USS Missouri, sixteen inch guns

"Each projectile weighing in at 2700 pounds and were armor piercing in nature, able to fly some 20 to 22 miles to a target."

I remember seeing this image a couple of years ago, and something made me think of it again today.

Still could hit that 2" steel KYL with one of those

http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.asp?ship_id=USS-Missouri-BB63

No, but it could excavate the acre it was sitting on.

Ask Chad to reload one for us?

Those guns were very accurate as well.

I met a guy who was on one of the marine FO teams in the early 80's. He told me that the danger close distance was 3k, as I recall. Significantly different than calling for fire from a 155 or even an 8" unit. The 8" guns were awesome; I never saw the 16" guns in action, but they must have been *amazing*.

Do they rock the boat?

No. The article says the Missouri was so heavy and had so much ship under the water line that every turret could fire simultaneoulsy broadside and the ship would hold still. Also said the muzzle blast would boil the sea water below it.

Bet no one could be on deck when they fired. I can't imagine how loud those were.

Wish I could find the article that was in Outdoor life years ago. It compared the 16" to a .308 Win

Equal chamber pressure, and in equal ratio projectile weight to muzzle velocity, and effective range.

Wow. That's just plain cool Fireman. Thanks for posting. It's amazing what humans can create now.

Took this picture of them 4 July last year. Got to watch fireworks from the bow deck. Coolest 4th of July ever.

My dad was USMC in the 60's-he went to naval gunfire school and could call fire missions for those guns. Its amazing the capability they have to aim those cannons and deliver those big shells on target.

the barrels hold level as the sea swells and they have to calculate the curve of the earth into the elevation setting

Those were created pre-WWII.

These guns were 66.6 feet (20 m) long—50 times their 16-inch (406 mm) bore, or 50 calibers, from breechface to muzzle. Each gun weighed about 239,000 pounds (108,000 kg) without the breech, or 267,900 pounds (121,517 kg) with the breech.[1] They fired projectiles weighing from 1,900 to 2,700 pounds (850 to 1,200 kg) at a maximum speed of 2,690 feet per second (820 m/s) with a range of up to 24 miles (39 km). At maximum range the projectile spent almost 1½ minutes in flight.[1] Each turret required a crew of 79 men to operate.[1] The turrets themselves cost US$1.4 million each, to which the cost of the guns had to be added.[1]

The turrets were "three-gun", not "triple", because each barrel could be elevated and fired independently. The ships could fire any combination of their guns, including a broadside of all nine. The turret interiors were subdivided and so designed as to permit the independent loading, elevation and firing of each gun. Each turret was also installed with an optical range finder and ballistic analog computer. This permitted the turret’s gun captain and crew to locally engage targets, should battle damage disrupt communication with the ship’s primary or auxiliary fire control centers. Contrary to popular belief, the ships did not move sideways noticeably when a broadside was fired. With the damping effect of the water around the hull the pressure wave generated by the gunfire was felt much more than the slight change in lateral velocity.[2]The propellant consists of small cylindrical grains of smokeless powder with an extremely high burning rate. A maximum charge consists of six silk bags, each filled with 110 pounds of propellant.

The guns could be elevated from 5 degrees to +45 degrees, moving at up to 12 degrees per second. The turrets could rotate about 300 degrees at about 4 degrees per second and could even be fired back beyond the beam, which is sometimes called "over the shoulder". Within each turret, a red stripe on the wall of the turret, just inches from the railing, marked the boundary of the gun's recoil, providing the crew of each gun turret with a visual reference for the minimum safe distance range.[3]

Complementing the 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun was a fire control computer, in this case the Ford Instrument Company Mark 8 Range Keeper. This analog computer was used to direct the fire from the battleship's big guns, taking into account several factors such as the speed of the targeted ship, the time it takes for a projectile to travel, and air resistance to the shells fired at a target. At the time the Montana class was set to begin construction, the rangekeepers had gained the ability to use radar data to help target enemy ships and land-based targets. The results of this advance were telling: the rangekeeper was able to track and fire at targets at a greater range and with increased accuracy.[4] This gave the US Navy a major advantage in World War II, as the Japanese did not develop radar or automated fire control to the level of the US Navy.

660lb of powder for a max shot I think this qualifies as a "Magnum"

That's mind-blowing. Regular rifles are affected by lead-sleds or even bypods. Imagine factoring in seas and the horizon as well.

Not a magnum. Relative to bore size and muzzle velocity, it's equivalent to 308 win.

I understand the comparison. But anything that takes 660lb of powder per shot and can throw a VW weight object 24 miles is a magnum in my book. Dirty Harry only wished he had one of these!!

pewpew

My destroyer was on the gun line with the Jersey in Vietnam. Quite a show. Especially at night. You could feel the blast and vibration in our ship coming through the water.

What was really amazing though was the carpet bombing by the B52's Imagine 3 B52's dropping a full load of 500lb bombs in the same place at the same time. They were bombing 20 miles or more from our ship and it would shake like hell. You could feel the rumble through the water and air.

They even calculate in the direction of fire and the rotation of the earth while projectile is in flight. Firing to the east POI will be short and to west it will be long. N & S correction are calculated also.

Yes, but is it powerful enough for the large bears?

Can ammunition be readily obtained, if your handloads are lost by the airline?

The analog fire control was simply amazing for it day!

Very cool photo and info.