Israel's Damaged Gunboat

I've recently argued with conservatives about the efficacy of sea power against a reasonably advanced enemy, vis-a-vis military action against Iran. My point has been that even with Close In Weapon Systems - point defense systems designed to shoot down incoming missiles - the Navy is a big fat target just waiting to get hit. I think I got called a "Hate America Firster" for the trouble.

Well, we've just had a real experiment to test the argument. Israel had the following missile cruiser blockading one of Lebanon's ports:You see the white cylinder thing at the bow of the cruiser? The little horizontal gray part coming out the front is the minigun. That's a CIWS, and yet the cruiser was nearly destroyed by a single missile.

You'd think that would be the end of that argument, wouldn't you? We'll see. Acknowledging inconvenient facts isn't conservatives strong point.