Sometimes, the military finds ways to give the American taxpayer a bargain. Precision, for example, can save a few bucks while still allowing the United States military to un-alive bad guys; just ask anyone who is familiar with the careers of Carlos Hathcock or Chris Kyle. Instead of pouring machine-gun, rifle, and mortar fire down range, they were adept at knocking off bad guys with one .30 caliber round - and the taxpayers saved some money, in addition to which the bad guys became maladjusted at the realization that if they stuck their heads up, the last thing to go through their minds is likely to be 180 grains of America.

Sometimes, we can do it by using lower tech, too. This brings us to a recent concern expressed by the action Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral James Kilby, about how expensive the missiles are that we are using to revoke the birth certificates of Houthis rebels in Yemen.

New acting Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. James Kilby said he regrets the Navy’s reliance on expensive, high-powered missiles to counter the Houthi threat in the Red Sea and pledged to push for cheaper, more efficient solutions.

Speaking to reporters at the Sea Air Space conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Kilby said he was "not concerned" about the Navy’s ability to protect its people – such as the 350 sailors aboard the USS Carney missile destroyer – or its ability to safeguard commercial shipping.

He is concerned, however, about "not having better ways to more economically attrit the threat." 

He has a point - and we, as a nation, are nearing $37 trillion in debt. So, how do we square that circle?

Well, here's a notion:

That, in case anyone isn't familiar with these wonderful machines, is the Iowa-class battleship USS New Jersey, firing a broadside of nine 16-inch guns. These babies are the Mark 7 16-inch, 50-calibers (calibers in naval guns mean the length of the barrel in multiples of bore diameter, meaning the Mark 7 guns have barrels that are 800 inches, or 66 feet 8 inches long) in three turrets of three guns each. These guns can fire a 2,700-pound projectile for 20 miles - farther for lighter subcaliber rounds. Each gun has a rate of fire of two rounds per minute.

Now, think about that for a moment. Nine 2,700-pound projectiles, twice a minute - that's 48,600 pounds, or 24.3 tons - American tons, not commie metric tons - of Attitude Adjustment per minute. That's like getting hit with the entire contents of a used car dealership, every minute, if every car was filled with high explosives.

Missiles are expensive, but shells are cheap, and they fulfill the military maxim that "there is no problem that cannot be solved with a suitable application of high explosives."

Here's the catch: These ships are all museums now. The Iowa-class ships all saw service in World War 2, and it's significant to note that the Iowa-class ships all survived the war unscathed, whereas the enemy battlewagons (Bismarck, Yamato, and so on) are all rusting on the bottom of the ocean.

See Also: Pete Hegseth Brags That Terrorists Have Had a Bad Three Weeks, Signals It’s About to Get a Lot Worse

Watch: Trump Shares Incredible Footage of Strike on Houthis, Pro-Terror Simps Lose Their Minds

So, the question is this: How much would it cost, and how much work would it be to bring these monsters back online? How hard would it be to start making that 16-inch ammo again? How many missiles could we buy for that price? 

I don't have answers for that. But I know that the USS Missouri, the last of the Iowa class to be in service, provided fire support in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. I've called in 155mm and 8-inch ground artillery fire (only in exercises) and can only imagine how interesting it would be to walk 16-inch naval gunfire in on a target. But it's an interesting notion, and maybe something to consider: A 16-inch gun tossing the equivalent of a mid-size sedan full of HE at the enemy could be a great persuader - especially when that monster can sit off shore and send tons of bad day downrange all day, and the Houthis couldn't do much more in reply than scratch the paint on that ship's nearly 18-inch armor belt.

Thanks to President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America's military.

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