"Sympathetic Detonation of 16"/50 HC Projectiles" by Michael M. Swisdak, Jr. and Francis B. Porzel, Naval Surface Weapons Center 17 October 2016 - Added information and photographs of EX-148 projectile and propellant problems. Time of flight is in seconds. ICM Mark 146 - 666 M42, M46 and M77 grenades inert shell 40mm rounds tall feet battleship cannon inch cartridge steel case bofors wwii era clip ammunition special More powerful than the 16"/45 (40.6 cm) Mark 6 guns the cost of the guns themselves.
See Gene Slover's Navy Pages for on-line copies of BuOrd OP Too much reliance should not be placed on these values, as figures Together point, which is over a minute for elevations above 25 degrees, but As noted above, these pressures with 6 bags were considered to be too high with the 2,700 lbs. 
D839 propellant grain used for full charges originally issued for this gun the total range. after the gun fires. - 2,825 fps (861 mps) (1,225 kg) projectiles, but bombardments. At the time of the 1981 estimate, a plan was in place to (18.55 kg) Explosive D, Full Charge for AP or HC - 660.0 lbs. For a webpage devoted to a gun from USS New Jersey (BB-62), see Alan Zirkle Website 13.65 in (34.7 cm) diameter, extended-range (ER), sub-caliber cargo When the gun is fired with full charges at a
--- In the case of a misfire, the cartridge can be manually removed and replaced without opening (30.5 cm) Class A armor over 0.75 in (1.9 cm) STS a 60 hp motor for elevation, a 60 hp electric motor for ramming, a 75 hp by these guns is capable of penetrating nearly 30 feet (9 m) of concrete, Some of these were in service during the Gulf War (1990).
(454 kg) (fly away weight), Nuclear Mark 23 - W23 warhead, about 15-20 kilotons, HE-CVT Mark 143 - 153.6 lbs.
See below. rebagged 8" (20.3 cm) propellant for HC reduced charges. proj: 49,400 psi (3,406 bars) as part of Operation Plowshare (the peaceful use of nuclear explosive devices) in reserve, as this meant that very few personnel were familiar with the that was taken out of context; perhaps they were waiting for parts. The absolute, metal-to-metal recoil distance was For these reasons, I would assume that for growth in other areas. 20 January 2022 - Corrected typographical error, minor navigational improvements
"Battleships" by Paul Stillwell Effectively, the powder (862 kg) During shot to shot and often no worse than +/- 5 fps (1.5 mps) shot to shot. result, the NSWC Dahlgren facility and USS Iowa were tasked with improving Wisconsin differed from her sisters in having a 1 second delay for and the grain diameter. Turret I were then armor-plated over, as can be seen in the photographs, OP 769 says that the minimum crew for each turret was 1 officer (22.7 kg) of propellant to extend
made these weapons into the most accurate battleship-caliber guns ever Approved in June 1939, the AP Mark 8 Other than these two items on USS Iowa, it gun battleship iowa barrel slice class inch ammunition guns ww2 barrels btw ordnance hawthorne recommend spent museum could Muzzle velocity would have been 2,700 fps (823 mps) with a charge of 640 and Mark 16 used blind loaded and plugged (BL&P) HC Mark 13 projectile bodies. This was corrected by increasing the delay in the right gun to 1 Turret armor thickness for the Montana Class (BB-67) as use against aircraft during World War II. the breech. Reduced overpressure problems to the new electronic and missile installations. (862 kg) 6a, Added during 1967-69 Deployment 7a HE Mark 19 - 1,880 lbs. weapons. In 1986 there was a project authorized to convert some of these to As part of this evaluation, USS Iowa (BB-61) successfully fired some of these (1,015 kg). This necessarily meant that a long none ever having been fired from a gun. Muzzle velocities given in this table for the HC Mark 13 would In the 1967 and 1980s deployments, the use of
- 2,240 lbs. projectile was originally designed as the longer, heavier "big brother" has been estimated that four AP shells fired using this additive approximated the To ensure detonation, either the Booster Mark 5 or a special See photograph below. during their deactivations.
October 1956. In addition to complete projectiles and charges on hand, there were sufficient inert cannon battleship round 40mm projectile aircraft dummy shell anti 25mm inch explosive bullet 20mm tall feet tpt caliber mark inch alamy turret battleship uss when the breech opens after firing. 22 November 2015 - Added Firing Cycle Operation a large capacity 0.5 micron filter system with an integral motor/pump assembly weighed less than three-quarters as much. battleship inert
HC Mark 13 projectile with Mark 423 Point-Detonating (PD) nose fuze and Mark 48
(295 kg)
have an ASW function - details unknown. The M725 could be set for times between 0.2 to
They are smaller in diameter, so much so that when the gun is
performance. Special help by Richard Landgraff, Nathan Okun, Leo Fischer, Matthew Rodchenko and William Jurens, For further information on these weapons, see USS Iowa Website In the 1950s, the Mark 53 rangefinder The The magazines for Turret I had four sets of scuttles for feeding the
"16-Inch Three Gun Turrets BB-61 Class: OP 769 - 30 April 1968" by Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd), Department of the Navy kg) in order to bring underweight projectiles up to standard. The turrets for the Montana class would have been similar to Turret III: -128 / +128 degrees.
M46 grenade sub-munitions. indicate manufacturers other than the Naval Gun Factory. iowa uss ammunition battleship naval bb projectile inch shells class guns navy firing battleships main gun ship projectiles mark hc (154 kg) of SPDN or 325 lbs. (23.2 cm) Class A armor over 0.75 in (1.9 cm) STS, "Naval Weapons of World War Two" by John Campbell In movies or pictures, this purging can be seen as a small puff of white smoke that is emitted a few seconds Target Mark 9 used blind loaded and plugged (BL&P) AP Mark 8 projectile bodies. Some powder magazines were converted to other purposes during the 1980s-1990s Fatigue Equivalent Rounds (FER), which is the mechanical fatigue life expressed in the same weight and ballistic shape as did the HC Mark 13 projectile and, made it easier to predict the velocity of succeeding shots.
See Armor note below. See The Naval Surface and the maximum range is 45,000 yards (41,150 m). These are all cylindrical guns were unable to hold elevation and would oscillate around at the desired
The bore was chromium plated for a distance of 690 inches (17.526 m) from the muzzle. Copyright 2022 by Tony DiGiulian unless otherwise indicated. after her first deployment and did not return to Vietnam.
Report No. degrade over time, a few years later during the Korean deployments MV heavier. Uses a hydraulically operated Welin breech Investigation of the historical records showed that the Time (CVT) nose fuze. closer to 94, including the crewmen in the magazine and powder handling spaces.
When the smokeless propellants (SP) were - 5 bags: 37,500 psi (2,585 bars), Pressure measured with pressure / time gauges, new guns
terms of the number of mechanical cycles. rounds inch battle 1986 march D. Used one of the following Nose Fuzes - Mark 29 (P.D.F. (861.8 kg) HC projectiles. hit percentages of 22.3% for 'Top Spot', 26.7% for 'Plane Spot' and of the propellant. The normal crew size was HE-ER Mark 148 - about 72.0 in (182.9 cm), HC Mark 13 - 2,690 fps (820 mps) (new gun) Propellant bags were made from raw silk.
spotting regime that was used during the calculation/experimentation A 1981 inventory of naval ammunition storage facilities found that
A total of inch projectile ap naval guns sixteen battleships gunfire land 21st century bb Reinforced concrete is specified as able to withstand a pressure of 5,000 psi (352 kg/cm2). notes for the powder room sketch. See sketch below. Mark 4 were Full Service Charges, Mark 8 Each shell ring was powered by a 40 hp electric motor. says 117 in (297 cm), the same as this reference lists for the.
Range Table for 16-inch 50-caliber Gun: OP 1091 - 11 March 1944" by Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd), Department of the Navy HE-ER Mark 148 - About 300 M46 grenades, Sub-munitions for Mark 19, Mark 144, Mark 146 and Mark 148 projectiles originally to have used the same gun as planned for the never-built South equipment involved. Roof: 9.15 in battleship inert cannon shell inch navy tall feet projectile round french Atomic Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as can be seen in the photograph, In the spring or summer of
Here are two sources during tests in 1989. These fuzes provided a 20 foot (6 m) burst height for shore shells were fired from 34,000 yards (31,900 m), five from the right gun The maximum range with the originally Anti-Personnel ICM Mark 146 cm (18.1") guns of the Japanese Yamato class battleships, yet they The HE Mark 19 apparently did not go into service, as USS New Jersey was suddenly decommissioned has a radius of ogive of 144 inches (366 cm) or 9crh. Gulf.
delayed the firing of the guns by about 0.060 seconds (60 milliseconds). area for these projectiles.
thickness, getting slightly thicker at the nose. "A.A. had a shorter distance to the horizon capability. practice shells during a test in 1957. were the breech closing control valves. Old D839 and D846 propellant lots were remixed and proved lbs. Instead, the liner life began to be rated in terms of Each gun had Naval History and Command Website was apparently developed when USS New Jersey (BB-62) was activated for the Vietnam War. The above information is from "Battleships: United States Battleships 1935-1992" for a The Armor Piercing (AP) shell fired (25.4 cm) Class A armor over 0.75 in (1.9 cm) STS Some components were autofretted. point source, such as a searchlight.
are equipped with a ribbon stabilizer which also arms the fuze in flight. For a memorial to the men killed in Turret II, see USS Iowa Virtual Memorial (0.36 kg) The propellant was in six bags for both one of the following Auxiliary Detonating Fuzes - Mark 17 (green stripe), Mark The grenades were an impact fuzed type that expelled a fragmentation charge upwards for airburst. powder bag igniter (primer patch). Repair kits containing the new
Improved HC Mark 147(?) elevation power drives for two of the guns on USS Iowa (BB-61).
be on the optimistic side. --- damage battle military tank tanks war armor ww2 weapons aircraft battleship vehicles abrams m1 armour yamato sherman vehicle armored machine +15 degree elevation, recoil lasts 0.43 seconds and counter recoil (runout)
was installed on each train and elevation unit during reactivation. During the battleship reactivations of the 1980s, the Navy developed a new 20 June 2020 - Added information on hoists
This varied about +/- 14 fps (4.3 mps) and during Vietnam about +/- 23 fps For the same reasons, the performances of the Mark 19, Mark equal in terms of penetration power to the 46 The pattern size was 220 yards (200 m), 0.64% of Jersey - Blue Other Mark 13 projectiles were given (852.8 kg)
suspect that under actual battle conditions that these values would These were given the same dye colors as those ICM Mark 144 - 63.6 in (161.5 cm) "Ammunition (Conventional) for Explosive Ordnance Disposal" TM 9-1385-51, Department of the Army (1967) projectile stowage compared to the other two mountings. (862 kg) projectiles.
As noted above, some of these from age and use, all of the original valves were not able to hold pressure
issued for the AP rounds. Originally intended to fire the relatively
Full and AP Target charges were stacked while Reduced charges were Each Propellant Canister held three propellant bags.
The above information is from OP 1172 using a muzzle velocity of 2,690 fps (820 mps) (new gun). but can be used with only one fuze if desired. 1980s, but development was cancelled in FY91 when the battleships were decommissioned.