[JimRed]

My battle station was as first loader in a 5” 38 gun mount. That was when rounds were hand loaded. I would assume they autoload now. Anyway we drilled, but never got to fire a shot in anger! I was out by the fall of ‘64.

[az_gila]

Time to resurrect the Raytheon ERGM Navy 5 inch shell (missile?) -

http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/ergm.html

Basically the same as described in the article, but with 40 miles more range provided by a rocket boost.

Cancelled in 2008.

[Oatka]

My battle station was as first loader in a 5” 38 gun mount. That was when rounds were hand loaded.

In 1951 boot camp we went through a drill of loading those 54-pound 5" projectiles in an ammunition hoist. We were told to grip them around the outside diameter when loading, as you never knew when the hoist would travel up and if you gripped the projectile with one hand over the base, you might lose fingers.