"A sovereign with a battleship fleet is not a country. It is an empire." Some quote I've heard somewhere on TV. An aerial fantasy analogy of a modern day aircraft carrier battle group with a new and improved version of my original battlecarrier as the fleet's focal point escorted by its carrier wing and defense airships. Battleships (and later carriers) allow nations to project their powers worldwide, i.e. take the war to the enemy. Before the invention of nukes, they were the superweapons of the day, and states used to sign arms limitation treaties focused on battleships.