Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Battleship big guns .

Has anyone on here ever been on the Missouri or any other battleship to hear the guns ? Let's hear about it .

here's our big guns..... in front of the 16"ers on the Iowa.

Wish. I do remember that when the bicentennial came they thought about firing a salute but decuded not to because it would break too many windows in Brooklyn. I've heard Noone was allowed on deck because of the pressure wave.
Anyone know the pressure? The pure amount of ejecta would nake an impression. Thinking of tge relative noise if a shotgun vs. rifle, and barrel lengths

Heard and saw the New Jersey in 1968, very,very impressive for a WWII battleship.

I'm a Plankowner / original member of USS New Jersey recommissioning crew from 1982.
Served on her from '82 - '86. Not only heard the big guns but fired them too.

I did not serve but did tour the Missouri in Pearl Harbor. Words can’t describe the massiveness of that ship. It must have been quite a show when they touched off those big 16 inch rifles.

And the battleships never switched to smokeless powder. They used black powder right up to the end.

video posted to YouTube on Aug 12, 2021
YouTube channel: Battleship New Jersey
https://www.battleshipnewjersey.org/

Cool! Were you able to look inside the turrets or see the loading gates?

I was off the coast of VA on the naval gun range when they brought the battlewagons back into commission. Watched the Wisconsin fire a broadside from my ship. We were about 5 miles away and it was still incredible. The power those ships had was amazing. I hated to see them go for good but they were worn out and pretty much obsolete. Those 16 inch guns were impressive but in actuality they paled compared to missiles and aircraft.

I was also on the pier in Norfolk doing line handlers when they brought the Iowa in after the turret explosion. Watched the body bags come off and into the ambulances. Very sobering thing to watch. Whole side of the ship was blackened. They had the turret covered in canvas and tarps but it was obvious she was severely damaged.

Missed the New Jersey in Viet Nam but did see the Newport News provide 8 inch NGS for the ground pounders. Quite a sight.

I heard the shells flying over head more than a few times. Also felt the ground shake when they hit.

My father served on the New Jersey. I’ve seen the guns but never heard or seen them in action.

Osky

I was onboard during the recommissioning sea trials. They fired the 16's both individually and a broad side. Impressive to say the least. The muzzle blast, the concussion etc. One could actually see the round in flight. A single firing, I was in space that had just been through field day, white glove. The amount of dust that came out of the overhead was also impressive when the turret fired. The Missouri was always a cleaner ship, the New Jersey was a bit of a dirty burt in comparison,

I’ll ask a guy at work today. He was a Sea Duty Marine on the Missouri.

He said he actually pointed his M16 at Steven Segal when he was on the ship. Scared the crap out of segal he said.

I absolutely hate wasteful government spending, but if I was in charge, there would be a fully functional Iowa class battleship with every carrier group. We waste our tax money in much worse ways than that.

Umm..no

Per Wikipedia:

Each D839 propellant (smokeless powder) grain used for full charges for this gun was 2 in (51 mm) long, 1 in (25 mm) in diameter and had seven perforations, each 0.060 in (1.5 mm) in diameter with a web thickness range of 0.193 to 0.197 in (4.9 to 5.0 mm) between the perforations and the grain diameter. A maximum charge consisted of six silk bags (hence the term "bag gun"), each filled with 110 lb (50 kg) of propellant.