Posted on 12/24/2015 6:47:59 PM PST by iowamark
interesting training video here:
Not likely.
I’ve walked the deck of the Missouri and noted the electrical cable from the wheelhouse down to the boiler room ladder.
All would need to be stripped out. It’s over 55 year old and full of sea salt.
16 inch guns are primitive and slow to reload. Missiles would carry the day against an “Iowa.”
Then, there’s the radar signature of these BBs. Can’t very well hide em from today’s satellites.
Anyway, Go Hawks !
Beat you by 16 seconds
On October 1, 2012, a 16-inch naval gun was transported to Fort Cronkhite for display at Battery Townsley. The giant weapon, 68 feet long and weighing 120 tons, was once on the battleship USS Missouri and is identical in size and caliber to the ones that protected the bay during World War II.
You can find Battery Townsley on the Hill 88 hike in the Marin Headlands.
Yes, this really is in California!
There were some barrels used for the HARP testing in the late 60’s or 70’s.
The back blast from one of the 16’s would blow everyone on the deck overboard.
There is no back last with a 16” gun. Shock waves and concussion are more than enough to cause serious bodily or death.
Notice what looks like the bow of the ship shifted left from the blast.
my dad was on the iowa in korea. 5 in gunner.
Cool
Go Stanford!
I was offered a ticket last night, but decided not to go due to last minute travel costs and availability (and besides, the one game I did make it to this year didn’t work out too well), but this is just about enough to change my mind. Let’s hope the running game can get it going, sure missed that in Indy.
Keep in mind that they’re not firing “real” 5” ordinance
They’re either using blanks - empty shell casings loaded with black powder or some other explosive (the shell casings are saved and reloaded) or the guns have been converted to mimick firing using pneumatics. This is how the Fletcher-class Destroyer “Kidd” in Baton Rouge LA “fires” her guns.
I’ve seen that piece of Yamato armor numerous times. It wasn’t struck by 16” Superheavy AP fired from a 50 caliber Iowa class rifle, it was struck by a standard 16” AP fired from a 45 caliber Washington/South Dakota class rifle.
The important thing in looking at the damage to that plate isn’t the full penetration — it’s the massive spalling and cracking around the penetration. Turns out Yamato-type armor was pretty brittle and the plate was shattered by the hit.
One more point about that Yamato plate: not that it was hit by a straight on shot.
The Yamatos, like other contemporary battleships, had their armor mounted at a downward-facing angle to increase protection. That test shot, in other words, was rigged - it never would have happened in a real battle hit.
Salutes to your Dad. That war damn sure isn’t “forgotten”.
“16 inch guns are primitive and slow to reload. Missiles would carry the day against an “Iowa.””
Nope. The Iowa’s have missile defense in the form of screening DD’s with standard missiles specifically for that, and the Iowa’s also have CIWS.
Then, for the rare missile that makes it through, one final surprise. Modern anti-ship missiles are designed to attack modern warships that are essentially unarmored. They have splinterproof Kevlar armor in spots. A modern missile has no ability to defeat 12 inches of the steel armor from WWII.
This armor is not just a flat plate, in a BB it is sloped, and built in depth with critical areas of the ship getting even more special treatment.
A modern antiship missile carries a 500 pound charge, and impacts often with less speed than an old AP battleship shell. And it isn’t a hardened penetrator. So of the very few that get through, 90% of modern antiship missiles will leave scorches and little damage.
Modern ships can be penetrated by a warthog all day long. An Iowa ain’t the Sheffield or a pissant modern cruiser. For extra fun, no surface combatant has an effective way to attack a battleship, and had better stay at least 20 miles away.
Back in the 50s or 60s I’ve heard they used a bunch of these and other old large caliber barrels to dispose of high level radioactive waste.
thx
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