45: Battleships Reborn!?

During the second part of a fascinating chat with host Iain Ballantyne, guest Dr James Bosbotinis things kick off by addressing how a future battleship might shape up following President Donald Trump’s call for a new generation of the fighting steel behemoths.

James suggests that, rather than following a WW2 pattern, such a 21st Century capital ship could be armed with a huge number of missiles and an electromagnetic railgun – and be more along Russian nuclear-powered cruiser lines than inspired by the US Navy’s Iowa Class battlewagon of WW2 and the Cold War.

Also discussed in this episode is the global reach of China’s navy, which may soon make its presence felt in European waters, including sending an aircraft carrier group to seas off the UK.

Finally, how can the world avoid the ‘Axis of bother’ versus the democratic West becoming a hot conflict? Iain proposes an ‘Axis of Amity’ is better than a massive war, though James worries the presence of nuclear weapons means the world is on a knife-edge. And so he recommends Western deterrence must remain strong and also credible.

By the way…

The December edition of Warships IFR is out now in the UK and also being deployed globally. It includes an article by James Bosbotinis on the North Korean threat and how it might be defanged without provoking a nuclear exchange.

There is a five-page special on what a future battleship might look like in the same edition. The main article by Lee Pilgrim gives his take on the shape of such vessels. An accompanying piece by Dr Robert Farley explains why the majority of the battlewagons of WW2 were soon discarded when the fighting stopped.

James Bosbotinis is to offer his opinion on how 21st Century battleships might shape up in a future edition of Warships IFR magazine, while Iain Ballantyne will also contribute to the series.

Visit the magazine web site http://bit.ly/wifrmag Also, follow it on X @WarshipsIFR Facebook @WarshipsIFR and Warships IFR TV on YouTube @warshipsifrtv3668

For more on the magazine https://warshipsifr.com/

• Dr James Bosbotinis is a freelance specialist in defence and international affairs and the Book Reviews Editor of ‘The Naval Review’. He has written widely on issues including: development of maritime strategy, long-range strike technologies (including hypersonic weapons) and their impact on strategy; Russian naval and wider military modernisation; China’s evolving strategy and naval force development. Dr Bosbotinis contributes to various international media outlets. He is also an Associate Member of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies, King’s College London.

For more information about Dr Bosbotinis visit

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesbosbotinis

He is on X @JamesBosbotinis


•Iain Ballantyne is the founding and current Editor of ‘Warships IFR’ magazine (first published in 1998) along with its ‘Guide to the Royal Navy’ (since 2003) and ‘Guide to the US Navy’ (since 2018). Iain is also author of the books ‘Hunter Killers’ (Orion) and ‘The Deadly Trade’ (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), both about submarine warfare, plus ‘Arnhem: Ten Days in The Cauldron’ and ‘Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom’ (both published by Canelo). In 2017 Iain was awarded a Fellowship by the British Maritime Foundation, which promotes awareness of the United Kingdom’s dependence on the sea and seafarers. Visit his web site Bismarckbattle.com and follow him on X @IBallantyn