Well . . . being able to pump out a stream of counter missiles on the roughly-correct initial vector when facing a sudden swarm of nuisance (or possibly *shipkiller*) missiles that just launched from that stealthed area-denial mine a few thousand miles away, as your ship vectored in for wilderness refueling at an enemy gas giant would be a case of "needed RIGHT NOW."

Of course, that assumes that someone actually *uses* my idea of stealthed area denial mine belts around strategically-important gas giants . . .

 

Thanks.

But I have to admit to rather liking the problems with missiles and missile launchers that David Drake depicts in his RCN series. The missiles are contact nukes and have one heck of a punch if they can close . . . and the crude/limited energy weapon tech of the series means that they have a decent shot at actually closing. But they're also huge (the smallest being as large as small motorboats) and extremely maintenance intensive (often failing to detonate when left in the care of "barbarian" technicians). Plus, their reloading mechanisms are highly tempermental, particularly if a ship takes hits. Even the slightest twist imposed on a hull structure by damage tends to kink the missile runs enough to jam them. So experienced captains (like Daniel Leary) learn to only count on having an initial salvo, regarding missile launchers which continue to function throughout a battle as gifts from the gods (or from highly-competent damage control teams).