What's really impressive about the 16"/50 caliber gun is that even though the 2,700 lb projectile is the heavy one, the light projectile was still 1,900 lbs, and muzzle velocity was still 2,690 fps........or about the same as a .308 Winchester 168 grain Matchking. That is some high velocity for such a heavy projectile. Maximum range was 24 miles, over the horizon, and the shell had a 1-1/2 minute flight time to target at that range.Beiruty wrote:Those projectiles are extremely huge and heavy. 2,700 lbs and for those who reload propelled by 660lbs of smokeless gunpowder.
Necessarily, that made for some complex range-finding. If your enemy's battleship is steaming forward full speed ahead at say 25 knots, it can cover a lot of water in a minute and a half (about .72 miles)......and that implies a straight line movement. If the ship is swerving along its path, it gets even more complicated, since the range to target varies up and down according to the tacking course changes and the enemy's angle of movement relative to your own ship. So the fire-control center had to make sure that the changing target picture was accounted for before giving the command to fire. In fact, naval gunnery contributed significantly to the development of both radar and analog computing during WW2. Even so, naval gunnery was necessarily limited to what a battleship could do within a distance of 24 miles, and those limitations were the death knell of battleships when it became evident that aircraft carriers could both project more power AND destroy battleships at safe standoff distances.
Oh..... and:
