Big Guns!

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Not a Charles Atlas thread, but real guns

We've had a thread going about the 16" caliber cannons aboard our Iowa class battleships. The Japanese battleship Yamato had 46 cm (18.1") cannons in the same layout as our battle ships...i.e., three cannons each on three turrets

However, they were not the biggest guns (cannons) ever used in war. The largest cannon ever built during WW II was the German Schwerer Gustav mounted on a bed that was moved along rail lines. It only had one cannon, but it shot 31.5" caliber shells that weighed over 2 tons (roughly 15,000 lbs) and accuracy over 30 miles



The Russians built their own cannons called Maxim Gorky I and Maxim Gorky I and were similar to battleships on turrets with three cannons that shot 12" shells. They were called "fortresses" and were built deep into the ground for a crew of about 80 soldiers delivering ammo to the guys in the turrets. The fortress had concrete barriers lined with iron

On June 17th, 1942 the Schwerer Gustav obliterated Maxim Gorky 1 and knocked Maxim Gorky II out of commission with only 5 shots fired

Here's a cutaway view of Maxim Gorky I and II



The result

[LennG]

Ric

 I just watched a show on TV about a Japanese Battleship, Yamato which also had superior guns against our best. Interesting show and here is a great article about these 'super' ships.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/japans-monster-world-war-ii-battleships-were-the-biggest-19743

They were involved in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which was the biggest naval battle of WWII (Funny, we always hear about Midway, but this was more important and I never really heard of it).

https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Leyte-Gulf

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Ric

 I just watched a show on TV about a Japanese Battleship, Yamato which also had superior guns against our best. Interesting show and here is a great article about these 'super' ships.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/japans-monster-world-war-ii-battleships-were-the-biggest-19743

They were involved in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which was the biggest naval battle of WWII (Funny, we always hear about Midway, but this was more important and I never really heard of it).

https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Leyte-Gulf

Japan's battleships were immense for sure. And Germany's Bismark was a super-fast battleship. Both of Germany's battleships were sunk of course. Big blow to Germany's navy.

Ever see the Macarthur Landing Memorial in the Philippines. Here's a shot of it:



My dad love Macarthur. Truman of course hated him...LOL

[MightyGiants]

As a student of military history, I can tell you those big guns are impressive and all that, but in reality, none of them ever amounted to anything successful militarily speaking.   They took huge amounts of resources and all produced no limited results.  The two 18" Japanese battleships never scored a military victory or helped the war effort.  The resources spent on them could have really helped the Japanese in the form of 3 more aircraft carriers.   The huge rail guns were never really worth the resources and manpower spent on them.

[LennG]

As a student of military history, I can tell you those big guns are impressive and all that, but in reality, none of them ever amounted to anything successful militarily speaking.   They took huge amounts of resources and all produced no limited results.  The two 18" Japanese battleships never scored a military victory or helped the war effort.  The resources spent on them could have really helped the Japanese in the form of 3 more aircraft carriers.   The huge rail guns were never really worth the resources and manpower spent on them.

 You are correct about those Japanese battleships. They were impressive but really didn't do squat once the shelling started.

The Bismark, on the other hand, did some significant damage before they finally cornered her and sunk her.

[MightyGiants]

You are correct about those Japanese battleships. They were impressive but really didn't do squat once the shelling started.

The Bismark, on the other hand, did some significant damage before they finally cornered her and sunk her.

True, the Bismark sank the aging pride of the British fleet, the Hood (with what was likely a very lucky shot).   Then tied up considerable British resources before being sunk.   On the other hand, her sister ship never did anything more than hide in the fjords for the entire war before being sunk.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

The Bismarck was supposed to be "fast" compared to it's rivals, but it didn't "cut the mustard"

French battleship Richelieu 21 knots
Japanese battleship Yamato 27.5 knots
German battleship Bismarck 30 knots
British battleship HMS Vanguard 30 knots
The four USS Iowa class battleships 35 knots

My dad used to tell me that his ship (the New Jersey) could do 35 knots with a gleam in his eyes as he told me. A knot meant nothing to me and since I had no reference point compared to other ships he might as well have told me "water is wet". It isn't til now that I actually look things up that it is meaningful and also explains why he was proud of his ship's speed... LOL

[MightyGiants]

@Jolly Blue Giant

35 knots for the Iowa class were somewhat a bit of a special occasion thing.  Still, there is no disputing that the Iowas were the fastest battleships put to sea.  That speed was intended to allow them to keep up with the Essex class fast carriers. 

As for a knot

Until the mid-19th century, vessel speed at sea was measured using a chip log. This consisted of a wooden panel, attached by line to a reel, and weighted on one edge to float perpendicularly to the water surface and thus present substantial resistance to the water moving around it. The chip log was cast over the stern of the moving vessel and the line allowed to pay out.[6] Knots tied at a distance of 47 feet 3 inches (14.4018 m) from each other, passed through a sailor's fingers, while another sailor used a 30-second sand-glass (28-second sand-glass is the currently accepted timing) to time the operation.[7] The knot count would be reported and used in the sailing master's dead reckoning and navigation. This method gives a value for the knot of 20.25 in/s, or 1.85166 km/h. The difference from the modern definition is less than 0.02%.

The knot (/nɒt/) is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, exactly 1.852 km/h (approximately 1.151 mph

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I am learning all kinds of things today. Keeping the brain activity going...which I hear is a good thing. They say Beethoven studied calculus simply to keep his brain in tip top shape. Always wondered how he wrote such beautiful music after he was deaf. He wrote Moonlight Sonata, his opera Fidelio and six symphonies all while totally deaf. Amazing!