[AgedWarrior]

When you guys showed up it was like a gift from heaven. We knew our chances of living to fight another day just went up.

Thx for being there when we needed you.

Welcome home.

Glad we could serve our brothers on the ground!

 

[dsk]

Imagine taking a Mini-Cooper and throwing it 25 miles accurately. Those Missouri class battleships were amazing dreadnaughts!

They were all of the Iowa class. As a kid I thought they were the most powerful battleships afloat aside from the Yamato/Musashi, but more recently I learned that the Iowas have only 12" thick belt armor and rely on it being installed at an angle to make up for it. The South Dakota class had 14" armor so they were better protected as battleships. In fact some naval historians regard the Iowa class as more like battlecruisers than true battleships since their armor is so light. HMS Hood was very similar, light on armor but with a long hull and capable of great speed. Unfortunately we all know how well that light armor held up when she encountered the Bismarck. Had any of the Iowas gone head to head with the Yamato it would probably have been just as ugly.

 

[DubfromGa]

That is what I thought as well........naval rifles since they were actually rifled barrels.

I've been sick the past few days and have been watching YouTube movies. "The Battle of Archimedes" is a Japanese made flick that is centered around the design/politics/construction/sinking of the battleship Yamato. The opening scenes alone are worth watching.

The Yamato, even though is sits at the bottom of the Pacific, is still to this day a source of pride to the Japanese people, and it has become part of their cultural lore......with it's 18" guns!

-E-

Hope you get to feeling better mighty quick.

I'm about due for a good war movie....may check that one out. 🇺🇲

Cannon - not canon.

Everything I just found and read uses the term "naval gun" - not once did I see the term " naval rifle". It doesn't matter - they are not "canons".

And yet....we all knew what he was talking about.


Besides, isn't this about history....not a grammar class ?

 

[Nehalemguy]

They were all of the Iowa class. As a kid I thought they were the most powerful battleships afloat aside from the Yamato/Musashi, but more recently I learned that the Iowas have only 12" thick belt armor and rely on it being installed at an angle to make up for it. The South Dakota class had 14" armor so they were better protected as battleships. In fact some naval historians regard the Iowa class as more like battlecruisers than true battleships since their armor is so light. HMS Hood was very similar, light on armor but with a long hull and capable of great speed. Unfortunately we all know how well that light armor held up when she encountered the Bismarck. Had any of the Iowas gone head to head with the Yamato it would probably have been just as ugly.

Seen this?

 

[Nehalemguy]

The Iowa class battleships were actually longer overall than the Yamato class battleships. Where you really see the difference between the two is weight displacement. Yamato displaced 71,659 tons fully loaded. Iowa Class ships displaced 58,460 tons loaded.

-E-

 

[dsk]

Seen this?

That piece of armor plate was struck from a range of just 400 feet... the equivalent of one of us putting the barrel of a high-powered rifle right up against a steel plate to see if it'll go through. How the plate would resist a 16" shell fired from 20 miles away is the real question. It is known that US 16" AP shells were made of very hard material and were capable of piercing the armor of most other contemporary battleships, but what we don't know is how an Iowa-class battleship's relatively thin, yet high-quality armor would've resisted an 18.1" AP shell from the Yamato. Since Admiral Halsey chased after a bunch of empty carriers at Leyte Gulf and kept all of his modern fast battleships away from the surface action we'll never know.

 

[USMM guy]

They were all of the Iowa class. As a kid I thought they were the most powerful battleships afloat aside from the Yamato/Musashi, but more recently I learned that the Iowas have only 12" thick belt armor and rely on it being installed at an angle to make up for it. The South Dakota class had 14" armor so they were better protected as battleships. In fact some naval historians regard the Iowa class as more like battlecruisers than true battleships since their armor is so light. HMS Hood was very similar, light on armor but with a long hull and capable of great speed. Unfortunately we all know how well that light armor held up when she encountered the Bismarck. Had any of the Iowas gone head to head with the Yamato it would probably have been just as ugly.

If you take a hit in the magazine it likely does not really matter how much armor you have. That is what happened to the HMS Hood.

 

[USMM guy]

The Iowa class battleships were actually longer overall than the Yamato class battleships. Where you really see the difference between the two is weight displacement. Yamato displaced 71,659 tons fully loaded. Iowa Class ships displaced 58,460 tons loaded.

-E-

And without air cover they were sitting ducks.

 

[USMM guy]

It looks like they finally finished the Teak decking replacement that was underway when I was out there.

View attachment 666050 Here are those CANNONS.

 

[Purgatory]

And we think Unique is hard to meter. If I remember correctly, the barrels had liners that could be replaced as they wore out. Can't recall how many rounds they could shoot before the liners needed replacing and I believe the number of rounds differed between AP and HE shells. Not quite as simple as the good old .45acp.

Grumpy

If I remember my history correctly, the barrel life depended on the generation of powder bags. WWII Era, I seem to recall the barrel life was around 800 rounds or so. Korean era, they changed to a different powder mixture that was easier on the liners and doubled it to 16-1800 or so I think. In the late 70s? Maybe early 80s, they designed a set of powder bags that were actually designed to be consumed when it was fired, at that point the barrel life became effectively infinite.

Interestng side note, and hopefully this doesn't go sideways mentioning it. But I've read in 2 or 3 places that the barrels of the Yamato had a barrel life of about 720 rounds on them. Considering how it was used during the war, it was said when it set sail for Okinawa, it still had around 640 rounds or so barrel life left...on the original barrels. I think they said some of the spares were used as ballast in the Shinano before it was sank by Archerfish, but I don't remember for absolute sure there.

Side note, thats from memory so I could be wrong...if it is, honest mistake and I apologize in advance if a few of my numbers are in error. I do remember when they went to the powder bags being consumed in either the 70s or 80s, ,they figured it gave them an infinite barrel life.

 

[Nitro.45]

If you take a hit in the magazine it likely does not really matter how much armor you have. That is what happened to the HMS Hood.

Or, an overram of powder bags in the case of the USS Iowa…

 

[AgedWarrior]

They were all of the Iowa class. As a kid I thought they were the most powerful battleships afloat aside from the Yamato/Musashi, but more recently I learned that the Iowas have only 12" thick belt armor and rely on it being installed at an angle to make up for it. The South Dakota class had 14" armor so they were better protected as battleships. In fact some naval historians regard the Iowa class as more like battlecruisers than true battleships since their armor is so light. HMS Hood was very similar, light on armor but with a long hull and capable of great speed. Unfortunately we all know how well that light armor held up when she encountered the Bismarck. Had any of the Iowas gone head to head with the Yamato it would probably have been just as ugly.

You are absolutely right, the Missouri was an Iowa class battleship. As soon as I read your comment I realized I had a brain cramp declaring them to be Missouri Class. Must have been the pizza the night before messin with me…

 

[USARV72]

Germans had the first “ long range” gun(s) in WWI with the Paris Gun. Each projectile was slightly larger than the one fired. Improved in WWII with several used on the Eastern Front.

 

[RickB]

Imagine taking a Mini-Cooper and throwing it 25 miles.

Tough time squeezing it through a 16" barrel.

 

[Nehalemguy]

And without air cover they were sitting ducks.

Absolutely!

It still amazes though me just how many hits these ships were able to take and still stay in action. I was watching (again) a documentary on the sinking of the Yamato. Multiple hits from two waves of dive bombers and torpedo planes and she was still in action. It was the third wave of U.S. planes that finally sank her. She was listing so badly at that point that torpedo strikes were hitting almost at her keel and below her armoring. Shortly after those hits, she rolled completely. Then one of her magazines touched off in a massive explosion. The blast wave from the magazine explosion crippled seven attacking aircraft according to the documentary.

-E-

 

[USMM guy]

Absolutely!

It still amazes though me just how many hits these ships were able to take and still stay in action. I was watching (again) a documentary on the sinking of the Yamato. Multiple hits from two waves of dive bombers and torpedo planes and she was still in action. It was the third wave of U.S. planes that finally sank her. She was listing so badly at that point that torpedo strikes were hitting almost at her keel and below her armoring. Shortly after those hits, she rolled completely. Then one of her magazines touched off in a massive explosion. The blast wave from the magazine explosion crippled seven attacking aircraft according to the documentary.

-E-

Still in action no doubt but the Yamato rolled less than an hour after she was sighted. They purposely only hit her on one side to produce just that affect.

 

[flechero]

I wonder if they used any MIM parts?

Just for projectiles... the MIM projos are the frangibles! 🤣

 

[drail]

Hope you get to feeling better mighty quick.

I'm about due for a good war movie....may check that one out. 🇺🇲









And yet....we all knew what he was talking about.


Besides, isn't this about history....not a grammar class ?

Well, he might have spoken in French and "some" of us would know what he was talking about but most of would not . Proper language exists for a reason and you were taught it in school for a reason though it is quite clear you have no idea why. Just use any word you want for anything.

 

[DubfromGa]

Well, he might have spoken in French and "some" of us would know what he was talking about but most of would not . Proper language exists for a reason and you were taught it in school for a reason though it is quite clear you have no idea why. Just use any word you want for anything.

Yes Ma'am.

Thank you for the unsolicited grammatical analysis.


I'm glad things are quite clear for you.

 

[USMM guy]

Interestingly enough I was just reading something the other day. The Navy department recently "remembered" that they had nine spare barrels for the Iowa class battleships set aside somewhere. Of course their initial course of action was to dispose of them. Fortunately cooler heads have prevailed, at least for now.
Two of them have apparently found new homes where they will presumably be on display to the public for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the other ones will as well.

If I thought that it would be taken seriously, I would write to the Navy department to offer a safe place to store them indefinitely on my place. I doubt if anyone would steal them.