WW2 Battleship (Part 2 of 3)

Weapons of WW2: Battleship (Part 2 of 3)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• WW2
• Battleship
• Ship
• Warship
• Navy
• Battle
• Sea
• Battlefield
• Weapons
• War

[Contrafactum]

Yes! the Royal Navy evidently deployed them quite sucessfully.

[Contrafactum]

There is a great shot of the Royal Navy's deployment of the American Vought F4U Corsair at 7:28.

[Contrafactum]

Damn! At 5:45 they should have added..."and then they slipped silently away. Unless of course it was a suicide mission.

[ssmusic214]

@deriter64 Nonsense! Google russian produced "The True Story of the Lend Lease"

[deriter64]

Churchill (bless him) was obsessed with Tirpitz when in fact that ship could have ranged freely around the North Sea blasting 15 inch broadsides at seagulls and not impacted the outcome of the war one wit. The poor bastards that died on the Arctic convoys gave their lives for a political statement and what they delivered was a drop in the bucket of the overall Soviet requirement. Stalin's meglomaniac demands sent convoys to Murmansk, not necessity.

[skeilak]

And for unarmored targets and shore bombardment, there was the 16in., 1,900 lb (862 kg) Mk. 13 HC (High-Capacity—referring to the large bursting charge) shell.

The Mk. 13 shell would create a crater 50 feet (15 m) wide and 20 feet (6 m) deep upon impact and detonation, and could defoliate trees 400 yards (360 m) from the point of impact.

And after 1956, there was also the 15 to 20 kiloton, Mk. 23 nuclear naval shell available. For when you need that sort of thing.

[skeilak]

@vk45de

Thanks. This time, I did look it up:

The 16in. Mk. 8 APC (Armor-Piercing, Capped) shell weighs 2,700 lb (1225 kg) and was designed to penetrate the hardened steel armor carried by foreign battleships. At 20,000 yards (18 km) the Mk. 8 could penetrate 20 inches (500 mm) of steel armor plate. At the same range, the Mk. 8 could penetrate 21 feet (6.4 m) of reinforced concrete.

I'm guessing nine of those coming for a visit, could ruin your whole day.

[vk45de]

@skeilak It's 1200kg which is 2700lbs.

[skeilak]

@jonsidneyb : I'll have to look that up.

I lived near a major Naval Base, in my youth, and I recall a Naval Ordnance Officer, who was leading a tour, showing us an inert shell, and saying it was 1,200lbs.

Assuming you're correct, even more impressive.

[jonsidneyb]

@skeilak

2700 pound shells actually.