Show new warships will fire guided missiles radical change in naval warfare Is expected washington herald heralding ing a revolutionary new era in sea warfare the navy revealed that two new warships will be equipped to fire guided missiles A guarded official statement also hinted that the first of the atomic age dreadnoughts the ton battleship kentucky and the ton battle cruiser hawaii are being designed to withstand the awesome force of an atomic bomb attack it said the designs are based on war experience the development of new weapons and the results of ope operation aaion crossroads the navy compared the advent of its first guided missile warships with the development nearly 25 years ago of the aircraft carrier which proved to be the core of the naval striking force that compelled japans surrender vice admiral E L cochrane chief of the bureau of ships said navy experiments with guided missiles always contemplated shipboard installation design changes he said were handicapped until the navy had made more progress in the development of guided missiles the result cochrane said is that design studies now being made for the kentucky and the hawaii will lead to a revolution in the striking power of naval warships it is still too early to make any forecast of the ultimate design characteristics acte of these ships except that they will be guided missile warships he said of the two ships being converted 1 to meet requirements requirement of 0 the atom age the hawaii wa was 85 83 per cent completed and the kentucky 75 per cent finished before construction was suspended pending the major design changes to incorporate the lessons learned in the war and at the bikini atomic bomb tests presumably the major design changes will mean that the two ships will scarcely resemble any present day craft particularly with their devices to launch guided missiles |