The most masculine gun of all time(IMO, of course)

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snowman

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A peculiar trait common in men and boys: we love things which exhibit power. We "soup up" our vehicles, set off tannerite with our shooting irons, watch Dick Butkus highlight videos on youtube, drive many miles to see the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels, etc., etc., etc. My personal favorite: thunderstorms. Each burnout, explosion, bone-jarring tackle, lightning bolt, etc. awakens a strange thrill within which makes us want to shake our fist and shout, "YEAH!!"(and our women just roll their eyes at us)

Let me share with you the gun which has this effect on me: the Mark VII.

Ultimate Battleship Firing All Guns - Warship Firepower - Full Barrage - YouTube


(I wanted an airweight version as a carry piece, but none were available)

Andy
 
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The bullet on the FMJ equilivant weighs 2200 pounds, the exploding shell only weighs 2000. My understanding is it used up to 4, 50 pound bags of smokeless powder and a primer bag of black. There was a breech or tube failier several years ago, and every tube was condemened. A friend of mine was ordered to find a way to get replacements, after a world wide search it was discovered that there is no foundry on earth that can cast new 80' long, 16" barrle blanks; nor are there boaring or rifleing jigs to do the work either. All of the 16" gun turrets on the surviving battle wagons have been removed and replaced with cruise missle launchers. These may be longer range and more powerful but nothing speaks national policy like a single 16" shell ripping across the sky and leaving a thirty foot deep, eighty foot wide hole in the ground. Just ask the PLO or whatever faction had a captured U.S.N. pilot back in the 80's. 5" guns ruin your whole day, 8" guns ruin your whole month, 16" guns can ruin your whole nation! Ivan
 
There was some posts back late last year. There a bunch of either new or used 16" barrels that were auctioned off for scrap. Each one had to be cut up on site before they (scrap dealer?) was allowed to haul them away. That was a shame in my way of thinking. That and the fact that the equipment no longer exists to replicate the barrels. sometimes I think we take too many steps back for everyone we take forward. Frank
 
More of the same

Frank46 said:
There was some posts back late last year. There a bunch of either new or used 16" barrels that were auctioned off for scrap. Each one had to be cut up on site before they (scrap dealer?) was allowed to haul them away. That was a shame in my way of thinking. That and the fact that the equipment no longer exists to replicate the barrels. sometimes I think we take too many steps back for everyone we take forward. Frank
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Danged gun controls killed the 16" too, huh?
 
Some things do get better with age... ;)

cher-gun.png
 
There's nothing like hurling a volkswagon sized projectile
20 miles or so to ruin a bad guys day.
Shame to see the Battleships of old days being replaced
with glorified "rocket launchers". But that's what is needed
these days i guess.
Along with the Aircraft Carrier these fine ships once projected
Americas military might wherever they went.

Chuck
 
I still remember the old country song "Sink the Bismark" had a line "The Bismark started firing fifteen miles away". I was in high school when the song came out and we had a German exchange student. He contended that the song didn't tell enough of the "wins" of the Bismark, but I recall it pretty much gave an impression of how afraid the English were of that battleship.

I wasn't aware that the US battleships have had their guns removed. It was late 1930"s technology and was probably pretty dangerous.
 
jaykellogg said:
I still remember the old country song "Sink the Bismark" had a line "The Bismark started firing fifteen miles away". I was in high school when the song came out and we had a German exchange student. He contended that the song didn't tell enough of the "wins" of the Bismark, but I recall it pretty much gave an impression of how afraid the English were of that battleship.

I wasn't aware that the US battleships have had their guns removed. It was late 1930"s technology and was probably pretty dangerous.
Click to expand...
DANGEROUS!?! You can bet your bottom dollar it was dangerous!! That's the whole point of a battleship!:D
 
I heard once that if they fired all the guns at once it would actually swamp the ship.
 
29aholic said:
I heard once that if they fired all the guns at once it would actually swamp the ship.
Click to expand...

Urban legend. There are videos on u tube of all guns firing at the same time. Very impressive, but not swamping the ship.

Don
 
29aholic said:
I heard once that if they fired all the guns at once it would actually swamp the ship.
Click to expand...

Urban legend. What you could not do was fire all six of the forward guns together within a certain arc of the bow. With the guns bearing towards the beam the ship would roll to absorb recoil energy. With the guns facing forward all the shock went straight into the structure with nowhere to go.
 
All the Iowas still have their guns, as they are all museum ships, along with some Alabamas and others. If they scrapped them, they would have removed their guns and turrets. And I believe they actually used liners in the barrels, and that was what could no longer be manufactured. I have a picture of a friend standing next to a 16" shell on the USS Alabama. I'll try to dig it out.
 
Here's Russ standing next to a 16" shell on the Quarter Deck of the USS Alabama. (the girls were in a meeting and we were left UN-supervised)
 

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While I was still Scoutmaster of our scout troop, we did a couple of overnighters on the USS Alabama. I think they still do the overnight stays for groups (separate nights for male/female groups) so if you are looking for something fun to do on a trip consider it. We would go aboard when the normal tours ended and have the run of the ship for the night. Some parts are spooky late at night and if you have someone who snores badly take ear plugs. Saw all of the insides of the turrets, fire control, powder magazines, etc. Except for sleeping in the multilevel bunks with one of our Dads snores reverberating off the hull it was great fun. Make me appreciate Terra firma.
Larry
 
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