14"/45 caliber Mark 1 Mod 1 guns and turrets of USS Texas (BB-35) and USS New York (BB-34) under construction at Bethlehem Steel Corporation. The turret shield was 14 inches thick at the face, 9 inches on the sides, 8 inches at the rear and the roof was 5.75 inches thick. The full turret without shells weighted 532 tons. The maximum range of these guns at 15° elevation was over 12 miles (20 km). It costed $777 in 1914, or $20090.55 in 2019, to fire one gun.
The first turret was installed in USS Texas on March 5, 1913.
Many of those gun barrels were made at Washington Navy Yard.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't know his exact duties my great or great-great grandfather was a machinist at WNY at the end of the 19th Century. Too early for these particular guns. But I'm proud of his work.
That was great! Reminded me a bit of reading The Woodpile Report and Ol' Remus, God bless him.
ReplyDeleteThanks, CW!
-Elmo
Amazing what you can buy with stolen money.
ReplyDeleteBadgers prefer the Rifle 16"/50 MK VII used in BB-64, The Big Badger Boat!
ReplyDeleteThat is SUPER cheap to fire at $20,000, the US decided it can't afford even a single round for it's new $4 Billion ships because each round costs $1,000,000.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.vice.com/en/article/ev5e5j/navy-smart-shells-zumwalt-warship
Bang!
ReplyDelete