Range of Naval Gunfire
- Thread starter Texas Star
- Start date
......most of the big guns overshot the beach defenses.
......most of the big guns overshot the beach defenses.
TomkinsSP
Member
TomkinsSP
Member
Never got the blue screen of death, however...
I read that....
...Curtis Lemay changed the tactics (one being the 'tight box formation') at at the time the air war was changing with the advent of long range escort fighters. That way it only took 8 missions to destroy a target rather than 10.
...Curtis Lemay changed the tactics (one being the 'tight box formation') at at the time the air war was changing with the advent of long range escort fighters. That way it only took 8 missions to destroy a target rather than 10.
SLT223
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.....dont worry its empty...at 165lbs
I can't speak to the range but I can dang sure testify to how loud they are!! I crossed the international dateline 3 times on troop ship. On one trip the ship was armed and the had a little practice while we out in the middle of the pond. I don't know what size they were firing but there was no getting away from the noise. I believe to this day that my permanent hearing impairment is due in part to that experience. too much noise!!!!
DWalt
Member
"...Curtis Lemay changed the tactics (one being the 'tight box formation') at at the time the air war was changing with the advent of long range escort fighters. That way it only took 8 missions to destroy a target rather than 10."
Many know that the use of escort fighters relied on belly fuel tanks on P-51s to get adequate range to escort bombers into the interior of Germany. Many more may not know that the person responsible for developing the belly tank was Cass Hough (who I think was a USAAF Colonel at the time), the president of the Daisy Manufacturing Company.
Many know that the use of escort fighters relied on belly fuel tanks on P-51s to get adequate range to escort bombers into the interior of Germany. Many more may not know that the person responsible for developing the belly tank was Cass Hough (who I think was a USAAF Colonel at the time), the president of the Daisy Manufacturing Company.
Faulkner
Member
Battleships that served at Normandy were USS Arkansas, USS Texas, USS Nevada, HMS Warspite, HMS Ramillies and HMS Rodney. Only the HMS Rodney carried 16 inch guns;
USS Arkansas = carried twelve 12 inch guns
USS Texas = carried ten 14 inch guns
USS Nevada = carried ten 14 inch guns
HMS Warspite = carried eight 15 inch guns
HMS Ramillies = carried eight 15 inch guns
HMS Rodney = carried nine 16 inch guns
ShivasIrons
SWCA Member
You haven't lived until you watch a well trained crew operate a Gun Fire Control Switchboard.
Amazing that a mechanical device can compensate for all of the variable of the Fire Control problem.
Amazing that a mechanical device can compensate for all of the variable of the Fire Control problem.
muddocktor
Member
The HMS Nelson was also there, but it didn't see action until June 10. It was the sister ship to the Rodney. That was an interesting class of battleship. And both were extensively used during WWII, so much so that both were basically worn slap out by the end of the war and scrapped pretty soon after the war.
BigBill
Absent Comrade
The 155mm howitzers I built for the us Army have a 30 mile 55 gallon drum accuracy. But decades later they been modified in the sand box.
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Skeetr57
Member
There were two types of shells for the 16" naval guns.The armor piercing shell was called the common shell by the Navy and it had the smaller charge of HE someone listed above. The charge was Explosive D, also known as Dunnite or picratol because it was made from picric acid. It was used because it is very insensitive to shock, a characteristic required for an armor piercing projectile. The other shell was the high capacity shell which a much larger charge of explosive. Both types used a base fuze, and the HC could also have a nose fuze. The actual shape of the shell was very blunt in the case of the AP projectile, with a thin steel nose cap to give it a streamlined profile. Inside of the nose cap was a dye packet and each battleship had a different color dye so that spotters could tell which ship had fired a particular round.
During the VN war, the US Army developed an antipersonnel round for the USS New Jersey that contained 400 bomblets. The Navy found a stock of 16" HC projectiles that had never been loaded, and Picatinny Arsenal bored out the interior to a straight cylinder, then loaded 400 M 43 bomblets and pressed in a baseplug. The charge that expelled the plug and bomblets was smokeless rifle powder. The last problem that had to be solved was the fuze that expelled the bomblets. The Navy had no suitable fuze, and the only fuze the Army had was one for the 175mmmgun that had a maximum time of 200 seconds, which was less than the max time of flight of the 16" gun, and restricted the range to 23 miles. The 16" shells were built and shipped to VN for the New Jersey and worked quite well.
During the VN war, the US Army developed an antipersonnel round for the USS New Jersey that contained 400 bomblets. The Navy found a stock of 16" HC projectiles that had never been loaded, and Picatinny Arsenal bored out the interior to a straight cylinder, then loaded 400 M 43 bomblets and pressed in a baseplug. The charge that expelled the plug and bomblets was smokeless rifle powder. The last problem that had to be solved was the fuze that expelled the bomblets. The Navy had no suitable fuze, and the only fuze the Army had was one for the 175mmmgun that had a maximum time of 200 seconds, which was less than the max time of flight of the 16" gun, and restricted the range to 23 miles. The 16" shells were built and shipped to VN for the New Jersey and worked quite well.
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31FordA
Member
The Nelson Class battleships were interesting in that they had all their main battery forward of the superstructure. I think they were the Royal Navy’s only 16” battleships. The Royal Navy seemed to favor 15” guns on most of their ships. Their last battleships, the King George V class, used 14” guns in quad turrets.
Alk8944
US Veteran
I think if you do a bit of research you will find the reason the Iowa Class battleships did not use their turret guns during deployments after 1989 was a result of what is referred to as "The Iowa Accident". This was the explosion in the #2 turret of the Iowa during gun drill where the propellant charge was somehow ignited before the breech of one of the guns was closed and locked. This resulted in the deaths of several crew members in the turret. Officially the cause is still undetermined. The undetermined classification was the reason the Navy ordered firing of the 16" turret guns be discontinued!
skeetshooter
Member
Awesome info,,thanks to all who contributed
muddocktor
Member
The King George V class were the last class that came out in WWII. The Brits finished off one more battleship after the war was over, the HMS Vanguard. It was gunned with the BL 15" guns in a more conventional 4x2 arrangement instead of the 2x4x4 arrangement of the KGV ships.
So they could hit a small car with a projectile that weighed as much as a small car from 24 miles away...
Firing 16" rifles was not discontinued for long. Turret "explosions" were not rare. No navy stopped using all their battleships after having one. The USS Mississippi comes to mind as having been the least lucky. Powder burning in her #2 turret killed 44 sailors 6/12/24 then another 43 sailors while bombarding Makin Island 11/20/43. Her other three turrets continued the bombardment without missing a beat. While USS Iowa was decommissioned approximately 18 months after her April 1989 #2 turret flash back killed 47, USS Missouri and USS Wisconsin used their 16" rifles supporting the liberation of Kuwat Jan.-Feb. 1991.
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