Modern navies the world over have embraced high-tech information systems as a means of maintaining a decisive edge in global warfare and peacekeeping. Just as the introduction or the Ironclad revolutionized naval warfare more than a century ago, so has today's ability to see ships over the horizon. Instantaneous global communication minimizes the vastness of the oceans. State-of-the-art intelligence systems are coupled with advanced computer-coordinated weapons combined application of these diverse technologies provides the modern navy with unprecedented combat capabilities. However, today's combat vessels are increasingly vulnerable to detection, and hence, destruction, by well-equipped enemy forces. Again, to defend themselves navies employ high-technology counter-measures in the form of radical ship designs, air and space-based reconnaissance and command systems, and powerful M.k. 15 Phalanx anti-missile weapons. Today's sometime volatile international realtionships demand that warships be lethal and virtually invisible, but also, when necessary, they mustbe ready to display their power, and their flag, to deter hostile action before it can happen. In the twenty-first century navies must be versatile. Examine the latest in warship design and naval weapons: stealth ships such as the Sea Shadow, the more conventional U.S. Navy, Aegis cruiser and destroyer, and the European Tri-Partite Frigate. The future of the perhaps fatally vulnerable aircraft carrier is discussed, and the latestsubmarine technology is profiled, as is the arsenal of missiles that threatens today's warships. Revel in the deadly new firepower and complicated technologies of the modern High-Tech Navy.
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