I was watching "mail call" on the History channel (great show!) and, when answering a question about when a US battleship's guns were last fired in anger, they showed footage. Why does a battleship's guns, after firing, "dip," i.e., drop noticeably?
And while we're on the topic, what keeps a battleship from capsizing from the enormous recoil of those huge guns, especially when they're fired in rapid succession?
2007-09-30 08:20:24 · 9 answers · asked by Kavan Lee 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
The guns "dip", or return to zero elevation, because the loading ramps for the shells and bags of powder are on the horizontal.
The ship doesn't capsize simply because of her WEIGHT in fact, a broadsides barely makes the ship ROLL!! An Iowa Class battleship weighed in at 52,000 tons and had 36 feet of draft. You'll also note that a battle ship is wider than almost other naval vessel at 108ft.
One thing that IS interesting is to see the ship fire all 9 16 inch guns at once on a low-trajectory... the ship is literally SHOVED 15-20 feet sideways.
2007-09-30 09:16:13 · answer #1 · answered by mariner31 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Battleship Guns Firing
2016-11-11 01:44:32 · answer #2 · answered by legat 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The barrel dips to realign the breech in order to accept the next round. This setting can be adjusted to align the breech slow or fast as required by the rate of fire. Rate of fire is determined by the mission. The recoil force is no way near enough to capsize the ship. Yes it is a lot of force but the ship is very heavy and the keel is very wide giving the ship excellent stability. Additionally, the ship has wooden decks around the guns. Not only does this prevent warping as a steel deck would, but acts as a shock absorber as well. There is a rumor that when firing all guns to one side in a full salvo, the ship would actually move sideways. I am sure it does move but I doubt it moves very far. Certainly not as far as some of the sea stories I have heard. Maybe a few feet but not 10-50 as some stories claim.
2007-09-30 10:51:59 · answer #3 · answered by Tincan Navy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The 16 inch guns dip because of recoil and automatically go into the loading position.
The ships beam (width) is 108 ft and fully loaded weighs over 240,000 tons. That keeps it stable durring firing.
A common misconception is that the ship gets pushed sideways when firing a full broadside. That is just an optical illusion created by the overpressure from firing the main battery.
Firing rate for a well trained 16 inch gun crew is 2 rounds per minute.
2007-09-30 12:02:17 · answer #4 · answered by oneiloilojeepney 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The guns "dip" for reloading. The immense size of the ship allows it to absorb the recoil without capsizing the ship.
2007-09-30 08:27:03 · answer #5 · answered by Helmut 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The recoil is measured in tons and they have to be mounted on heavy shock absorbers and springs. If the recoil is completely dampened these guns would kick loose from the gun mounts anyway. The mathematics they used in solving this is very complex.
2007-09-30 08:31:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
They need to be reloaded. They don't roll over because of the width at the beam and the depth and size of the keel.
2007-09-30 08:57:56 · answer #7 · answered by Polyhistor 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Force of gravity as simple as that for every reaction there an equal and opposite reaction
Regards
Ryan Dior
2007-09-30 08:27:30 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
probably to align the breech with the loading platform..boyancy
2007-09-30 08:26:17 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋