Commentary
There has been a lot of discussion and speculation about what the new Trump/Defiant class battleship will be like. While some initial speculative concepts and specifications have been released, given the recent history of clean sheet ship design, it will be at least five years before the design is completed, and in that period, it is highly likely that some of the features being discussed right now, such as the railgun, will not make it into the final design and that systems/weapons not currently under discussion will be in the final design. But before discussing the best configuration for a modern battleship, it makes sense to review the reasons why battleships fell out of favor.
