Naval History Forums

Guns of 20-inch bore were being discussed with straight faces in the post-WW1 period IIRC.

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Marcelo,
If you want to dig deeper on this subject, get a hold of the book "Big Gun Monitors" by Ian Buxton.

Byron

Speaking of the photo posted by KevD ..... has anyone noticed the pair of gun smoke clouds? IIRC, Bismarck was firing 4-shot salvoes, A+B turrets, followed by C+D turrets at Denmark Strait. The forward smoke cloud appears to have palpably fallen astern of turrets A+B, while the after smoke cloud rat...

Hi Paul, Just an aside regarding your question about claims of invulnerability for Bismarck's main vertical belt. I do not believe that anyone has actually made a serious claim that Bismarck's vertical main belt was invulnerable to penetration. Given that her belt was <13 inches, such an assertion w...

Another possible factor in the thinking that led to adoption of 14-in as the main battery weapon of the KGV class: Assuming that these ships were intended primarily for operations in the North Atlantic, the typical ranges of weather, sea, visibility were certainly taken into account. The latitude of...

Gentlemen, As always many thanks for your contributions to what is obviously a fairly controversial subject. From what I can gather in my non technical mind it seems that the British 14" gun and the later shells were actually pretty good but they were let down by poor turret design. As has been men...

Hi dunmunro, Indeed the Mk XVIIB appellation for British 15-inch AP projectiles was found to have applied to both early war projectiles AND the new Cardonald design. It is not possible to conclusively state which projectile was used in the cited test based upon the text alone. However, given the pos...

Re the two pages the dunmunro kindly posted, there are some curious issues hovering around cited test series. Projectile - Shell APC, Hadfield 14-inch Mark 1 B.N.T. (weighted and plugged) – 1,595 lbs, versus - Ex-Tirpitz 12.5-inch cemented plate, sections 4 ft 6 in x 5 ft 6 in approx.: laid over a “...

Hi Marcelo, What you say is quite true for very long ranges. Here are some (simplified) data for USN 14in/45 (1500lb AP @ 2700 f/s) - RANGE - - - - - MAX ORDINATE - - - TIME OF FLIGHT 10,000 yds - - - - 700 ft - - - - - - - - - - 13 sec 15,000 yds - - - - 1,900 ft - - - - - - - - - 18 sec 20,000 yds...

One issue to be taken into consideration is that weather effects may in fact differ to a certain degree in localities separated by only a relatively few miles. For example, during the Age of Sail period, a line of battle of 35-40 ships maneuvering at two cables interval between ships might stretch f...

Hi guys. According to this https://wiki.wargaming.net/ru/Navy:%D0%9C%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0?fbclid=IwAR3PDYKA6BpwmlVJNvW0IkrdY0gEprRJB9R8spMWeD7RG2C7f89ppY2Rf8k the Russians and Americans used a torpedo without propulsion, it was launche...

Great investigation, Marcelo. Thank you for sharing. I did a bit of looking in my library as well and found some relevant remarks in an old USN publication "Climate and Weather for Flight in Naval Operational Zones"; Aviation Training Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, U. S. Navy; 19...

Besides there is no competition, everybody knows all US Navy vessels, regardless of freeboard, are "dry" ships. :lol: Indeed, Sean ..... far too dry from the point of view of the crewmen. Side-note - A cup of coffee has been traditionally known as a "Cup of Joe" in USN parlance. "Joe" refers to Jos...

Hi Marcelo,
I did a little hunting on the interwebnet. If the heading and speed of your own ship is known, it is possible to convert relative wind direction and velocity to true wind direction and velocity.

FWIW,

Byron

I find it simultaneously fascinating and dismaying that this discussion has somehow morphed into a competition between the KGV design versus American battleships. I do not recall Dr. Brown mentioning anything whatsoever in that respect. Prince of Wales' DCT 15-ft rangefinder was quite unlikely to ha...