16" Guns

Having been on board the New Jersey a couple of years ago, I found this training film quite interesting. Are the modern, smaller caliber, quick firing guns all automated?


Battleship Guns: "16 Inch Gun & Turret" 1955 US Navy Training Film for Iowa Class Battleships - YouTube

Yes- the current naval heavy round is the 5"/54 caliber, which is a fully automated gun. The round is loaded a a single unit- there are no powder loaders or separate bullets.

We operated with the New Jersey and Missouri at different times, and had an opportunity to steam in formation with the Jersey when she put on a firing exercise- including a 9 gun broadside volley.

It's something I'll never forget- one did NOT want to be on the receiving end of that gunfire. Imagine 9 explosive VW bugs hurtling in the air towards you from 20+ miles away- scary!

A sergeant of mine once related a story about how he got fire support from the New Jersey while he was in Vietnam.

He said that near the end of the round's ballistic arc it was moving fairly slowly and you could actually SEE it overhead. He claimed that to him it looked somewhat like a living room couch flying through the air.

He did mention that it took care of his problem.

A 16" gun?! Man, that's John Holmes territory!

Thanks for that video. I learned a lot about how those guns were loaded and fired. Amazing piece of engineering technology.

BaltimoreLurker said:

A 16" gun?! Man, that's John Holmes territory! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kU0XCVey_U

Click to expand...

I get the joke, but artillery tubes are properly referred to as "guns".

USS New Jersey off North Korea, seems last time fired in anger was into Lebanon in the eighties.

Anyone seen the navy's new rail guns they're putting on the Zumwalt destroyers? They're using the same technology in the catapults in the new Gerald Ford Class carriers. U S Navy railgun test firing - YouTube

N4712 said:

Anyone seen the navy's new rail guns they're putting on the Zumwalt destroyers? They're using the same technology in the catapults in the new Gerald Ford Class carriers. U S Navy railgun test firing - YouTube

Click to expand...

Yes, I saw the rail gun being tested in the lab at the University of Texas about 1996. They were firing a sabot round of depleted uranium. It had such power and range that for testing it was fired straight down into a very deep well. Instrumentation was everywhere. They were also testing a new suspension part for an Abrams Battle Tank.

Last time I saw 16-inch guns was in Richmond, CA.



Didn't get to hear/see them shoot, however.

I hope that the Gerald Ford Class carriers can maneuver better than their namesake.

President Gerald Ford Trips And Falls - YouTube

Aircraft Carriers were never noted for maneuverability, rather a platform for aircraft. BTW: the largest gun barrel (18"0) was in the keel of a hospital ship as ballast. Don't remember her name, bur she was offshore DaNang RVN in 1968.

The big Naval gun barrels are being grabbed out of storage as the outer case for really deep penetrating bunker busters.

Takes a B -52 to carry , but we have been building B-52 since the mid 50s , so there are plenty to be had.

FF said:

The big Naval gun barrels are being grabbed out of storage as the outer case for really deep penetrating bunker busters.

Takes a B -52 to carry , but we have been building B-52 since the mid 50s , so there are plenty to be had.

Click to expand...

How do you spell HELLO in Pharsi?

How do you spell HELLO in Pharsi?

Well in English its Welcome to the Iran Nuclear Weapons Plant.

FF said:

How do you spell HELLO in Pharsi? Well in English its Welcome to the Iran Nuclear Weapons Plant.

Click to expand...

Also a English term for saying hello.

We operated with the New Jersey and had a chance to see her gun fire support in action for the Marines. They would routinely call in an under ground bunker complex was "Gone" ,after a six gun salvo which consisted of about 19,200 lbs of steel and high explosives. The Marines reported back that all that was left was a huge hole in the ground. The Marines loved the New Jersey.
I was aboard a Belknap class missile cruiser, our job was to prevent a Mig suicide attack on the New Jersey. We had the latest missiles, radar and fire control and had better control of the mig's taking off, landing and in the air than the vc.
We tied up outboard her in Subic Bay later and looked like a dingy alongside the battleship.

I spent half a day crawling around the gun turrets on North Carolina, moored as a museum in my town. Same 16" guns. The complexity was astounding. Quality of machined components, outstanding. Fire control system was another marvel. It really humbled me.

Wasn't it the 2 Japanese battleships that sported the largest guns....18 inchers? Yamato and another
Japanese battleship Yamato - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And I believe the barrels for those 16 inchers on the American Iowa class battleships were actually turned (milled) right in Washington DC at the Navy Yard??
16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Armament of the Iowa-class battleship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Can't find the exact reference, but did find this photo:

Greetings,
Interesting use of the 16" guns for high altitude research. Project HARP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Interesting use of the 16" guns for high altitude research. Project HARP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Click to expand...

Yeah, Gerry always did have a thing for big guns.

Greetings,
Mr. M. Indeed. Too bad he got in with "a bad crowd" in order to further his research but I don't know enough about it to comment on the efficacy of the program.