<P> Battleships were a symbol of naval dominance and national might, and for decades the battleship was a major factor in both diplomacy and military strategy . A global arms race in battleship construction began in Europe in the 1890s and culminated at the decisive Battle of Tsushima in 1905, the outcome of which significantly influenced the design of HMS Dreadnought . The launch of Dreadnought in 1906 commenced a new naval arms race . Three major fleet actions between steel battleships took place: the decisive battles of the Yellow Sea (1904) and Tsushima (1905) during the Russo - Japanese War, and the inconclusive Battle of Jutland (1916) during the First World War . Jutland was the largest naval battle and the only full - scale clash of battleships in the war, and it was the last major battle fought primarily by battleships in world history . </P> <P> The Naval Treaties of the 1920s and 1930s limited the number of battleships, though technical innovation in battleship design continued . Both the Allied and Axis powers built battleships during World War II, though the increasing importance of the aircraft carrier meant that the battleship played a less important role than had been expected . </P> <P> The value of the battleship has been questioned, even during their heyday . There were few of the decisive fleet battles that battleship proponents expected, and used to justify the vast resources spent on building battlefleets . Even in spite of their huge firepower and protection, battleships were increasingly vulnerable to much smaller and relatively inexpensive weapons: initially the torpedo and the naval mine, and later aircraft and the guided missile . The growing range of naval engagements led to the aircraft carrier replacing the battleship as the leading capital ship during World War II, with the last battleship to be launched being HMS Vanguard in 1944 . Four battleships were retained by the United States Navy until the end of the Cold War for fire support purposes and were last used in combat during the Gulf War in 1991 . The last battleships were stricken from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register in the 2000s . Today, with the exception of Russian Kirov - class battlecruiser, aircraft carriers are the only types of capital ships in service . </P> <P> A ship of the line was a large, unarmored wooden sailing ship which mounted a battery of up to 120 smoothbore guns and carronades . The ship of the line developed gradually over centuries and, apart from growing in size, it changed little between the adoption of line of battle tactics in the early 17th century and the end of the sailing battleship's heyday in the 1830s . From 1794, the alternative term' line of battle ship' was contracted (informally at first) to' battle ship' or' battleship' . </P>

Does the us navy have any active battleships