Thursday, July 30, 2015

26-inch thick armor from Japanese Yamato class battleship, pierced by a US Navy 16-inch gun. The armor is on display at the US Navy Museum.


Impressive

10 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Imagine the heat that just blowing through that much steel generated, let alone the following blast.

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    2. A 16 shell weighs as much as a volkswagon.

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  2. According to Wiki:

    The Iowa class battleship 16" guns fired projectiles weighing from 1,900 to 2,700 pounds (850 to 1,200 kg) at a maximum speed of 2,690 feet per second (820 m/s) with a range of up to 24 miles (39 km). At maximum range the projectile spent almost 1½ minutes in flight.
    That about the same muzzle velocity as a 30.06 !

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    Replies
    1. Imagine a Volkswagon matching the muzzle velocity of a 30.06!! No wonder there is a big hole!

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  3. Hi There,
    'Waz on the USS Princeton LPH-5 Vietnam Cruise '68 and used to watch the USS New Jersey do her thing down the road from us!! We were "off the Coast by Da Nang mostly" 'She'd fire a salvo and we could hear the boom after a second or two!! 16 inch "Rifles" is what she shot!! Can you imagine .....12 (ea) 16 inch Rifles letting go at the same time!! 'Remember my Marine buds sayin',"She did Good!!!!!"
    "GO NAVY!!!!!"'
    III%,'
    skybill-out

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    1. Oh Yeah,
      MY girlfriend to-become-my-wife's girlfriend's boyfriend-to become-husband at that time was a (E-3) Boatswains Mate on the 'Jersey during all this!!!! My GF got to go on 2 dependants day cruises on the 'Jersey "AND" got a 8x10" Photo of "Herself" being "Herself" in the "CRUISEBOOK!!!!!!!!!!" What a hoot!!!
      ...........Memories...........that was in '1968-69!!!! Don't do the math, it will scare you!!! It does me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      skybill-out

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  4. The muzzle-energy for that gun was 1,320,000,000,000,000 (1.32 quadrillion) ft-lbs. A .357 magnum is 640 ft-lb.

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  5. Only one problem with yon caption. The ONLY two Yamato class battleships built were sunk in VERY deep water by US Navy aircraft. Both were built with such secrecy that not even a set of blue prints were recovered after WW2 (Some Japanese historians claim that no complete blueprint was ever created). No armor or steel of any kind were ever recovered by the US Navy. They never saw any surface combat with battleships of any navy. I could be wrong BUT; If I remember correctly that bit of armor was tested by the Navy in the 1920's when the 16 inch Naval rifle was first coming into service. I represented the then "state of the art" "Krupp Process" monolithic naval armor used by every navy on earth in the construction of battleships . ---Ray

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