Size of ships and their guns
Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:39 am
Gentlemen,
Further to my post on Monitors ,I have read somewhere that both the the RN and Germany were considering building ships with 18" and larger guns, Although it now seems like a 'pipe dream' after the advent of the aircraft carrier, I have often wondered if there was a practical limit to what size of gun (which presumably would dictate the size of ship) that could be built and even if the Yamato class was actually a step too far as regards reliability and actual handling in battle conditions. I believe the Yamato topped out at close to 70,000 tons under full load which would be a big ship even today, it would be interesting to guess what size of ship would be needed to take 20" or larger weapons, at the same time I presume that rate of fire would also be affected as I would imagine a 20"shell (or larger) would weigh close to a couple of tons and need extremely strong loading mechanizes, so perhaps the 16" was about as far as it could go for practicality.
Further to my post on Monitors ,I have read somewhere that both the the RN and Germany were considering building ships with 18" and larger guns, Although it now seems like a 'pipe dream' after the advent of the aircraft carrier, I have often wondered if there was a practical limit to what size of gun (which presumably would dictate the size of ship) that could be built and even if the Yamato class was actually a step too far as regards reliability and actual handling in battle conditions. I believe the Yamato topped out at close to 70,000 tons under full load which would be a big ship even today, it would be interesting to guess what size of ship would be needed to take 20" or larger weapons, at the same time I presume that rate of fire would also be affected as I would imagine a 20"shell (or larger) would weigh close to a couple of tons and need extremely strong loading mechanizes, so perhaps the 16" was about as far as it could go for practicality.