I got to talk to marines who where on the ground in Beruit when we shelled the Shiites and the marine spotters, or 16" guns were impressive perrformers!
we were paid a visit by the New Jersey once or twice a month in late 1968. First time we used it it we thought it was the Heavy Cruiser that often shot up the coast line for us, and were shocked when we found out we were dealing with some serious fire power. Reason we had to use the battleship was that none of the local arty could get to where we wanted them. They had the range, but the terrane was a problem (deep valleys). Targets were somewhat dismal in appearence, but somebody wanted them gone in a big way. One was a large hay stack that created secondarys for three minutes!
But as wild as those 16" rifles were, nothing got my undivided attention as well as being 4,000 yards out on an arc light mission. Three planes evaporated a box that was a half mile wide by one and one half mile long in less than a minute. Don't matter if it's raining or snowing; he's got your number and you can't stop him. At 2,000 yards out, under ground bunkers would collapse, and at 4,000 yards out you thought you were going thru an earthquake. Those were the days when we were young and dumb, and thought bullets would simply bounce off us.
gary
