Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates 2.0

[John Fedup]

There is a reason why the Americans stopped building CGNs after building just 9 and went conventional only with the Ticos. In the 1960s they built 9 Leahy Conventional CG, and 1 Bainbridge CGN based on the same design and then repeated with the 9 Belknap CG conventional and 1 Truxton CGN, I suspect that would be closer to the cost difference than a 6-5 ratio.

Besides cost, a missile or torpedo strike on smaller surface combatant makes damage control next to impossible if the reactor area is hit, assuming it survives. Even a hit on a CVN may present damage control challenges but NP is an overall positive for a carrier due to its size and extra complexity …especially if the financial resources are available.