I wonder how many tanks could have been built for one Bismarck, Yamato or Prince of Wales. Considering that one aircraft could take those out, I don´t know how nobody could see their failure coming before the war.
Well, battleships still played an important role in providing firesupport for landing troops or coastal bombardments. No other type of unit/vehicle could deliver such a devastating mix of firepower and accuracy.
And after all, it's always easy to say such things afterwards. Aviation, especially naval aviation made an incredible leap during the war no one could have predicted. Talking about the allied point of view though.
Would agree on the Bismarck, don't really know why the Germans did that. Without a proper fleet to support it it was doomed from the start. Would've been better to use those resources on tanks/planes/submarines indeed.