Gareth:
Although I never served in the Navy (Air Force, actually), I intended no disrespect to the four-stackers or any of the other ships that went to sea in that war. Although the James was, perhaps, slower than her more recently commissioned sisters, I suspect that her armament would still have given an enemy captain pause had the encounter not been at night and come as a (relative) surprise.

I tend to hug the ground and I tip my hat to anyone who has the cojones to willingly go abroad on the bounding main.