The importance of navies

[a completely inoffensive name]

Including the cost of operating a nuclear reactor to provide it with energy? A simple metal slug might be cheaper, but I also read about projectiles with guidance fins and electronics that survive the launch and so on. Just saving some money on propellant charges can't make a huge difference.

Many navy ships already have nuclear reactors on board. It's better than relying on diesel. The slug costs $25,000. I can't find the cost of an artillery shell used by navy ships, but it seems to be relatively cheap, especially against missiles that range from 500,000 to 1,000,000+.

[Husar]

Many navy ships already have nuclear reactors on board. It's better than relying on diesel. The slug costs $25,000. I can't find the cost of an artillery shell used by navy ships, but it seems to be relatively cheap, especially against missiles that range from 500,000 to 1,000,000+.

So far that's mostly the bigger ships and submarines, although I just read your congress wouldn't mind putting nuclear reactors onto all Navy ships, including destroyers. The Zumwalt seems to be diesel-powered and was already so expensive that the numbers were cut back considerably.

Originally the navy had hoped to build 32 destroyers. That number was reduced to 24, then to 7, due to the high cost of new and experimental technologies.
[...]
On 6 April 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that DoD's proposed 2010 budget will end the DDG-1000 program at a maximum of three ships.[

Its guns are more conventional 155mm guns but seem to have a maximum range of about 80 miles.

Funnily enough, the page on railguns has the following info:

Currently the only US Navy ships that can produce enough electrical power to get desired performance are the Zumwalt-class destroyers; they can generate 78 megawatts of power, more than is necessary to power a railgun. Engineers are working to derive technologies developed for the DDG-1000 series ships into a battery system so other warships can operate a railgun.[52] Most current destroyers can spare only nine megawatts of additional electricity, while it would require 25 megawatts to propel a projectile to the desired maximum range [53] (i.e. to launch 32MJ projectiles at a rate of 10 shots per minute).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun#U.S._Navy_Tests

Anbd yes, of course a slug is cheaper than a missile, my comparison was more about conventional gun ammunition such as the one of the two 155mm guns on the Zumwalt. You still get even more range with the railgun though.

[Furunculus]

How did the Royal Navy and the navies of traditionally powerful maritime nations such as France and Spain come to fall behind so much compared to the sheer gigantic size and equipment/logistics/training advantage that the USN has?

the cold war.
the need to keep a 70k strong armoured corps in germany with appropriate reinforcement once operation reforger kicked off.