By stretching an existing platform like a Cruiser or Destroyer to accommodate the infrastructure to incorporate a rail gun?
Sort of like the role an aircraft carrier plays, actually giving the actual high ground, for about the same cost as a Trump Class Battleship, and aircraft carriers are currently things that exist.
I bow to your (& Donald Trump’s) nautical knowledge as the biggest boat I’ve ever been on also had a mariachi band and travelled back-and-forth between Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen.
View attachment 32479
Stretching or modifying the design of existing American destroyers (like the
Arleigh Burke-class) to accommodate an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) is generally considered technically unfeasible due to critical power, space, and weight constraints, though the much larger
Zumwalt-class was designed with the potential for such upgrades.
Huh, and it’s a thing that…actually exists.
View attachment 32478
Key Limitations for Retrofitting Existing Ships
- Insufficient Power Generation: Current Arleigh Burke-class destroyers lack the electrical power margin needed for a 32-megajoule railgun, which requires tens of gigawatts during the 10ms launch duration.
- Space and Weight (SWaP): A destroyer has only a 20-ton payload capacity for such a weapon, while the infrastructure required (pulsed power supplies, capacitors) is too massive for a standard DDG hull.
- Structural Damage: The magnetic fields and thermal stresses generated by the railgun can damage ship electronics and the hull structure itself.
Potential Candidates and Solutions:
- Zumwalt-Class Destroyer (DDG-1000):This class is the only operational candidate, as it was designed as an all-electric ship capable of producing 78 megawatts of power, leaving a 58-megawatt surplus that could support a railgun. However, this plan was shelved in favor of hypersonic missiles.
- Future DDG(X): Future destroyer designs are being developed with integrated power systems specifically to support high-energy weapons like railguns and lasers.
- Alternative Vessels: The Navy initially tested railgun prototypes on Joint High-Speed Vessels (JHSV) due to their large deck space and 600-ton payload capacity.
Beyond just fitting the gun, the railgun requires a 30-foot barrel and a mounting system that can withstand immense thermal stress and recoil. The barrels themselves currently wear out after very few shots, making operational deployment difficult.
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en.wikipedia.org
Hmmm….Originally built for large naval gunfire support, now being removed for hypersonic missiles for some reason.
At $800,000 a round, the ammunition is simply too expensive for the Navy to afford.
www.popularmechanics.com
The
Zumwalt-class destroyer is a class of three
United States Navy guided-missile destroyers designed as multi-mission
stealth ships with a focus on land attack. The class was designed with a primary role of
naval gunfire support and secondary roles of surface warfare and
anti-aircraft warfare.
The class design emerged from the
DD-21"land attack destroyer" program as "DD(X)" and was intended to take the role of
battleships in meeting a congressional mandate for naval fire support. The ship is designed around its two
Advanced Gun Systems (AGS), utilizing unique
Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) ammunition.
LRLAP procurement was canceled (Ahhh….) rendering the guns unusable, so the Navy re-purposed the ships for surface warfare. In 2023, the Navy removed the AGS from the ships and replaced them with
hypersonic missiles.
(Now, a very enjoyable science fiction novel I read a while back, based around mercenaries, had monstrously large portable fusion powered battle hovercraft-tanks, equipped with something like rail guns, and their barrels were made out of
a synthetic diamond Iridium cooled by liquid nitrogen, I believe.
"The primary breakthrough was the development of portable fusion power plants...the fusion's unit's almost limitless output was required to move the mass which made the new supertanks viable. Fusion units were bulky and moderately heavy themselves, but loads could be increased on a fusion-powered chassis with almost no degradation of performance. Armor became thick- and thicker.”
“With the whole galaxy as a source of ores, iridium replaced the less effective steels and ceramics without regard for weight. "...Now that power was no longer a factor, even the armored bulk of a tank could be mounted on an air cushion. "The air cushion principle is a very simple one. Fans fill the plenum chamber, a solid-skirted box under a vehicle, with air under pressure. To escape, the air must life the edges of the skirts off the ground - and with the skirts, the whole vehicle rises...The vehicle skims over surfaces it does not touch.")
en.wikipedia.org
He said the battleships would not only feature the "biggest guns" ever carried on a U.S. warship but also would carry nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missiles. The first of the new battleships will be christened the USS 
