To briefly note the relevance of current events, the current situation in the Red Sea serves as an excellent example of the situations that led up to the development of what would, in the fullness of time, become the modern AKV.
Specifically, when you find yourself with the awkward cost offset of lobbing million-dollar missiles at thousand-dollar drones, you find yourself distinctly fond of the notion of getting at least most of the missile back after its mission. Those drives and sensors and guidance packages aren’t cheap, you know.
(Insert picture of detachable-warhead missile landing neatly back in its VLS cell here.)