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During their service in WWII, the 16-inch guns on the Iowa-class battleships had a life of about 300 rounds. They didn't reach their current 3500-round lifetime
by saulrh 10y ago
During their service in WWII, the 16-inch guns on the Iowa-class battleships had a life of about 300 rounds. They didn't reach their current 3500-round lifetime until we figured out polyeurethane bags in the 70s. So 1000 rounds is solid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armament_of_the_Iowa-class_battleship#Turrets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armament_of_the_Iowa-class_bat...
- lobster_johnson 10y agoI assume WW2 ships simply stocked a bunch of gun barrels to replace the ones they wore out?
- GunboatDiplomat 10y agoHave you ever seen, in person, the scale of a 16 inch 50 Caliber gun? They're not field swappable. The barrel is about 67 feet long and weighs 120ish tons.