Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!leah!bingvaxu!sunybcs!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: USS Iowa explosion
Message-ID: <5788@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 21 Apr 89 03:28:14 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 24
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: chipcom.com!eli

i'm sure i won't be the first to do so...  but i question the reason
that Ronnie commissioned those ancient battleships.  gunboat diplomacy
is one thing -- but there are problems when the guns have to be used,
especially if they aren't accurate or safe.

is the Iowa of the same class as the New Jersey, the ship which
shelled Beirut?  are the 16 inch guns the same type which shelled
Beirut?  i believe that these guns are *very* inaccurate, and 
that many houses and people were destroyed in Beirut arbitrarily.

aren't there modern battleship guns which are more accurate and
perhaps safer to operate than the old style 16 inchers?  when it
is necessary to shell real targets, shouldn't the most accurate guns
be used?  


-- Steve Elias 
-- (eli@spdcc.com) or (eli@chipcom.com)
-- voice mail: 617 239 9406  [ be sure to compose my mail address by hand. ]
-- work phone: 617 890 6844  [ the header on this message is surely hosed. ]