Battleships like
the HMS Rodney
could return
with the Army’s
Strategic Long
Range Cannon.16 March/April 2021FPG/ARCHIVE^ PHOTOS/GETTYIMAGESMilitary
(^5) Tech
// B Y K Y L E M I Z O K A M I //
Sound familiar? In 1940, most of the major
world powers maintained f leets of battleships—
those large, heavily armored warships carrying
between eight and 12 guns, all between 12 and
18 inches in diameter. They were meant to be the
decisive arm of naval warfare, engaging the enemy
f leet in a series of battles that would decide the
war at sea. But by July 1942, the destruction of
the German battleship Bismarck, the sinking of
the Royal Navy battlewagons Prince of Wales and
Repulse, and the Battle of Midway all proved the
superiority of aircraft over the sea-based guns of
The Army’s
Super Cannon
Is Coming.
Could It
Bring Back
Battleships?
T
HE U.S. ARMY IS WORKING ON A NEW,
long-range cannon it claims can reach out
and strike targets at up to 1,150 miles—
about 1,130 miles farther than existing
guns. But the Strategic Long Range Can-
non (SLRC) also has the potential to bring
back a dormant class of big-gun warships
once thought gone for good: the mighty battleship.
The Army hasn’t yet explained how the SLRC
will reach the extraordinary range, but it seems
confident the gun will work as planned, aiming
to test a prototype in 2023. The service sees the
weapon as a towed gun pulled by a heavy truck,
using its range to blast a hole in enemy air and
sea defenses big enough for U.S. forces to squeeze
through. But the SLRC faces limitations as a wholly
land-based system. Countries like the Philippines,
Germany, Norway, and Japan would have to grant
the Army permission to locate the weapon on their
soil, and the truck-based SLRC would be restricted
to paved roads. Just getting the gun to the bat-
tlefield would require nearby airfields, secure
airspace, and enough Air Force transports to lug
the big guns around. The solution: Base at least
some of the cannons on ships.
A single ship could carry abroad the entire four-
gun battery that the Army envisioned for deploying
SLRC, plus shells to keep the guns firing. A warship
could relocate the guns at sea without asking any-
one for permission, and would be more difficult for
enemy forces to target. It would also have greater
f lexibility, deploying into areas where local allies
might not be willing to host big guns.