h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nice entry, I've always been intrigued by the technology of "Nelson's Navy". The "battleship" concept led to some monsters in the 20th century, e.g. the "dreadnoughts" like the HMS Dreadnought, and the Battleship Texas, now a museum near my home, in a suburb of Houston, Texas.

On a tour, I learned that the Navy admirals considered these ships as "ordnance delivery platforms", i.e. primarily for shelling enemy positions on shore. The range of the Texas' big guns is about 12 miles, I think, so if they still worked, she could drop a few shells into downtown Houston, who's skyscrapers are barely visible on the horizon if you go up the superstructure. That might help clear out the traffic ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Texas_(BB-35)

That deck in the middle of the picture looks a little like something out of Star Wars

Woops, the Wikipedia link above needs that last parenthesis, have to copy and paste, I guess.