Battleship (2012)

[Endless Soul]

Well, it does seem that the movie industry is going full retarded.

Endless "Never go full retarded" Soul

[Ithekro]

The notes say they are showing what is going on from both points of view (the humans and the aliens) so that the audiance will understand the aliens and what is going on.

I'm hoping the "Battleship" (I assume USS Missouri) does have the armor and firepower to hold out and not go down quick like the USS John Paul Jones (a modern destroyer). But then we can't quite tell the sequence of events...since the early trailers were about a love story, a pair of brothers, and the Admiral-father of the love interest. Then suddenly...aliens.

Navy guys going Halo on the aliens rom inside their own ships? I don't konw...this sems like too much it happening....or just mass explosions just to make a plot out of the game "Battleship"



(An if there is anyone that says "They sank my battleship" it will be the Admiral....from his Aircraft Carrier.)

[TigerII]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

The notes say they are showing what is going on from both points of view (the humans and the aliens) so that the audiance will understand the aliens and what is going on.

I'm hoping the "Battleship" (I assume USS Missouri) does have the armor and firepower to hold out and not go down quick like the USS John Paul Jones (a modern destroyer). But then we can't quite tell the sequence of events...since the early trailers were about a love story, a pair of brothers, and the Admiral-father of the love interest. Then suddenly...aliens.

Navy guys going Halo on the aliens rom inside their own ships? I don't konw...this sems like too much it happening....or just mass explosions just to make a plot out of the game "Battleship"



(An if there is anyone that says "They sank my battleship" it will be the Admiral....from his Aircraft Carrier.)

Who is to say it will even be an American Battleship? Since it is an alternate world where Battleships are still used, it may be another nation's.


Movie still looks silly.

[Ithekro]

It could be....but that is an Iowa-class battleship. They are hard not to recognize after they've been around for so long.

[germanturkey]

IT LOOKS SO GOOD. as a mindless action movie. i'll totally watch it. you need to experience it in the theater.

[Soverence]

It looks so absurd even for the genre that I want to see it just for how absurd its going to be. My biggest question is how do outdated American Battleships beat high-tech alien spaceships? The aliens and there technology are really starting to disappoint me XD

[germanturkey]

well, if the aliens don't have energy shields, then every day explosive or (i can even dream they'll have a railgun in the movie) kinetic rounds should be able damage their ships.

[Ithekro]

2,700 pounds of high grade steel still is very effective at high velocity. The Navy still doesn't have anything to match that sort of firepower in terms of penatration ability. It is just really expensive to maintain those old battleships...and most of the time you don't need that much firepower anymore. A battleship's armor piercing shells would go though both sides of almost any warship today and explode after it left the ship entirely (making them ineffective). Most shore bombardment calls for the lighter high explosive shells, not the heavy armor piercing ones.

So maybe the Battleship gets to have fun with the aliens since, if the aliens have thick armor/shielding....a salvo of 16"/2,700 lb. AP shells will come to say hello.

Also perhaps the old heavy armor can hold off better against the alien weapons. Modern warships are practically unarmored. A old battleship has over a foot of high grade steel armor plate over anything vital. Trouble is....my guess is that the one battleship is not enough. Depending one how, when and where things happen in the story verses the PV.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Soverence

It looks so absurd even for the genre that I want to see it just for how absurd its going to be. My biggest question is how do outdated American Battleships beat high-tech alien spaceships? The aliens and there technology are really starting to disappoint me XD

That's a question than could be relevant for every alien-agaist-current-human hollywood movie, and it will probably be the same answer than the other: luck and the right individual(s) at the right place.

[Soverence]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

2,700 pounds of high grade steel still is very effective at high velocity. The Navy still doesn't have anything to match that sort of firepower in terms of penatration ability. It is just really expensive to maintain those old battleships...and most of the time you don't need that much firepower anymore. A battleship's armor piercing shells would go though both sides of almost any warship today and explode after it left the ship entirely (making them ineffective). Most shore bombardment calls for the lighter high explosive shells, not the heavy armor piercing ones.

So maybe the Battleship gets to have fun with the aliens since, if the aliens have thick armor/shielding....a salvo of 16"/2,700 lb. AP shells will come to say hello.

Also perhaps the old heavy armor can hold off better against the alien weapons. Modern warships are practically unarmored. A old battleship has over a foot of high grade steel armor plate over anything vital. Trouble is....my guess is that the one battleship is not enough. Depending one how, when and where things happen in the story verses the PV.

Well I wasn't really looking for a answer from my question, but this actually is pretty interesting. I knew battleships were hard to maintain but as you said they became useless at their task after awhile. If we are to try and analyze it like that then it would actually make some sense!

And yeah, I would love to see one Alien movie where the humans actually end up losing for once that isn't a B-rated movie on the Sci-Fi channel, but I digress from the topic.

[Renegade334]

The thing is that with the advent of hypersonic/cruise/long range missiles AND naval air power (post-WWII rise of aircraft carriers), warships primarily armed with guns became less and less important. Cruisers, destroyers and frigates armed with missile launchers could theoretically fulfill the same goals without having to get in harm's way (gun range), without having to disburse too much money (heavy armor, enormous hull, powerful propulsion, large cannons, etc). Furthermore, battleships became increasingly inapt to answer the new threats, as shown by the sinking of the Admiral Belgrano cruiser during the Falklands. Guns simply couldn't match missiles and guided torpedos. The US Navy tried to remedy that by arming the Iowas with several missile launchers and cutting down the number of small canons, but much of the cruise missile launches in campaigns like Desert Storm were made by Spruance/Ticonderoga/Los Angeles vessels. Still, it was a good try.

Somewhere in the 1990s, with the appearance of destroyers of the DDG51 Arleigh Burke class, which were among the very first to use stealth shapes, the few remaining battleships became exceedingly obsolete - ships could now safely sail around under the protection of their own stealthiness (an Arleigh Burke apparently has the radar signature of a small fishing trawler), whereas the boxy, larger battleships could easily be detected by long-range radars and are virtually ominously large, sitting ducks (even with the addition of RAM/CIWS weapons, they're still overgrown targets).

But if there was one thing the battleships were good at, it was delivering large amounts of firepower at a fraction of a cruise missile's cost - which is why the US Navy still used the Iowa class during Desert Storm and in Lebanon - shelling the coast to prepare for the arrival of amphibious troops proved just how (cost-)efficient they were - beside, 406mm shells still pack quite a psychological punch on the targeted infantry.

But when the Iowas were starting to get too old and the Pentagon began to feel the (government-triggered) need to tighten its own (financial) belt, people started thinking about retiring them for good. But the above scenario (relatively cheap coastal bombardment) was still irreplaceable enough to stall the programmed retirement - and many Congressmen petitioned for keeping the four Iowas around for a little longer.

As a matter of fact, there was a proposed replacement for the Iowas, but the design is so controversial (possibly unstable tumblehome hull, smaller amount of VLS missile launchers than desired, etc) that the list of approved ships was very recently reduced to only three units instead of the initial several dozen. The first ship, USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), is currently under construction, but it's practically become a forlorn hope - they are to surface warfare what the Seawolf subs were to the Silent Service - a prematurely interrupted wet dream.

[Bonta Kun]

Don't think anyone with some knowledge or interest in naval warfare would say Battleships have their place in todays miliary cause as it's said they are really kinda pointless.
But don't mean the fans don't want to see them great gaints unleashing salvo after salvo of raw savage destruction down on their targets(reason I played Navyfield for some long)

My guess on the BBs used here are basically the hull and cannons of old but everything else is modernized.

Either way it's a hollywood film that includes aliens so just gotta switch off your brains somewhat and just enjoy the mayhem!

[Ithekro]

I was going to say "or this is set before the last one was decommissioned" but those newer destroyers were comissioned only in the last decade or so.

However, Missouri is in Pearl Harbor, and I don't think Congress has rescinded the Act that two battleships need to be kept at least marginally fuctional....in case their guns are needed for the Marines again. Maybe this was some Admiral's wild, hair brained idea for a War Game with international forces....activate a battleship to see if the big gun, heavy armor approach can work against the modern navies.

The Admiral Belgrano was a Brooklyn-class "light cruiser" from before World War II. A treaty cruiser at that. Meaning she was limited to 6" guns and 10,000 tons. The only thing that made it "light" as oppose to "heavy" was the size of its guns. Light cruisers were restricted by treaty to roughty 6" guns, while heavy cruisers were up to 8" guns. That class had 5 and a half inches of armor on the belt and two on the deck. It did have fifteen 6" guns though.

Iowa-class battleships on the other hand where build during the war. Were upwards of around 45,000 tons. Roughly a foot of armor over about everything vital. A foot and a half around especially vital stuff above the water line...like the turrets (500mm) and the bridge (about 430mm). The deck plating was over 7 inches thick. Armed with nine 16" guns.

Niether are invincible. All ships have weaknesses, especially to under water explosions....like under the keel.

I don't know if I want to see this film. I cetainly don't want to spend money on it as it sound like a bad idea with explosions and serious WTF going on, added to it.

[Renegade334]

Alright, according to this featurette on Yahoo! Movies (best viewed on IE, I've had problems playing with Opera...haven't tested with Firefox), somebody does something very stupid, all in the name of science and knowledge.

"Knock, knock, are you there?"
(with a Ahmed the Dead Terrorist voice) "Yes! I kill you."

[germanturkey]

I wouldn't say stupid. like i believe both voyagers had directs to earth etched on them. but that's a new dimension to the movie we haven't seen yet.

[Renegade334]

...
*rubs nose*

Spoiler for movie spoilers; beware!:

1. How can a spaceship survive oceanic reentry (no air-braking process) when not even a few minutes ago their communications sistership got snapped in half after colliding with a human satellite?
2. In the movie Signs, aliens didn't like water. In this one, they don't like sunlight (aliens will probably be in awe of our human Ray-ban products once they discover them). So what do the humans do? Grab a couple of Barrett M107s, blast a window pane on the alien ship's bridge and let'em be blinded by the glory of our sun. All hail human ingenuity. O_O
3. The aliens don't come in peace but they don't bother killing everything in sight when they deem a target -a live human or an entire ship- is not showing signs of aggression. Come on, get your priorities straight, people from across the galaxy. Either love us or hate us, but don't give us those mixed signals, please...
4. Those rolling shredder thingies spat out by the main ship are vicious like hell. Think Sonic the Hedgehog meets Demolishor from TF2:RotF.
5. Aliens have more or less human-simian features for their face, except they have spiky beards. Gillette and Wilkinson will probably cry tears of blood trying to open a market on their home planet.
6. The alien vs point-blank 127mm cannon shot scene...how come the main character isn't bleeding from the nose and ears after such a close call? The overpressure should have busted his eardrums. He was barely out of the red ring around the cannon mount that basically says "stand within that circle and the sheer concussion from a cannon shot could actually be fatal to you".
7. Okay, so they actually TOOK the Missouri museum ship away from its pier (so, yeah, it WAS decommissioned) and out to sea when the John Paul Jones, Myoko and Sampson got sent to the bottom of the ocean (the survivors prefer to go back with the old battleship instead of getting debriefed). How and where in the nine hells did they get...the fuel and the ammunition for the final battle scene? The Missouri should have dud shells aboard, not live ones...and was the Missouri under the "keep in working conditions just in case it needs to go back into service" governmental constraint in the first place...or was it completely decommissioned after being donated to Hawaii? (two of the four Iowa class units should be, at least, but since most of them were donated, the constraint might not apply anymore) Can't remember right now.
8. Taking the Missouri out with geezers from her old crew (WWII, Korea, Vietnam) and ACDC's "Thunderstruck" as BGM is...awesome...I guess?
9. Oh, so they do know the "crossing the T" battleship tactic? I wasn't just "show 'em big missiles spewing out of VLSes and that'll be enough"?

[EmagEvil]

But... Its still fun to watch!

Spoiler for final scene:

The WW2 Battleship vs the last boss!

[germanturkey]

eh? its out?

[Patriot's Blade]

those goldilocks-seijins sure have a sucky armour technolongy of not capable withstanding a mere ww2 projectile

[Ithekro]

Mass and speed still usually win. Try taking a projectile that is nearly one and a half tons going at 2,500 feet per second. Most things can't Especially at close ranges were it hasn't slowed down at all yet.