quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
I would pay good money to be nearby when those big 16' rifles are fired! (I have a standing offer of $1000 to anyone who can get me in to watch live tank or artillery practice close up.)

flashguy

We got to do that as Explorers in the BSA while in HS. The local NG battalion had 155mm self-propelled guns and they took us on maneuvers which included seeing them do live fire practice. Very very cool. You can actually follow the shell in the sky after it is fired.

[drift] most gun tubes actually recoil inside the mount or have other ways of dissipating the recoil that might otherwise push directly in the opposite direction of the outgoing round.

The last big gun I worked on had a pneumatic and hydraulic systems that absorbed the recoil energy of the barrel and that energy was tamed and re-used to make the gun work. Much the same as a semi-auto pistol or rifle.

If you look at any WWII tubes used in standard artillery, you will see a smaller tube under or atop the barrel that has hydraulic or springs inside that dampen the recoil.

Thus the firing of the 16" of just one tube doesn't move the ship...what it does do is the blask/overpressure moves out in a 360 direction and can be seen in the photos in this thread. That pressure wave will rattle the ship and break lamps, trip breakers, knock men off the weather decks...etc (we used to have to duct tape the breakers on the bridge when we shot our 25mm cannon on the Patrol Boat I was on..and that 242 gun had nothing like the power of a 16" gun)

[/drift]

What kind of recoil stroke did those babies have? Watching that video it dosen't seem to long.

quote:

Originally posted by mbinky:
What kind of recoil stroke did those babies have? Watching that video it dosen't seem to long.

48” of recoil. About 1/2 second of travel

Dam. I was trying to guess from the video and I wouldn't have guessed that much. Seems appropriate though. For contrast an Abrams recoils about 12 inches.

When I was in the Boy Scouts we spent a night on the USS Massachusetts. It was pretty fun. I have also toured the USS North Carolina. I would love to see an Iowa class ship someday.

IIRC, a visitor (from West Point, maybe) got his head squished by an M1 main gun breech during its recoil, when I was in. What a terrible way to die, like a giant sledge to the dome.

Even with 12" of movement, and a 62-65ton machine, it definitely shakes a tank a bunch.

I've never shot or even seen a battleship shoot in person, but 105 and 120mm are no joke, and I've shot (and loaded) them a bunch. Best part of my Army service, hands down.

A 16" gun with 48" of movement seems crazy. I would like to have seen that in person.

There have been many stories about tankers getting nipped by the gun and I will put a few more out there. "The turret catch" We don't know what he did but he somehow placed his grape between the breech and the turret roof, and there was a failure of the stab system in elevation (delta P) Didn't kill him, but it pinned his head between the breech and the turret roof. I'm not sure if he meant it but his mike stuck open and he screamed alot. One was the opposite. After he loaded a round in the gun it came out of EL UNCPL and the gun went to max EL and smashed his foot on the slip ring cover. He cried like a bitch and you would swear he was getting overrun but he was ok.

They were all ok, but as a mech we still made fun of them...

Before people get mad: Tanks were designed to kill people, and they don't care who.

Thankfully I never saw tanks kill good guys, only bad guys.

I was always more concerned with not getting anything in the way of the blast door. ^

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
I was always more concerned with not getting anything in the way of the blast door. ^

As simple as that sounds I had to give a class a month ago about how to NOT chop your fingers off in the ammo door...why should I be giving that class???

quote:

Originally posted by mbinky:

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
I was always more concerned with not getting anything in the way of the blast door. ^

As simple as that sounds I had to give a class a month ago about how to NOT chop your fingers off in the ammo door...why should I be giving that class???

Because, like my high school machine shop teacher, you're missing digits to reinforce the importance of the lesson?

(hope not)

And I'll say one more thing. Money killed the battleships. And I know money wants to kill tanks.

But I tell you what.

Everyone hates what tanks cost during training. But I have NEVER been anywhere overseas where the command said they didn't want tanks. Quite the opposite. We were the life of the party. NO grunt unit ever wanted to leave the wire without at least a section.

Nothing says happiness like a platoon of Abrams at your back.

quote:

Originally posted by MitchbSC:
Because, like my high school machine shop teacher, you're missing digits to reinforce the importance of the lesson?

(hope not)

Lol I have my 11 fingers () and I always used a pine 1x2 to demonstrate

Pulled from the internet, but one of the most comforting sounds you will ever hear.

When I was in the Military Mission in the early 80's we used to get really excited when we heard this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4JZ2HXsOwM.

tac