[ARC5] More on Battleship Gunnery

[Bill Cromwell]

Hi,

I was on the smallest class of destroyer escorts the Navy had. I was in
engineering on propulsion and auxiliaries. I only know about the guns
from some general overviews and a few things I have read. We had anti
submarine and surveillance capabilities. The biggest guns ever installed
were 3 inchers and those were gone in favor of more advanced anti
submarine weapons when I was aboard.

In a battle there is often more than one target. Some targets need more
'persuasion' than other targets. Not all of the targets are necessarily
at the maximum range of the big guns. Hits from even small shells can do
some damage. Obviously a 50 cal Browning machine gun is only going to
mar the paint on battleship armour plate. The gunners and the commander
should know which one to use.

I think they did have better choices for anti aircraft use.

But those pictures of the full broadsides sure are impressive!

73,

Bill  KU8H


On Sun, 2012-11-04 at 18:19 -0800, Mike Everette wrote:
> A bit of probably useless trivia... I would find it very difficult to believe that any number of 5" guns would equal out to six more main battery (16 inch) guns aboard a US battleship.  By no stretch of the imagination can the range be the same, especially.  So, why would they be included in a "broadside"?  The 5s were definitely the secondary battery; and I think they were usually used as AA weapons (or am I mistaken about that).
> 
> 73
> 
> Mike
> W4DSE
>