USS Missouri Firing The Big Guns

[DougGuy]

(August 1944) (Original color) USS Missouri BB-63 Fires a six-gun salvo from her forward turrets, during shakedown gunnery exercises,.. Six 16-inch projectiles are visible in the air at the extreme right. Photographed by Arthur Stratham. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives.

302586

[Kylongrifle32]

Awesome picture. Thanks for sharing.

[HWooldridge]

As I recall, those guns are also extremely accurate - under 1 MOA if my memory serves.

[DougGuy]

As I recall, those guns are also extremely accurate - under 1 MOA if my memory serves.

1MOA at 20mi is equivalent to 29.33333333 feet. Not counting the curvature of the earth. I don't know that they are that accurate, but I wasn't ever a gunner's mate in the Navy either so what do I know?

Some pretty interesting comments here:

https://www.battleshipnc.com/16-inch-main-battery-big-guns/

[pworley1]

You don't want to be on the wrong end of that.

[HWooldridge]

1MOA at 20mi is equivalent to 29.33333333 feet. Not counting the curvature of the earth. I don't know that they are that accurate, but I wasn't ever a gunner's mate in the Navy either so what do I know?

Some pretty interesting comments here:

https://www.battleshipnc.com/16-inch-main-battery-big-guns/

I found an old sketch that indicated one broadside volley could be expected to land inside an area of 100x100 yds at 14 miles. The biggest problem was apparently having a reliable spotting technique on the target. Planes seemed the be the best strategy during WW2. The one MOA may have been the military expectation of a single rifled gun at some distance - but I can’t recall where I read that.

[imashooter2]

Throwing high explosive Volkswagens over the horizon.

[Bloodman14]

Incredible that the recoil could almost swamp the ship! (Is 'swamp' the correct term?) It looks as if the entire bow is under water?

[Bmi48219]

There’s a YouTube channel with weekly clips from the battleship New Jersey Memorial museum. Lots of interesting facts.
One recent segment was part of their ‘picture is worth a thousand words’ series. The curator said the salvos are actually timed so each cannon in the turret fires a partial second apart. Otherwise the muzzle blast if fired at the same time will cause the projectiles to be less accurate. The sequence is to fire left cannon first then right then center. That’s why there is a small difference in the projectiles’ distance from turret in pictures.
Because B turret is closest to the fire directors the B turret middle barrel gets more wear as it is used for target acquisition. The barrels are lined and the liner typically is good for 300 to 400 rounds.

[Mk42gunner]

1MOA at 20mi is equivalent to 29.33333333 feet. Not counting the curvature of the earth. I don't know that they are that accurate, but I wasn't ever a gunner's mate in the Navy either so what do I know?

Some pretty interesting comments here:

https://www.battleshipnc.com/16-inch-main-battery-big-guns/
I was a Gunner's Mate, and I still can't tell you.

I do know that our Fire Controlmen said that we could fire accurately to about 10 nautical miles with our 5"/54. Accuracy being defined as within the kill radius of our projectiles. I can't remember now if that was fifty feet or yards.

Our maximum range was theoretically 13 miles or 26,000 yards.

More than likely when speaking of accuracy of naval gunnery the units were in MILS, not MOA.

Robert

[DougGuy]

Incredible that the recoil could almost swamp the ship! (Is 'swamp' the correct term?) It looks as if the entire bow is under water?

I read once that recoil from these guns moves the entire ship back 20 yards or something like that. Can you imagine how much energy is soaked up by the ship's hull to move 40 THOUSAND tons of iron and steel 20 yards?

[Finster101]

Incredible that the recoil could almost swamp the ship! (Is 'swamp' the correct term?) It looks as if the entire bow is under water?

I don't believe the bow is under water, the angle of the photo and the shimmer in the blast area make it appear so. If you enlarge the pic you can see that the ship is actually listing to port from the recoil.

[jaysouth]

I remember being under the trajectory of the USS Iowa firing missons for the USMC in 1968. You could see a flash on the horizion, hear a freight train going overhead, and seeing the impact several miles away. I was always glad they were not firing at me. Knowing the rudiments of fire control techniques for artillery and mortars, I always marveled at computing firing solutions from a moving ship at stationary targets. This was in the days before computers.

[buckwheatpaul]

That is incredible....thanks for sharing!

[Char-Gar]

In 1984 the Missouri shelled Syrian gun positions in Lebanon and then put into to Haifa, Israel for a little R and R. I drove into Haifa from above and saw the giant ship sitting in the water as peaceful as could be. It was a sight I will never forget.

[FredBuddy]

I watched the Missouri go thru two locks of the Panama Canal.
It had about 12 inches clearance on either side. It scraped
the side of the Pedro Miguel locks, about 5 miles from me.
I'm sure that was heard all the way back to Panama City.

[Kylongrifle32]

Of all things to have on display. A international grocery store that we shop at monthly has these two 16 inch shells on display. I'm 5ft8in and 180 pounds.302645302646302647

[DougGuy]

Of all things to have on display. A international grocery store that we shop at monthly has these two 16 inch shells on display. I'm 5ft8in and 180 pounds.302645302646302647

In the close up pic of the plaque, you can see by the bow disturbing the water that it's moving sideways in recoil, that's brute force at work for sure!

[Bmi48219]

In the close up pic of the plaque, you can see by the bow disturbing the water that it's moving sideways in recoil, that's brute force at work for sure!

Actually main battery recoil moving the ship is a myth. An Iowa class BB weighs 60,000 tons and draws 31 feet of water. Again according to several sources the disturbance of water is the effect of muzzle blast.
Watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG1_kwwidg4

[popper]

I was skipper's phone talker for 8" shots. Interesting, just felt a slight 'push'. Put holes in a 'target' sleeve mounted on a barge 11 mi away. Had to wait for a small boat to go report hits. Wrangling hi-lines shells to reload wasn't fun. Disconnect from line hold it steady while waiting for guys in turret to hook up the hoist.

[Loudenboomer]

I was on the "Mighty Mo" Just before covid hit. I was awe struck at the experience. Visited the Arizona on one side of the harbor where WWII started for us. Then to the opposite side of the harbor sits the Missouri. Very moving to stand on the exact spot the Japanese surrendered, and WWII ended.

[popper]

Surrender was signed on the 'big mo'.

[Bmi48219]

Surrender was signed on the 'big mo'.

It’s only coincidental Harry Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri.