There is some conjecture over the issue of the 'supercannon'. It is true that the specs and planning would not have probably worked, but that was after the Iraqis had killed the man behind the idea, Gerald Bull, arguably one of the world's foremost heavy artillery/ballistics scientists...he ran the US program on launching satellites using the barrel of a 16" naval gun.
Basically, it only needed to be fired once...
The biggest post WW2 gun that actually made it, to a degree, was the 280mm US cannon, designed for firing nuclear projectiles (the video footage is out there on the net; quite nice
), but it was abandoned for being too unwieldy.
As for the stealth frigate and its DD-21 type ilk, they are not pleasing to one's eye, and effectively their main defence is hoping not to get seen.
But that is the way with most modern vessels; they try and avoid contact, and then try and prosecute incoming threats with multi-million dollar missiles, but once this defence screen and any CIWS is penetrated, then it is goodnight nurse. (This is of course symptomatic of a defense approach centred around getting where the enemy ain't; which is a very good idea, but not always an option...)
This is not to say that this is necessarily a bad defensive technique, but it has dangerous flaws that can be exploited by a foe who moves in asymmetric ways. A balance of the various means of protection is optimum in ones view, with armour still retaining overall utility even against ultra-modern threats.
Anyway, I digress. Anyone got any pictures of the A-3 Skywarrior, perchance?
