Why aren't battleships used anymore?

Answer 1

The purpose of a battleship was to fight on the "battle-line", against other battleships during a "fleet engagement". Like a boxer, battleships were designed with armor and large guns, to slug it out with other battleships. On 10 December 1941, Japanese land based airplanes sunk the British Battleship HMS Prince of Wales along with her Battlecruiser escort HMS Repulse. Both warships, unlike at Pearl Harbor, were under way, manuevering, and shooting back with anti-aircraft weapons. This was the first time that aircraft & a battleship (and a battlecruiser) fought on a "one to one" basis; and the battleship & battlecruiser lost. From this date onward, naval officers considered the Aircraft (launched from aircraft carriers) to be the ultimate sea weapon. Carriers (with their aircraft) can destroy targets at over 200 miles away (during WWII) with far better accuracy; a battleship can only strike targets at about 22 miles, and would have to fire a hundred shells or more before destroying a target.