USS Massachusetts 21 gun salute with 5 inch guns

[sniperpistol50]

Take your hats off, shut up, and stop moving. The disrespect people have today....

[Contrajoe]

@sniperpistol50 I don't think they mean it to be disrespect though...

[Ettoredipugnar]

 Dummy rounds . But what a mess to clean up.

[MatthewFurlong88]

Wow sound like it was pretty loud.

[joetubealong]

I wonder how much louder those guns would be with the actual shells going out of them?

[JOHN27398]

nice.

[bentoncoar]

...and all those red necks standing there with their hats on. Total disrespect

[9gent]

i was ther today..pretty cool place

[DragonsREpic]

dude u could fit into a 16' inch, heres your sign

[KittyRokher]

Could someone remind me of the naming conventions for US ships?

Battleships are named after states. And I think destroyers are named after admirals. What are cruisers named after?

[howlrunner97]

@KittyRokher I believe it is cities.

[KittyRokher]

@howlrunner97

Makes sense. Thanks.

[ohiodave54]

hold the camera still !

[JustWickedSwede]

In Sweden 21 salutes is only to salute the king,

[DragonsREpic]

@JustWickedSwede WTF I THOUGHT MONARCHY WAS OWNED? is this still considered the middle ages?

[JustWickedSwede]

@DragonsREpic How do you mean? I don't understand.

[DragonsREpic]

@JustWickedSwede what i mean is i thought monarchy was a thing of the past

[JustWickedSwede]

@DragonsREpic Yes I do think so too. Don't know why we still have a royal family in Sweden. They don't have any political power, but cost A LOT of money.

[michael225q]

I seem to remember somethig beeing removed from her to repair another battleship like maybe the Iowa, do you know what it was? some type of transmission or gearbox?

[iowa61]

@michael225q There were in fact bits and pieces removed from the memorial battleships when the IOWAs were reactivated in the 80s. They were used as spares, or in cases where condition justified it replacement.

[royalparatrooper83]

you would be screwed if they did the 16 inch guns

[easternma]

Have been there many times and did not know they ever fired any guns. Is this a yearly event, I would like to get down there next time.

[Spaceshotx7]

Even the 5 inch guns are probably earsplitting from 300-400ft away aren't they? So would that mean a 16 inch one hurt someoes ears from 1000ft away?

[historyman1944]

i volunteer there and if you fired the 16inch guns you would shatter all nthe windows in a half a mile and set off all the car alarms as well as damage the ship cause it is anchored to massive piers

[tyrbolo]

a couple of live ones would have dispersed the crowd, Too loud to stand outside

without ear plugs.

[rmikesmi]

@HaloCE14 The 16's use kegs of blackpowder. They can easily be fired just using powder, howbeit, they only need to use 1 keg instead of the multiples used behind a shell. The shop owners would not appreciate the possible broken windows.

[golfisgreat123]

these were just blank round of 50mm these are not 5 inch

[werdup6]

@golfisgreat123 They are in fact 5 inch 38 caliber guns.

[dirtbiker1445]

@HaloCE14 they dont use bullets on the 16 inches the use 6 110lb black powder bags they ram in a near 3000 lb projectile then 6 powder bags close the breech and FIRE!!!!!!!!!!

[Robkat3751]

@dirtbiker1445 the 16 inch rifles don't use black powder rather they use a substance called cordite.

[iowa61]

@Robkat3751 Nitrocellulose. In pellets about the size of 12 gauge shotgun shells... A small black powder charge ignites the 110 lb bags of nitrocellulose.

[seagraver]

@dirtbiker1445 The propellant used to fire 16 inch main battery guns, (rifles in on a ship), is Cordite. Cordite replaced black powder in military applications in the late 1800's.

[dirtbiker1445]

if they did the 16s the force would knock the bridge down lol

[oreos0685]

@dirtbiker1445 That would be fun to watch but even with blanks they would have to leave port to fire the 16" guns just the blast alone can hurt people and glass windows.

[PlanesCoinsandMusic9]

@oreos0685 Imagine how many car alarms would go off.

[Scorponok2009]

Awesome.

[DBLCC]

She was last drydocked in the winter of1998 in Boston. Some of her outer hull shell was replaced or plated over. I believe her remaining propellers not already removed were taken off.

[PeteOF]

Actually all four props were on the ship until the drydock in Boston in '98. They took the outer two off during drydocking to help with watertight integrity. The two that were removed are now on display at Battleship Cove in Fall River MA. She still has her two inboard props for when I get her running for her 2045 victory tour! ;) I volunteer onboard and would be happy to answer any questions about Her.

[iowa61]

@PeteOF I'm going to hold you to that promise!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I visited Big Mamie about 15 years ago the Exec Director told me the "engineers" were threatening to light off the boilers. I loved hearing that!

[Contrajoe]

@PeteOF Are you seriously planning a 2045 victory tour? THAT WOULD BE INCREDIBLE!

[AmericanPatriot957]

Actually Mastercorder. It was the USS Washington (BB-56) that put a hurting on the IJN Kirishima. USS South Dakota was damaged by IJN Kirishima's 14 inch main and 5 inch secondary guns. While Kirishima was concentrating on USS South Dakota Kirishima did not realize that USS Washington was closing on her. USS Washington open fired. Kirishima was struck by nine 16 inch and numerous 5 inch shells. Kirishima was scuttled by her crew. this happened at the Second Battle of Guadalcanal

[Mastercorder]

Those guns are lethal when they are guided by the sk radar and can be fired rapid , looks like their using the one handed sailer routine to load the shells and remove the cartridges they probably dont have all the 240 volt power up as well as enough trained crew to man and run the shel hoist those guns in time of war can be fired about every 10 to 16 seconds and they like to straddle the load times on different turrets to keep a steady stream of fire ...

[haienbleurgh]

every 10 to 16 seconds?

the 5/38 gun mounted on most US ships in WWII including this one is capable of firing 1 round every 3 seconds with a well trained crew.

[Mastercorder]

I wonder if those were live or practice rounds ? if those were live those guns would sink about any new ship keep in mind the main armament on a new cruiser is only a eight inch gun those guns on the sister ship South Dakota did tremendous hurt to the Japanese battleship Hiroshima .... wouldnt want to be on the receiving end in a surface ship or aircraft those have a range of about 40 miles ...

[dirtbiker1445]

they were blanks it was on Memorial Day

[ikillyouhahahalameo]

@Mastercorder lol, 40 miles... not really eve- you know what, I'm not wasting my time writing a paragraph.

[werdup6]

@ikillyouhahahalameo Its alright, I set him straight haha.

[werdup6]

@Mastercorder Of course they were practice rounds. Those are only 5inch/38 caliber rifles, they would put a hurting on any targets but it would take a few hits in the right places to sink any ship. The 16 inch guns only have a max range of 23 miles and hurl a projectile the size of a VW Beetle, even those take a few hits to sink ships. Modern cruisers of the Ticonderoga class only carry 5inch 54 caliber rifles and there was no battleship Hiroshima, Hiroshima is the city the A-bomb destroyed.

[iowa61]

@werdup6 To set things straight... The South Dakota Class battleships had (have) mark 6, 16" 45 caliber naval rifles. They fired the mark 8 2700 lb. armor piercing shell about 23 miles with accuracy. There are no modern warships that could withstand a direct hit from one of these guns. 16"/11"GPS guided, discarding sabot rounds were test-fitted to the IOWA class prior to their retirement in the early 90s. These shells had a range of around 100 miles but were not operational prior to retirement.

[werdup6]

@iowa61 Were those discarding sabot rounds purely kinetic or did they have a warhead? I'm guessing kinetic but I had never heard of those up until now.

[werdup6]

@iowa61 Were those discarding sabot rounds purely kinetic or did they have a warhead? I'm guessing purely kinetic but I hadn't heard of those rounds until now. I was remarking on the 5in. 38's taking multiple hits to disable/destroy a target not the 16in. rounds, but then again I would argue that it would take a few hits on a modern destroyer or cruiser with the 16in. rounds to destroy/disable. After all the DD's/DE's at Samar withstood rounds of similar and even greater bore size than 16in.

[iowa61]

@werdup6 Design called for explosive charge. Keep in mind, they did not have the design finalized, but there are pics of the mock up shells being struck down to the magazines for fitment testing. My best understanding from extremely informed personnel is there were no severe technical hurdles left, only political. BTW, I'm not aware of any DD at Samar surviving a hit from the YAMATO or MUSASHI or any other BB...

[iDxsoulz]

@Mastercorder thats kinda a dum question

[clsteele]

@Mastercorder they're blank ... never heard of a live round gun salute for an occasion like this

[LaburnumDorado]

@Mastercorder I never heard of a battleship Hiroshima. I did some research. I found nothing on a battleship with that name. However, I discovered that the maximum range of a 16"/50-cal would be 39,895 yards (+/- 19.6976 n.m.); the maximum altitude 11,981 yards, projectile: 1900-pound. Would there be a veteran around caring to give us some reliable info? I would be honored. Anyway, thanks for making me curious.

[Mastercorder]

wasnt that after the ship returned from refurbishment? I think thats really cool that they could really fire the six inch battery with the ship as a memorial ......

[dirtbiker1445]

no that was on Memorial Day and they were 5 inch guns and i dont think it was refurbished anytime in the not too distant past

[Mastercorder]

Safer and certainly cheaper ..........

[djdel005]

Great video, I was there standing right behind where you were lol. I took a very similar video with my small camera. That was an awesome day.

We had a blast.

[Mastercorder]

Oh yes the ship was refurbished about three years ago it was towed to a shipyard I think its on the Battleship Commissions web site. I doupt that much was done to those five inch guns they were already in pretty good shape those ships were overhauled before they were decommissioned from the Navy roster so they should be in very good shape I would like to see the Massachusetts I have been on its sister ship the Alabama BB - 60 in 1986 summer was great ..............

[binkinater]

yes

[Smalls860]

A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

[paintballrecon]

nice