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The U.S. Navy Quietly Tested Mach 3 Heavy Gun Shells That Could Revolutionize Surface Warfare
Popular Mechanics ^ | January 8, 2019 | Kyle Mizokami

Posted on 01/09/2019 9:39:43 AM PST by C19fan

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To: C19fan

Build the Montana class.


21 posted on 01/09/2019 10:57:39 AM PST by Jim Noble (Freedom is the freedom to say that 2+2 = 4)
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To: painter

I doubt they are in a condition to be returned to service quickly.

The engines alone, being water-tube boilers and steam turbines, have not been fired or turned over in decades at this point, and who knows what state they were in when they left service. These ships haven’t moved under their own power in almost 30 years.

You can’t do that to boilers and turbines.


22 posted on 01/09/2019 11:04:18 AM PST by buwaya
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To: BenLurkin
Headline writer has odd idea of what constitutes a naval heavy gun.
18,16,15,14,12.
Maybe even 8.
But not 5

F=ma... might be a smaller projectile, but at greater velocities, it will still have the same impact (if not more) as the big old boys from WWII

23 posted on 01/09/2019 11:09:09 AM PST by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: allendale
"What the Navy really needs are rapid firing 5” “shotgun” shells to send a hail of steel to engage incoming missiles as a last line of defense."

Something similar has existed since the late 80's. They are now on all our combat ships, IIRC. Search: Palanx (CIWS)

24 posted on 01/09/2019 11:14:35 AM PST by A Navy Vet (I'm not Islamophobic - I'm Islamonauseous. Plus LGBTQxyz nauseous.)
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To: allendale

Similar has been around for a long time. The 105mm Behive round was commonly used during the 60s.


25 posted on 01/09/2019 11:17:03 AM PST by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just hava few days that don't suck.)
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To: Teacher317

The sabot round of the M1 Abrams tank shoots from a 120mm barrel. The penetrator exits at a muzzle veolocity of 5500 ft/s...About mach 5.


26 posted on 01/09/2019 11:28:52 AM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's fore sure)
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel; LonePalm

Good! You pinged Lone Palm first! He is fire control qualified—I think—on these particular weapons.


27 posted on 01/09/2019 11:29:19 AM PST by Pete from Shawnee Mission
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To: Sequoyah101

152mm on M60A2 (my tank) and SHERIDAN had a canister round. Only 300m range but 60 degree arc. Beehive had a fuse the loader would set based on the range announced in the TC’s fire command.


28 posted on 01/09/2019 11:32:01 AM PST by bravo whiskey (Never bring a liberal gun law to a gun fight.)
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To: C19fan
The Army was shooting tank main gun rounds in the mid-70s that had a muzzle velocity in excess of Mach 4. Now they're closer to Mach 5 (4.8+).

What took the Navy so long?

29 posted on 01/09/2019 11:35:57 AM PST by Paal Gulli
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To: allendale
What the Navy really needs are rapid firing 5” “shotgun” shells to send a hail of steel to engage incoming missiles as a last line of defense.

Isn't that what the CIWS (R2-D2) does?

30 posted on 01/09/2019 11:49:45 AM PST by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: C19fan
Mach 3 is about 2300 miles per hour (Mach 1 is the speed of sound, which is about 760 mph at sea level). 2300 mph is about 3300 feet per second.

The normal muzzle velocity of naval guns during World War Two was about 2600 feet per second. The German 88mm gun used by the Tiger II tank in 1944-45 had a muzzle velocity of about 3300 feet per second.

I.e., big *ucking deal. Yawn. The major advantage of a rail gun with a Mach 3 muzzle velocity is that it doesn't need a propellant charge. Instead it requires less combustible liquid fuel to generate electricity, and might (only "might") be able to fire more rounds per minute.

31 posted on 01/09/2019 11:49:58 AM PST by Thud
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To: allendale

They developed guided munitions with a fragmentation charge. The high-G guidance package is the enabling advancement allowing choice of the Combustion-Light-Gas-Gun over the Rail-Gun. The CLGG had consistency (ignition/combustion) issues which degraded accuracy at extremely long range with inert (dumb) rounds. The rail-gun has proved not durable under the required operating demands.

They should now revert to implementing the gas-gun for the Naval application primary weapon. The smooth bore does not suffer extreme wear upon repeated firing. The projectile achieves more than 2500 meters/second velocity. It would cost five percent to fire a smart round able to replace a $2,000,000 long range missile.


32 posted on 01/09/2019 12:00:15 PM PST by Ozark Tom
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To: C19fan
God help us, yet another hysterical Poular Mechanix article.

You know, those guys that claim we have operational ship reail guns, etc?

The navy was developing ERGM decades ago for the 5" guns, a rocket boosted GPS guided extended range munition. They dropped that program at some point.

33 posted on 01/09/2019 12:05:57 PM PST by doorgunner69
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To: C19fan
PM article pretty much lifted from the drive - the war zone
U.S. Navy Destroyer Fired Off Advanced Hyper Velocity Projectiles During 2018 Exercise

The new rounds dramatically expand the ability of the guns on these ships and other platforms to engage surface targets and air and missile threats.
By Joseph TrevithickJanuary 8, 2019

34 posted on 01/09/2019 12:14:57 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: C19fan

The Russians have been loudly broadcasting their work in this area but this leads me to believe once again we are far ahead of them and their talk is mostly just that. Well done Squids! (Retired Army Officer)


35 posted on 01/09/2019 12:21:38 PM PST by Midwesterner53
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To: PIF
PM article pretty much lifted from the drive - the war zone

Typical of their breathless hype sotries.

Looks like a typical Sabot round as tank guns have used for years. Rumor was a Sabot round was developed for the 16" battleship guns.

36 posted on 01/09/2019 12:37:09 PM PST by doorgunner69
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To: Jim Noble

would probably cost the about the same amount of money as the CVN Gerald Ford cost. What would be the value.


37 posted on 01/09/2019 12:41:18 PM PST by Bull Snipe
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To: Bull Snipe
What would be the value

They look really cool and scare the crap out of people who need the crap scared out of them.

38 posted on 01/09/2019 12:51:46 PM PST by Jim Noble (Freedom is the freedom to say that 2+2 = 4)
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To: Jim Noble

scaring people doesn’t work, you have to kill them. A Montana class battle ship would be limited in that capability. Don’t scare the crap out of them, shoot the crap out of them.


39 posted on 01/09/2019 1:00:29 PM PST by Bull Snipe
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To: JimRed

Every gun on every Navy surface ship, including hand held small arms should have “shot gun shell” ordnance available as a final defense against incoming missiles. Guns must also have the capability to shoot straight up. On board Marines and Sailors may have to lay flat on their backs and shoot upward.


40 posted on 01/09/2019 1:02:54 PM PST by allendale (.)
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