Two shots from a five inch gun

[Scott Tschirhart]

Not a five inch barrel but a 5 inch diameter gun.

Apparently the US Navy blew two holes through the engine room of a cargo ship. Dang!!! That’s some serious big bore action!

[piller]

Seems as if the Iranians still need to find out.

[Ysabel Kid]

They are still f-ing around, after all...

[jeepnik]

5 inch 54 caliber naval rifles are just little stuff. But the shells are more powerful than the older 5 inch 38 caliber naval rifles from WWII. Plus it is a much more rapid firing.

But this is a navel rifle.

16 inch 50 caliber.

For those that don't know, the inches is the bore diameter. The caliber is the number of time longer the barrel is than the diameter.

Think of it this way. A 5 inch 54 caliber is an epee. A 16 inch 50 caliber is a mace.

[Griff]

Yep, the 5" 54 is an epee. Sure whatever you say... I'd say it's a cutlass... and those battleship 16"ers are a longsword. After many months on the gun line in VN, ending over 52 years ago, my hearing still hasn't recovered! Sleepin' 40' behind a 5" 54 Mk42 isn't quite like a 357Mag, it's on some nameless higher order of magnitude! Somewhere I have a picture of my ship's foredeck littered with shell casings from a visit to the gunline in 1972, near the mouth of the Que Viet River.

[AJMD429]

Not a five inch barrel but a 5 inch diameter gun.

LOL the ever-present difference between LENGTH and GIRTH...

[GunnyMack]

My nephew brought me a 5" shell, I can't find any load data for it!

[piller]

My nephew brought me a 5" shell, I can't find any load data for it!

70 pounds of Retumbo, a 10 gauge filled with Blue Dot for the primer, and 18 bowling balls. Would that do?

[Scott Tschirhart]

I’m just glad we have folks who can fire these guns and with great effect!

However I think I was wrong and they may have fired three rounds.

Either way, good shooting!

[AJMD429]

.
There are some interesting videos on Youtube about the design use of battleship turrets in the World War Two era. I can't find the link to the one I watched about a year ago but it was about an hour long and very fascinating.

[COSteve]

This is why, when drafted, I volunteered for Armor. When the VC would open up with a 10-20 rd burst of 30 cal from behind a tree, I was in an armored tank with a M336 round which was in effect a 3.5" diameter shotgun with 1,280 pellets and a effective range of up to 250 meters (273 yds).