Text 46987, 47 rader
Skriven 2007-01-08 04:13:00 av Bob Ackley (1:2905/3)
     Kommentar till en text av shannon talley
Ärende: Midway
==============
Replying to a message of shannon talley to Roy Witt:

 st> Howdy,

 >> I remember seeing in the news some footage of one of those gun turrets
 >> exploding a decade or two ago. Pretty sure it was the Wisconsin, but

 st> That was almost 20 years ago <g>  I remember that too; the Navy
 st> railroaded a  good sailor by accusing him of causing the accident. It
 st> was later determined  it was just old unstable powder that caused the
 st> explosion.

 >> it could have been the Iowa. I forget how many of the turret crew was
 >> killed. I recall something about a dropped bag of explosive that went
 >> off when the guns fired. She's as obsolete at the USS Constitution.
 >> There's no need for battleships in the age of guided missle frigates.

The accident occurred on Iowa.  AFAIK the entire turret crew was killed.
During WWII Mississippi had one, too.  IMO the explosion was caused by
a shred of smoldering fabric left over from the previous shot that wasn't
blown out the muzzle by compressed air; when a powder bag touched
the smoldering fabric it cooked off.  While the gun captain should have
noticed the ember when they opened the breech to load it, assuming
it was there he obviously didn't notice it.

As to whether or not they're obsolete - it depends on what you're trying
to do.  There is *nothing* better than a BB as a fire support base - but
the target has to be within about 20 miles of the ship.  That was why
New Jersey was so successful off Vietnam, almost all targets in northern
South Vietnam were within range - and she was more accurate than AF
pilots (who by and large can't hit the broad side of a barn with a banjo,
I've seen recce photos before and after), and with much bigger bangs than
the AF jockeys can lift - and she could stay on station for *days* rather
than minutes and worked just fine in sh*tty weather.

 st> Well -- we no longer have guided missile frigates.  They took the
 st> missile  launchers off all of our Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates
 st> and  decommissioned all our older FF's.  Now we have CVN's, DDG's,
 st> CG's and some  new "stuff" <g>

Don't most of those use missiles?  While I admit to not being up on
newer ships, it was my opinion some time back that as far as guns
are concerned they basically mount popguns (compared to ships - even
DDs or DEs - of half a century ago).

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:2905/3)