships with big missiles are the way to go. They pack as much punch as a super-carrier, but they are cheap and easily replaceable. Why buy a 'Ford' when you could have a dozen or more equivalents for the same money?