USS Alabama 16" Guns

[Just Say Moe]

How about the uss razorback on the river in north little rock? Its a pretty cool tour

Yes - we had the one led by a guy who served on it. Lots of interesting information.

 

[lightman]

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing them with us.

I've toured the Alabama and its well worth the time. I've also toured the Razorback In Little Rock and the Yorktown in Charleston. I've walked around on the flight deck of the Yorktown and touched the postmarks on on the base of the tower made from enemy machine-gun fire. It made the hair on my neck stand up!

A friend brought back a granule of powder from the machine-gun shoot at Knob Creek that was used in one of the warships. I don't remember which one. It was about the size of a 35mm film container. (anyone remember those)

Thanks to all that served, no matter what war.

 

[dhagerty40]

i found this on the powder:
The D839 propellant (smokeless powder) grain used for full charges issued for this gun was 2 in (51 mm) long, 1 in (25 mm) in diameter and had seven perforations, each 0.060 in (1.5 mm) in diameter with a web thickness range of 0.193 to 0.197 in (4.9 to 5.0 mm) between the perforations and the grain diameter. A maximum charge consisted of six silk bags–hence the term bag gun–each filled with 110 lb (50 kg) of propellant.

 

[JoeMcNeill]

actual "grain" of powder from 16" naval gun made at Indiana ordinance works during Korean war.
6PPC cartridge for reference!

 

[normmatzen]

I thought the big guns used Black powder?

 

[Just Say Moe]

I thought the big guns used Black powder?

There was a bit of black sewed into each end of the powder bags to get it going.

 

[shoot4fun]

If is interested in where the funding to keep the entire park open:

Foundation - USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park

www.ussalabama.com

It comes from admission fees and donations to the foundation.
I remember as a child the campaign to raise money for the ship to be brought to Mobile Bay.

 

[snakepit]

Another Battleship with 16 inch guns that I have seen on display is the USS North Carolina BB55 in Wilmington N.C.

 

[snakepit]

Some statistics on the weapons of the Iowa Class Battleships in World War 2.

Armament:

1943: 9 × 16 in (406 mm)/50 cal Mark 7 guns 20 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal Mark 12 guns 76 × 40 mm/56 cal anti-aircraft guns 52 × 20 mm/70 cal anti-aircraft cannons

 

[shoot4fun]

Another Battleship with 16 inch guns that I have seen on display is the USS North Carolina BB55 in Wilmington N.C.

Been there too.

 

[r bose]

My son and I, along with his scout troop, spent several weekend "campout" trips on board. We'd load in Friday afternoon, come out Sunday morning. If you've never been, it's well worth the stop to visit.

 

[centerlineseal]

Iowa Class

We used that term for some other "Big Guns"!

 

[normmatzen]

If anyone is wondering what a 16"/50cal or a 5"/38 is. The bore is 16" or 5 " and the number after the bore is the length of the barrel. In the case of the 5"/38 (what we all trained on in boot camp in the 50's) is that of a gun with a 5" bore and the barrel is 38 times the bore or about 16 ' long! This makes the 16" guns having a
barrel 66 2/3 feet long!

 

[GotRDid]

I collect the weirdest things, and the image by JoeMcNeill sparked a memory of perhaps having one of those “grains” of propellant.

Edit: This particular “kernel” of propellant weighs 421.4 grs.
The comparative projectile is a 618 gr .50 BMG APIT.
GotRDid.

 

[GotRDid]

Three more.

 

[jelenko]

Now, THAT"S a grain.

 

[snert]

Do you think if you used one of those tools advertised here on April 1 a few years ago to uniform the holes in the powder that maybe it would be more efficient?

 

[GotRDid]

Assuming a nominal weight of 16.61 kernels per pound and 1,495 kernels per 90 pound bag, this translates to 8,970 (nominal) kernels per full 6 bag (540 lb) charge.
The ballistics boggle the mind.
GotRDid.

 

[dhagerty40]

actually, the 90lb bags were used for light loads and practice firing. 110lb bags were used for the heavy load using the 2700lb projectile with 6 bags for a 660lb charge.

 

[JoeMcNeill]

Reported muzzle energy was around 270,000 ft lbs, OUCH!!

JDM