Comment Re:"Low Cost" (Score 1) 630
When I was talking about ship to ship, I mean if one of our destroyers or cruisers had to engage a similar class of ship from an opposing navy. They would not come alongside at a few miles distance and lob shells at eachother anymore - even if equipped with cannons of some kind. They would fire cruise missiles from many miles away, and hopefully counter any opposing missiles with point defense guns or interceptor missiles. That is what I meant when I said we don't use cannons for ship vs ship combat these days.
If you instead mean do we fire smaller caliber cannons at fast, tiny boats from pirates or terrorists - then yes, we absolutely still do use guns for that... but it is hardly real ship to ship naval combat at that point. The rail guns we have been testing for years, and which the article talks about, bring back the option of direct capital ship vs capital ship combat (at extreme ranges, too) as well as countering incoming missiles and bombarding shore positions.
